[apographē storgēs], or, a description of the passion of love demonstrating its original, causes, effects, signes, and remedies / by will. greenwood, [philalethēs]. greenwood, will. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a of text r in the english short title catalog (wing g ). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo a wing g estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) [apographē storgēs], or, a description of the passion of love demonstrating its original, causes, effects, signes, and remedies / by will. greenwood, [philalethēs]. greenwood, will. [ ], , [ ] p. printed for william place ..., london : . bracketed words printed in greek letters. errata: p. [ ]. imperfect: print show-through, with loss of text. reproduction of original in bodleian library. eng love -- early works to . emotions -- early works to . a r (wing g ). civilwar no [apographē storgēs], or, a description of the passion of love demonstrating its original, causes, effects, signes, and remedies by will. g greenwood, will c the rate of defects per , words puts this text in the c category of texts with between and defects per , words. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - john latta sampled and proofread - john latta text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion Απογραφε ϛοργεσ . or , a description of the passion of love . demonstrating its orignal , causes , effects , signes , and remedies . by will . greenwood , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} . omne meum . nil meum . nihil dictum quod non dictum prius . london , printed for william place at grayes inne-gate in holborn , . to the service and delight of all truly noble , generous and honest spirits of both sexes ; the author dedicateth these his exiguous devoyres . noble hearts , being invited with several pleasing considerations , and delightful motives to appear the second time upon the slippery stage of this world ; i here present to your view a description of a passion too much regent in this britle age . the worke is of no great substance , not much satyrical nor critical ; only glances , like the dogs of nilus , taking a touch here and there . it may happily appear at the first view , a meer congested chaos , and somewhat indigested and promiscuously handled ; i can assure you my meaning was methodical ; but i hope your favourable opinions will dissipate the foggy mists of erronious misprision , and be really clarified in your considerate censure . i cannot conceive what more acceptable present may be offered unto you , then that which with an appar●nt brevity compriseth the original , ●enerality , definition , causes , effects , signes , &c. of love . for which purpose , and your greater contentment , i have madly rambled in every one of them . if i have over roaved , gone wide , or falne short , it 's not unlike you may impute it to my folly of precipitancy . in this ( to forge an excusive answer ) i shall not unfittingly resemble the painter , who being to figure forth the fury of a mad dog , the better to expresse it , stood long curiously pidling about the froth or fome issuing from his mouth ; but finding nothing frame fitly to his invention , rashly takes up his pencil ▪ dashes it against the picture , with an intent to spoil it ; howbeit this suddain accident prevailed to make his work more excellent . so may i in these suddain touches pencil out this passion with a more lively tincture , then if i had been tediously curious in contriving , or vaingloriously to embellish them with quaint ear-pleasing elocution . to speak the reall truth , you must not expect any additional ornaments of rhetorick , nor neat flourishes of eloquence , or wyre-drawn phrases , meer inke-pot termes , or a hodgpodge of a laboured contexture : but a plain and smooth style which best becomes our subject . i am not passionately enamoured on pety courtships , like to those helena's all of gold , where we can behold nothing but drapery ; but my sole aim is to speak to be understood : i have more laboured at the reality of the matter , then ornament of words ; for he that courts his pen , and neglects the matter , shall alwayes have trouble enough to defend himself from moths , rats and oblivion . fine heads will pick a quarrell with me ; but this is my minde , let him that findeth a fault amend it , and he that liketh it use it . i submit my self to the judgement of the wise , and little esteem the frownes of a censorious brow . i dedicate this unto you , not because either by virtue of a long experience , or of an exact judgement , i make profession to be master in this science , but to manifest that by the pole-star of methodical observations , one may furrow the deepest seas of unknown discipline . and to vindicate my self with that of mr. burton , vita verecunda est , musa jocosa mihi . however my lines err , my life is honest . but i presume , i need no such apologies , for no man compos mentis , will make me culpable of lightness , wantonness , and rashness in speaking of the causes , effects , signes , &c. of love ; i speak only to tax and deter others from it ; not to teach , but to demonstrate the vanities ▪ and errors of this heroical and herculean passion , and to administer apt remedies . i cannot please all men ; for the same cause that made democritus laugh , made heraclitus weep : it is impossible for an angler to please all fish with one bait ; so if one write never so well , he cannot please all ; and write he never so badly , he shall please some . i know there are some counterfeit cato's that will pish at me , cannot abide to hear of love toyes , they hare the very name of love in detestation ; vultu , gestu , & oculis , in their outward actions averse , and yet in their cogitations they are all out as bad , if not worse then others . whatsoever i speak in this treatise of the one sex , may be also said of the other , mutato nomine . i determine not to run with the hare and hold with the hound , to carry fire in one hand , and water in the other , neither to flatter men as altogether faultless , nor be critical with women as altogether guilty ; for as i am not desirous to intrude into the favour of the one , so am i resolved not to incur the disfavour of the other . honored ladies , i commit my self to the candor of your curtesies , craving this only , that if you be pinched in the instep , you rather cut the shooe then burn the last . if i discover the legerdemaine , and subtle traines women lay to inveigle their lovers , and unvail the furrows of womens dispositions ; you ought no more to be vexed with what i have said , then the mint-master is to see the coyner hang'd ; or the true subject , the false traytor arraigned ; or the honest man the thief condemned . i grant it an act somewhat uncivil , to run inconsiderately into invectives against the sex ; so it is an unworthy servitude of minde to be obsequious to them : but i deal with them , as he who slew the serpent , not touching the body of his son twined ▪ up in folds ; so i strike the vice , without slandering the sex . i hope this book will insensibly increase under the favour and good opinion of virtuous ladies , as plants sprout under the aspects of the most benigne stars . what i here declare ( candid readers ) is not in the least to extinguish a pure and reall love , or to detract from the honour of marriage ; for my stomach will not digest the unworthy practises of those who in their discourse and writings , plant all their arguments point blanck to batter down love , and the marryed estate , using most bitter invectives against it , as the author of the advice to a son , and such like , whose behaviour speaks nothing but satyrs against this divine ordinance , and the whole sex of women . but such do it out of meer dissimulations , to divert suspicion , being defatigated in a vigorous pursuit of their desires are made incompetent judges of that which they undertake to condemn ; or else out of revenge , having themselves formerly light upon bad women ( yet not worse then they deserved ) they curse all adventures because of their own shipwrack . here my book and my self march both together and keep one pace ; one cannot condemn the work without the work-man ; who toucheth the one , toucheth the other ; what i speak is truth , not so much as i could , but as much as with modesty i dare . let that which i borrow be surveyed , and then tell me whether i have made good choise of ornaments to beautifie and set forth the work ; for i make others to relate ( not after my own fancy , but as it best falleth out ) what i cannot so well expresse , either through unskill of language , or want of judgement . i have purposely concealed the authors of those i have transplanted into my soil , and digested them with my own , thereby to bridle the rashness of the hasty knit brown'd censurer . i will honour him that shall trace and unfeather me , by the only distinction of the force and beauty of my discourse . look how my humours or conceits present themselves , so i shuffle them up ; for these are matters which juniors may not be ignorant of . but not to tire you with a tedious preamble , like the pulpit cuffers of this age ; and a long discourse argueth folly , and delicate words incur the suspicion of obsequiousness ; i am determined to use neither of them ; only intreating your milde and charitable censure , of this my rude and hirsute labour : untill the next occasion , i conclude , your friend , w. g. to his honoured and ingenious friend , mr. w. g. on his description of the passion of love . when criticks shall but view the title , they will carp at this great enterprize , and say , it was too boldly done , thus to comprize in this small tract , loves passion , and true size to set upon it ; but the learned will excuse thy little book , and praise thy quill ; thy aime being only to instruct the youth : in male and female thou discover'st truth . thy pencil in live colours hath limm'd out , erotick passion from its very root . causes , effects , and signes ( thou here discovers ) the jealousies and fears of wanton lovers ; physician-like thou here prescribest cures to ease poor lovers of their calentures . my worthy friend , in either hemisphere , where ere i goe , thy praise i 'le eccho there . w. b. errata . page . line . dele . . p. . l. . r. osculis . p. . l. r. conducted . p. . l. . r. froward . p . l. r. magno sua . p. l. . r. torment . p. . l. . r. can'st . p. . l. . ● . to l. . r. never . p. . l. . r. vollyes . p. . l. . r. mistresse . p. . l. . r. fairest . p. . l. . r. sighes . p. . l . r. heart . p. . l. . r. specter . p. . l. . r. prae se ferat cum pharetr● . a description of the passions of love . of love , the original , the universality , and the definition of it . the nature of the whole universe ( according to the primo-geniture ) tendeth to that which we are now determined to treat o f ; for it was love that moved god , not only to create the world , but also to create it beautiful in every part ; the name whereof in greek yieldeth a testimony of loveliness and beauty , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , mundus , signifying a beautiful and well decked ornament . therefore seeing god hath created and framed it by love , then indubitably love is dispersed throughout the whole world , and invested into every creature , as well mineral and vegetable , as animal , all obeying the statute of the great law-giver , instituted in primo adami . the which causeth a sympathie or love in all things . now to demonstrate this in man . he having by nature imprinted in his soul an affected desire or earnest inclination to that which seemeth good , is drawn as it were by necessity to search it out in every thing which he esteemeth fair and good , finds nothing so apt to be the center of his affections , and to correspond with his nature ( her creation solely tending to that ) as woman . for after god had created man , and placed him in the garden to dresse it , it is not good ( saith he ) that man should be alone , i will make him an help meet for him : & to demonstrate how this help was not only meet , but also necessary for man ; moses addeth , that amongst all those living creatures , he found no help meet for adam : for although all the beasts , and the residue of creatures were given to man to assist him , so that being in the state of innocency , wherein he was then , he might receive all service and ready obedience from them ; nevertheless he had not yet an help of his kinde , for he could not have the familiarity and society with beasts , nor receive such help from them , as he could from a creature of his own nature . now seeing man was created for this end , he could not continue without generation , which could not be unless he were joyned to a woman ; which was before his fall a most pure and innocent love . but now because of his corruption , his affections are irregular , and are made extreme ; there is nothing so greatly exciteth and carryeth away his minde , nor cometh more neer to his destruction , then this foolish passion endangereth his life . to prove which , many presidents might be produced . galacea of mantua declairing oftentimes to a maid of pavia , whom he courted and made love to , that he would suffer a thousand deaths for her sake , which she imagining was but spoken coggingly and in jest , commanded him to cast himself into the river ; which he presently performed and was drowned . but we shall more fitly alleadge such testimonies of the effects of love , when we discourse more particularly of every vice that proceedeth from them . yet , as well as man , this amity ( as i have said ) is ingraffed into every creature ; this love , appetite , or universal inclination , or complacency , given to them at the creation likewise , and inciteth them to desire and search out that which is consentaneous to , and agreeth and sympathizeth with their own nature ; so that there is nothing so insensible , which hath not in it self this amity innate , propending and moving to its proper object , as amber and straw , iron and adamant , and the palme-trees of both sexes , express not a sympathy only , but a love passion ; according to that of the poet ; vivunt in venerem frondes , omnisque vicissim foelix arbor amat , nutant ad mutua palmae foedera , populeo suspirat populus ictu , et platano platanus , alnoque assibilat alous . which is thus paraphraz'd ; leaves sing their loves , each complemental tree in courtship bowes , the amorous palmes we see confirm their leagues with nods , poplers inchaine their armes , the plane infettereth the plane . now the better to illustrate this by example , florentius tels us of a palme that loved most fervently , and would receive ( if properly it may be so said ) no consolation , until her love applyed himself to her ; you might see the two trees bend , and of their own accord stretch out their boughes to embrace and kiss each other . they ( saith he ) marry one another , and when the winde brings their odour unto each other , they are marvellously affected ; they will be sick and pine away for love , which the husbandman perceiving , strokes his hand on those palmes which grow together , and so stroaking again the palme that is enamored , they carry kisses from one to the other , or weaving their leaves into a love-net , they will prosper and flourish with a greater bravery . no creature is to be found quod non aliquid amat , which doth not love something , no stock nor stone , which hath not some feeling of its effects ; yet it is more eminent in vegetables . to prosecute our discourse , let us define what this amorous love is ; theophrastus demonstrateth it to be a desire of the soul , that easily and very speedily gets entrance , but retireth back again very slowly . another saith , it is an invisible fire kindled within the hidden forges of the breasts of lovers , scorching and consuming their miserable hearts , and burning in the flames of desire , yeelding no other sign or testimony thereof , then an ardent desire of the thing beloved . montag . lib. . cap. . saith , that love is nothing but an insatiate thirst of enjoying a greedily desired object . socrates saith , it is an appetite of generation by the mediation of beauty . others will have it to be a motion of the bloud getting strength by little and little , through the hope of pleasure , almost a kind of fascination or inchantment . tully thought it to be a wishing well to the party affected . seneca , a great strength of the understanding , and a heat that moveth gently up and down the spirits . and others say , that this erotical passion is a kinde of dotage , proceeding from an irregular desire of enjoying a lovely object , and is attended on by fear and sadness ( common symptomes of love ) according to ovid ; res est solliciti plena timoris amor . thus have we been carryed away by the current of other mens judgements , and now have watched our advantage to swim back again , and shew our private opinion ; and that is , that love is an expansion of the soul towards it object ; which is , what ever is attractive ; and that naturally man loves himself best and first , and all other things in subordination to himself ; and whatsoever hath most similitude of man in nature , is the proper object of his love ; then consequently ( in my opinion ) no object so proper as the princess of the female sex , viz. woman , it being ordained and constituted for the propagation and preservation of every species . we will illustrate this with that pretty piece of policy of paris , which prompted him to the disposal of the golden ball , he being made umpire between three deities , juno , pallas , and venus , whereof he was to make one his friend , and two his enemies ; it was his wisdom to win favour with the most potent , for his own safety , which is venus , if we may take an estimate of power from the extent of dominions , and largeness of command and conquest , all which are so clearly cypria's as they leave no place for opposition . it is true , juno commands the world by riches , and pallas by wisdom , but venus monarchizeth in the most unlimited manner of soveraignty over millions of worlds , if it will passe for sterling , that every man is a microcosm , or a little world , the epitomy of the macrocosm , or the greater world : she is that powerfull planet , that makes not only the rational , but irrational ; not only the animate , but inanimate creatures , and vegetables feel her influxious power . lucr. l. . . tu dea , tu rerum naturam sola gubernas , nec sine te quicquam dias in luminis oras exoritur , neque fit laetum , nec amabile quicquam . goddess , thou rul'st the nature of all things , without thee nothing into this light springs , nothing is lovely , nothing pleasure brings . therefore they that submit not to the scepter of the paphian queen , are rebels against nature , and but the shadows of men ; but such stubborn ones are as rare as a horse in the streets of venice , or a begger in holland . i know not ( saith montag . in his essayes lih . . cap. . ) who could set pallas and the muses at oddes with venus , and make them cold and slow in affecting of love ; as for me , i see no deities that better sute together , nor are more indebted one to another . whoever shall go about to remove amorous imaginations from the muses , shall deprive them of the best entertainment , and of the noblest subject of their work . and who shall debar cupid the service and conversation of poesie ; shall weaken him of his best weapons . but for so much as i know of it , the power and might of this god , are found more quick and lively in the shadow of poesie , then in their own essence : it representing a kinde of air as lovely as love it self . thus ( equally tendering all these opinions to the readers discretion , to reject or accept which of them he shall conclude most probable ) i proceed on to demonstrate the causes of this passion in the subsequent chapter . the causes of love . we will now express what special causes and motives tend most to the increase of this passion . the sages have sought the true causes which dispose the wils of men to love ; and have delivered many different opinions in this point . some hold , it is a quality which god imprinted on nature : for it pleased him to create adam on earth as his own image , and hath drawn eve to be unto man a spirit of peace , and a love of a perpetual lasting ; this indubitably is the first ; for we must ingenuously confess , that there is no reall love , no true delight , but proceeds from the supreme divinity , the pure and immaterial essence of the omnipotent protector , and sole ruler of all celestial and terrestrial creatures : it is a communicative delight , whose chief propriety is perpetually to stream into the hearts and souls of all that are capable thereof . others imagine ( and 't is reall ) it comes from the influence of the stars at their nativities , and these ( in my opinion ) are the second causes . prima deus causa est ▪ causae sunt astra secundae . god is ( of all created ) the prime cause : th' second ( in spite of holmes ) are starry laws . others say , it proceeds from parents and education , and that 's very probable . others from a certain harmony and consonance of hearts which meeting in accord upon the same tone , having a natural correspondencie . the maxime of divines , and morall philosophers saith , that fair and good ( otherwise that which seems to be so ) make all loves . and lastly , money . now it is our intent and purpose to treat of every one of these causes distinctly ( the first excepted , being explained in the first chapter , and likewise in the beginning of this section ) therefore we will proceed to the second cause , which is the stars . the fairest and enticing objects that proceed from men and women , that most frequently captivate , allure , and make them dote beyond all measure one upon another , aret by the force and power of the stars ( quod me tibi temperat astrum ) such a woman doth singularly dote upon such a man , and likewise such a man upon such a woman ; hate such again , and give no reason for it , it being too high for the vulgar capacity to attain to the knowledge of it . they by their influence act upon the humors and bodies , and by their secret qualities tie creatures with the knot of love ; for how many are there who love things which are neither lovely nor good ? i mean , not only in effect , but in their own opinion and judgement , yet are they fastened by some tie ( unknown to any but the reall sons of art , and those which are acquainted with the sublime sciences ) nor can they free themselves from it but by the absolute power of reason . do we not dayly finde by experience , that a man who is , and who knoweth himself to be deformed and wicked , yet by nature falleth not in love with himself ? so through a love of concupiscence , he may love things which have neither beauty nor goodness , although he daily hath a blinde feeling of something sutable to sensuality and an unperceptible attractive . for there may be a sympathy in nature , and an antipathy in complexion ; and a sympathy in complexion , and an antipathy in nature ; as in animals , there is amity betwixt the black-bird and the thrush , betwixt the crow and hern , betwixt peacocks and pigeons , turtles and parrats . whence sappho in ovids epist. writes to phaon ; to birds unlike oft-times joyn'd are white doves ; also the bird that 's green black turtle loves . for of what sort the amities and enmities of the superiours be , such are the inclinations of things subject to them in these inferiours . these dispositions therefore of love , are nothing else but certain inclinations of things , of one towards another , desiring such and such a thing if it be absent , and to move toward it , and to acquiesce in it when it is obtained , shunning the contrary and dreading the approach of it . he that knowes the amities and enmities the superiours have one towards another , knows my meaning , and will quickly give you a reason , and that none of the worst , let the priests say what they please . the third cause is from parents and education . this cause is from our first parents , for the preservation and propagation of the species , and will so continue till nature shall be no more . it is according to the old adage , qualis pater , talis filius ; like father , like son . cat to her kinde ; if the dam trot , the foal will not amble . experience and nature approves it , that the fruit will relish of the tree from whence it sprung . consider how love proceeds from parents , and gradually descends ; that so soon as we are come to maturity , and that our bloud begins to boyl in our veins , we devote our selves to a woman , forgetting our mother in a wise , and the womb that bare us in that which shall bear our image . this woman blessing us with children , our affection leaves the levell it held before , and sinks from our bed unto our issue and picture of posterity , where affection holds no steady mansion : they applying themselves to a woman , take a lawful way to love another better then our selves , and thus run to posterity . but education is more potent , for themistocles in his youth ( as himself confesseth ) for want of discipline , was carryed away by the lascivious and hot passion of love , like to a young unbridled colt , untill that by miltiades example , who was then famous among the grecians , he caused the heat of his courage to be cooled , and the lasciviousness which was naturally in him , to attend upon virtue : he fed delicately and highly , qualis cibus , talis sanguis & membrum ; such as the meat , such is the broath ; for luscious fare , is the only nurse and nourisher of sensual appetite , the sole maintenance of youthful affection , the fewell of this inordinate passion , nothing so much feeding it , nor insensates the understanding by delighting in it . he was very idly educated , which is one main branch that causeth love , and the first arrow that cupid shooteth into the hot liver of a heedless lover . for the man being idle , the minde is apt to all uncleanness ; the minde being void of exercise , the man is void of honesty . doth not rust corrode the hardest iron , if it be not used ? doth not the moth eat the finest garment , if it be not worn ? doth not impiety infect the clearest and most acute wit , if it be given to idleness ? doth not common experience make this common unto us , that the fertilest ground bringeth forth nothing but weeds , if it be not tilled ? the particulars of idleness , as immoderate sleep , immodest play , unsatiable drinking , doth so weaken the senses and bewitch the soul , that before we feel the motion of love , we are resolved to lust . cupid is ▪ a crafty gentleman , he followes those to a hair that studdy pleasure , and flies those that stoutly labour . likewise though their natural inclination be to virtue , if they be educated , in dancing-schooles , schooles of musick , lead a riotous life , they will be much subject to this passion , they will prefer fancie before friends , lay reason in the water , being too salt for their tast , and follow unbridled affection suitable to their education . but let their inclinations be never so strong , if they have been well brought up and instructed , they are in some sort forced to moderate themselves , not suffering love to have such pernicious effects in them , as naturally they are inclined to ; whereupon ( in my opinion ) that old proverb was not spoken without reason , that education goeth beyond nature : so that quintilian would not have nurses to be of an immodest or uncomely speech ; adding this cause , lest ( saith he ) such manners , precepts , and discourses as young children learn in their unriper years remain so deeply rooted , as they shall scarce ever be relinquished . sure i am , that the first impressions , whether good or evill , are most continuate , and with least difficulty preserved . quo semel est imbuta recens , servabit odorem testa diu . — a pot well season'd , holds the primitive tast a long time after . — socrates confesseth in plato , that by nature he was inclined to vices , and yet philosophy made him as perfect and excellent a man , as any was in the world . besides education and custome have power not only to change the natural inclination of some particular men , but also of whole countries , as the histories of most nations declare unto us ; and namely that of the germans , who in the time of tacitus ( and lycurgus amongst the lacedemonians ) had neither law nor religion , knowledge nor forme of common-wealth ( but were led and carryed on by the current of their own inclinations , and as their wils was inclined by the influence of the superiours ) whereas now they will give place to no nation for good institution in all things . to reform the lacedemonians , lycurgus used this piece of policy ; he nourished two whelps both of one sire and one dam , but in different manner ; for the one he trained up to hunt , and the other to lie alwaies in the chimney-corner at the porridge-pot ; afterwards calling the lacedemonians into one assembly , he said , ye lacedemonians , to the attaining of virtue , education , industry and exercise is the most noble means ; the truth of which i shall make manifest to you by tryall ; then bringing forth the whelps , and setting down a porridge-pot and an hare , the one run at the hare , and the other at the pot : the lacedemonians not understanding the mystery , he said , both of these be of one sire and one dam , but you see how education altereth nature . let us therefore ( that seeing our flexible nature is assaulted and provoked to the acting of any thing which is not good ) endevour to accustome and exercise our selves in virtue , which will be as it were unto us another nature ; let us use the means of good education and instruction in wisdom , whereby our souls shall be made conquerors over these hot passions , and our mindes moderated and stayed in all our actions . we will now proceed on to the next , and fourth cause , which is a certain harmony and consonancy of hearts , which meeting accord upon the same tone , having a natural correspondency . for it is mans nature to affect all harmony , and sure it is ( where cupid strikes this silent note ( for love is the musick , the harmony , complexion , the genus , and very soul of nature ) more sweet and melodious then the sound of any instrument ; for there is musick wheresoever there is an harmony . and thus far we maintain the musick of the spheres : for these well ordered motions , and regular paces , though they give no sound unto the ear , yet to the understanding of the parties affected , they strike a love-note most full of harmony . i desire leave to insist a little upon this . every body hath its projections and unperceiveable influences , as we finde in the power of amber and the adamant , which attract iron and straw , by the expiration they scatter in the aire , to serve as instruments and hands to their attractions . this being common to other natures of plants , metals , and living creatures , we must not think but that the body of man participateth therein , by reason of its vivacity and multitude of pores which give a more easie passage to such emissions . there then cometh forth a spirituous substance , which is ( according to marcilius ficinus ) : vapour of bloud , pure , subtle , hot and clear , more strong or weak according to the interiour agitations of spirits ; which carryeth along with it some friendly , convenient , and temperate quality , which insinuateth it self into the heart and soul , doth ( if it there finde a disposition of conformity ) abide , as a seed cast into the earth , and forms there an harmony , and this love of correspondency , with an admirable promptness and vigor ; so it happeneth that the spirits , being transpired from one body to another , and carrying on their wings qualities consonant , do infallibly excite and awaken the inclinations . the eye is principally interessed herein , breathing thence the most thin spirits and darting forth the visual rayes , as the arrows of love which penetrate the heart , striking a most dulcisonant harmony , and are united one within another ; then heating the bloud , they strike upon the imagination , and attract the will , which are linked one to another , that they are tyed together with an unperceiveable knot ; and so by this means love entereth into the heart . the fifth cause is that of the divines and morall philosophers , that beauty and goodness make us love . which two if they be found both in one woman ( she 's rara avis , a very rare thing indeed ) are most availeful advantages . love varies as its objects varie , which is alwaies good , beautiful , amiable , gratious , and pleasant , or at least which seems to be so ; from goodness comes beauty , from beauty grace and comeliness , which result as so many rayes from their good parts , makes us to love , and so covet and desire it : for were it not pleasing and gratious in our eyes , we should not seek it . omne pulchrum amabile , and what we love is fair and gratious in our eyes , or at least we do so apprehend or esteem it . suum cuique pulchrum . th' perfections of his mistress are most rare , in all mens eyes , yet in his own most faire . amiableness is the object of love , the scope and end is to obtain it , for whose sake we love , and with our minds covet to enjoy . likewise grace and beauty are so wonderfully annexed , do so sweetly and gently win our souls , and strongly allure , that they confound our judgement , and cannot be distinguished . and this makes the poets still put the three graces in venus company , as attending on her and holding up her train . as the needle of a diall being touched with an adamant , doth alwaies turn towards the pole-star , because the philosophers hold that to be the element of the load-stone or magnet , and by a natural sympathy doth attract every part of it self unto it self ; so a lo●ers heart being touched with the beauty and goodness of his mistress doth turne it , and all its thoughts towards her : poetically to explain this conception let us add , the needle of a diall northward turns , if touch'd by adamant : his heart touch'd by his mistress burns , and after her doth pant . as this magnet draweth the heavie iron , and the harp the swift dolphin ; so beauty allureth the chast minde to love . in that exquisite romance of clytiphon and lucippe , where clytiphon ( being captivated with her beauty ) speaking of himself , ingenuously confesseth , that he no sooner came in lucippe's presence , but saith he , statim ac eam contemplatus sum , occidi ; oculos à virgine avertere conatus sum , sed illi repugnabant . he was wounded at the first sight , his heart panted , he could not possibily turn his eyes from her . this beauty hath great power to procure love ; for where it appeareth in the exterior parts in any body , it is as it were a witness and testimony of the beauty in the soul . for the creator created all things in such manner that he hath commonly joyned beauty and goodness together ; in the beginning there was nothing made , but it was very good and beautiful in his kind , therefore there is an agreement between the body and the soul ; for bodily beauty is as it were an image of the beauty of the soul , and promiseth after a sort some good thing of the inward beauty ; for internal perfection breedeth the external ; whereupon the internal is called goodness , and the external , beauty . many would willingly die for the beauty of others , and are so tormented and tossed , that they become senseless and phrenetick , being captivated with looking upon a beautiful face , which hath such a sting that it pierceth even unto the liveliest part of their heart and soul . whereupon it falleth out that poor silly lovers are so full of passions , that they stand altogether amazed ; making their souls so subject to their desires , that she must obey them , as if she were some poor chamber-maid or drudge . it is the witch of nature , as gold is the god of the world ; for a woman without beauty hath as few followers , as a man without money hath friends . the reason why womens beauty is of such force , that it overcomes men , is that the sense being too much fastened upon it , doth not only ( as if it gazed upon an object above its strength ) remain dazled with the rayes thereof , but reason it self is darkned , the heart is fettered , and the will by love made a prisoner . and i must needs tell you in plain terms , that beauty without the indowments of a virtuous minde is stark naught ▪ yet most commonly , the beauty of the minde is manifest in the face , as it were in a looking-glass ; for in it is seen a modest blush the vail of shame fac'dness , the true ornament of an honest minde , the treasure of chastitity , the splendor of clemency , the riches of silence , the majesty of virtue , the lodge of love , and the nest of grace ; because the face ( amongst all the other corporal parts ) is the more noble , where the minde by those senses that are in it exerciseth its effects and operatious . having discoursed thus much of beauty in general , we will now descend to the particulars of beauty , and demonstrate their force in causing love . for there is not any that loves , but there is some particular part , either in form or condition , which pleaseth most , and inflameth him above the rest . and first of the eyes , which scaliger cals cupids arrowes ; the black , round , quick sparkling eye , is the most fair , amorous and enticing , the speaking , courting , enchanting eye . hesiod cals those that have fair lovely eyes , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} ; and pindarus {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , by a metaphor borrowed from the greek word {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , signifying the young tender sprigs or branches of vines , for as these alwaies embrace the neighbouring bough , twining about it with many various circles ; in like manner , the eyes of a beautiful woman apply their beames , and endevour to intangle the hearts of those that earnestly behold her . the poet propertius cals the eyes the conductors and guides in love . si nescis , oculi sunt in amore duces . it is the eyes that infect the spirits , by the gazing upon an object , and thence the spirits infect the bloud . to this effect the lady in apuleius complained , thou art the cause of my grief , thine eyes piercing through mine eyes into mine inward parts , have set my bowels on fire , therefore commiserate me that am now ready to die for thy sake . the eye is the judge of beauty , and is as it were the looking-glasse of the soul , in which are described all the affections of the soul , as love , passion , anger , disdain , &c. the eye exceedingly lusteth after beauty ( and whilst it contemplateth the colours , formes , features , comeliness , grace , laughter , and whatsoever excellent quality appertaines unto beauty ) is deemed fittest to be the principal judge thereof ; the eye being an organ by which a lover doth best discern the perfection of all those principal parts , which are required to the framing of a compleat beauty ; for we often times see , by the bare report of virtue , in any honorable breast love imperfectly ; but if report be once confirmed by an interview , and the eye be made judge as well as the ear , it gathereth strength , and exceedingly encreaseth ; which proceedeth from no other cause then from the great force that the eye hath in the true judgement of sensible things , besides the power thereof extending it self more then all the other senses to the multitude of objects , and more speedily apprehending them . pardon me for stepping a little out of the way , but i shall quickly be in again . secondly , faire hair , as the poets say , are the prisons of cupid ; that is the cause ( as i suppose ) that ladies make rings , and bracelets , and love-locks to send to their lovers . and that 's the cause too ( for i must handle both sexes ) that men curle and powder their hair , and prune their pickativants , making the east side correspond to the west . thirdly , the tongue , is called by scaliger , the lightning of love . but we wil take all the actions and gestures of the mouth together with it ; what a bewitching force hath a gratious laughter , a pleasant and eloquent delivery , a modest courting , a syrens song , or any other comely carriage or manifestation of the minde , a corral lip , a comely order and set of two ivory rails ? how great force and enticements lie in kissing ? balthazer castilio saith , jam pluribus oculis labra crepitabant , animarum quoque mixturam facientes , inter mutuos complexus animas anhelantes : they breath out their souls and spirits together with their kisses , changing hearts and spirits , and mingle affections as they do kisses , and it is rather a connexion of the minde then of the body . what 's a kisse of that pure faire ? but loves lure , or adonis snare . fourthly , some are enamoured of an handsome tall and slender body ; some again are taken with one of a middle size and plump ; but many are captivated with a handsome leg and foot . fiftly , their breasts and paps are called the tents of love ; for which cause women do so much discover them , ( for women , saith aristotle , are natures errata , continually studying temptations ) together with their naked necks , shoulders and armes , having all things necessary and in readiness , that may either allure the minde to love , or the heart to folly . what is the meaning of their affected carriages , those garments so pompous , those guizes so sought after , those colours so fantastick , the jewels and pendants so sumptuous , that painting so shameless , those curles and patches , their silk and bow-die stockins , with their coats tucked up that their neat leg and foot may be seen , their lac'd shooes , those curtesies , salutations , cringings and mincing gates ; but to cut the throat of chastity , and are springes to catch wood-cocks . a ship is not so long a rigging , as a yong lady is in trimming her self against the coming of her sweet-heart . eye but the dresses of women which are now in use , and thou shall not only see the carved vizard of a lewd woman , but the incarnate visage of a lascivious wanton ; not only the shadow of love , but the substance of lust . sir philip sydney in his arcadia , saith that apparel ( though it be many degrees better then the wearer ) is a great motive and provocation to love , and nothing like unto it : which doth even beauty beautifie , and most bewitch a wretched eie . and as another poet saith ; — love-locks and clothes which speak all countries , and no man . — he layes all that ever he hath upon his back , making the meridian of his estate stoop to his shoulders , judging that women are captivated with and marryed to bravery . add hereunto the painting practised by harlots , adulterated complexions well agreeing with adulterous conditions . they especially use to paint their eyes ( understand their eye-browes and eye-lids ) with stibium , to make them look black , conceited by them an extraordinary comeliness . hereupon was solomons caution , neither let her take thee with her eye-lids , as one of her principal nets to catch wantons therewith . when aged they use in vain to make themselves fair by renting their faces with painting , though more cause to rent them with their nails out of penitent indignation . thus painting used to reconcile , in time widens the breaches in their faces ; and their flesh tainted , at least , with the poison thereof , like rotten vessels spring the more leaks the more they are repaired . and the truth is , i would have such as these to joyn themselves with souldiers , for so both may fight under their colours . sixthly , pleasant and well composed looks , glances , smiles , counter-smiles , plausible gestures , pleasant carriage and behaviour , affable complements , a comely gate and pace , daliances , playes , revels , maskes , dancing , time , place , opportunity , conference , and importunity , are materials of which loves torch is made ; also no stronger engins then to hear and read of love toyes , fables and discourses , so that many by this means become distracted , for these exercises do as well open the pores of the heart as the body . and truly such heart-traps are laid by cunning beauties , in such pretty ambuscadoes , that he must be a crafty fox that can escape them ; for there is still some peculiar grace in a woman , as of beauty , good discourse , wit , eloquence , or honesty , which is the primum mobile , or first mover , and a most forcible loadstone , to attract the favours , and good will of mens eyes , eares and affections unto them . it is a plain ornament becomes a virgin or virtuous woman , and they get more credit in a wise mans eye and judgement , by their plainness , and are more comely and fair ▪ then they that are set out with their patches , bables , puffed up , and adorned like jayes in peacocks feathers . ladies , let the example of lucretia be set before you , who stamped a deeper impression of affection in the heart of the virtuous beholder , by addressing herself to houswifery , and purple spinning , then others could ever do with their rare banquets , and riotous spending . all are not of aegisthus minde , who was taken with a complement of lightness . this argued , that a youthful heat had rather surprised his amorous heart , then any discreet affection preferred him to his choise . this love is fading ; for where virtue is not directrice in our choise , our mindes are ever prone to change ; we finde not what we expected , nor digest well what we formerly affected ; all is out of square , because discretion contrived not the building . it is a decent and comely habit best becomes ladies to be wooed in , and contents discreet suitors most to have them won in . conforme then your generous dispositions to a decency of fashion , that you may attract to your selves , and beget in others motives of affection : whose private virtues render you to the imitation , and publick to the admiration of all . seventhly , a tender and hot heart , lucid spirits , vegetous and subtle bloud , are causes of amorous fires , a small beauty makes a great impression in them . eightly , obsequious love-letters , to insinuate themselves into their mistresses favour , are great incitements , they are the life of love . the pen can furrow a fond females heart , and pierce it more , then cupids faigned dart . letters a kinde of magick virtue have , and like strong philters humane souls inslave . ninthly , words much corrupt the disposition ; they set an edge or glosse on depraved liberty ; making that member the vent and spout of their passion , and making the hearts of credulous women melt with their ear-charming oratory . the tenth , love is caused very often by the ear , as achilles tacitus saith , ea enim hominum intemperantium libido est , ut etiam fama ad amandum impellantur , & audientes aequè afficiantur ac videntes ; such is that intemperance and passion of some men , that they are as much inamoured by report , as if they see them . oft-times the species of love are received into the fantasie , as well by relation as by sight , for we see by the eyes of our understanding . no face yet seen ; but shafts that love lets flie , kils in the ear as well as in the eie . also ; the pleader burns his books , disdains the law , and fals in love , with whom his eyes ne'r saw . lycidas declaring to cleon his love towards astrea , said , whether she was really fair or no , i know not , but so it was , that so soon as ever i heard the report of her , i loved her . some report ( saith he ) that love proceeds from the eyes of the party loved ; but this cannot be , for her eye never looked upon me , nor did mine see her so much as to know her again . for an illustrious name is a strange course to attract love , and good report hath force . we purpose now to treat of money causing love . that is the general humour of the world , and in this iron age of ours , and in that commodity stears our affections , the love of riches being most respected ; for now a maid must buy her husband with a great dowry if she will have him , making love mercenary ; and 't is the fashion altogether in use , to chuse wives as chapmen sell their wares , with quantum dabitis ? what is the most you will give ? witty was that young gentlewomans answer to an inconsiderate suitor , who having solicited the father , and bargained with him for the affection of his daughter for so much , and covenants of marriage concluded : this undiscreet wooer unseasonably imparts his minde to the daughter ; who made strange with it , saying , she never heard of any such matter : yea but ( replyed he ) i have bargained with your father , and he hath already consented : and you may marry him too ( quoth she ) for you must hold me excused . covetousness and filthy lucre mars many a good match , or some such by-respect . veniunt a dote sagit●ae , 't is money that makes the mare to go ; 't is money and a good dowry , lights hymens torches . they care not for beauty , education , honesty , or birth ; if they hear that she is a rich heir , or hath ready cash , they are frantick & doting upon such a one , more then if she were natures master-piece in beauty . if she be never so ugly and stinking , 't is money makes her kisse sweetly . has she money ? ( that 's the first question ) o how they love her ! is she mula auro onusta ? nay then , run dog , run bear , they 'l venture hanging to compasse their desire . auri sacra fames , quid non mortalia cogis pectora ? — what will not this desire of money compell a man to attempt ? is she as old as saturn , deformed , vitious , blear-eyed , though they be like two powdering tubs either running over or full of standing brine , and her browes hang ore her eyes like flie flaps , though her nose be like a hunters horn , and so bending up , that a man may hang a hat upon it , and her cheeks may serve boys for cherry-pits , doth her teeth stand like an old park pale , if she have any ? has she a tongue would make a deaf man blesse his imperfections , that frees him from the plague of so much noise ; and such a breath ( heavens shield us ) as out-vies the shambles for a sent ? yet if she have cash , oh how amiable is she ! without doubt she hath no lesse then twenty suitors , never rack she 's good enough . est natura hominum , to love those that are fortunate and rich , that thrive , let them get it as they will , by hook or crook , all 's one so they have it . de moribus ultima fiet qnestio ; to enquire of her conditions and education is the last interrogatory . but let me assure you these being joyned together , the seene is altered on a suddain , their love is converted into hate , their mirth into melancholy , having only fixed their affections upon this object of commodity ; the desire of which in excesse is meer covetousnesse ; and on the otherside their hate is furiously bent upon the woman , she becomes an abject , and an odious object unto them . now to turn the current of our discourse to the other sex ; for this desire of lucre is not adherent to men only , but that there are some of the female train of the same temper . let the man be what he will , let him be cast in esops mould , with his back like a lute , and his face like thersites , his eyes broad and tawny , his lips of the largest size in folio , able to furnish a coblers shop with clouting-leather ; if he have but a golden hand , midas's touch , or loadened with golden pockets , immediately they salute him with an easement , ego te hoc fasce levabo : and it is reason you should do it , replies the woodcock ; yielding up the souls of his pockets for the hopes of a smile , embrace or a kisse : and having emptied them , stuffe them up again with frowning looks , and serve him like a sheep in june , turned forth for a bare neck'd ewe , to seek a ruffe for the piece next below his coxcombe . money hath a significant voice , semper ad placitum , always pleasing , always grateful . he that will learn to win by smooth perswasion , must practise much the topick cal'd donation , strowing the path by which he means to passe , with the sweet flowers of yellow-fac'd midas ; so shall he finde all easie to his will ; come in at 's pleasure and be welcome still . but the truly handsome , compleat , and meritorious , that cannot shew the face of a jacobus , that hath not pocket angels for his gardians , shall live at a distance from gratia dei , the grace of her good liking ; he shall passe by for vas vacuum , and be embarked in the ship of scorn , to be conpucted to the haven of heavinesse , and thrust upon the shore ( as an exile ) of never return again . yet , i would rather wish ladies to let the picture of love be the emblem of their hearts , and not these inferiour pictures , which we call money ; which are so far from satisfying the affection , as they are only for the mold or worldling ; whose grosser thoughts never yet aspired to the knowledge of loves definition . also it shewes a servile nature , to cashire a faithfull lover because he is poor , and to prefer another lesse desertfull because he is rich . we will now declare what the poets say is the cause of love . they say that when jupiter first formed man , and all souls , he touched every one with severall pieces of loadstone , and afterwards put all the pieces in a place by themselves ; likewise , the souls of women after he had touched them , he put them in a magazine by themselves : afterwards when he had sent the souls into bodies , he brought those of the women to the place where the load-stones were which touched the men , and made every one to take one piece ; if there were any theevish souls , they took several pieces and hid them . now when that man meets with that woman that hath the piece which touched his soul , it is impossible but he must love her ; the loadstone which she hath doth attract his soul : and from hence doth proceed the several effects of love ; for those who are loved of many , are those theevish souls who took many pieces of the loadstone ; if any do love one who loves not him aagain , that was one who took his loadstone , but he not hers . and from hence ( say they ) comes it to passe , that we do often see some persons love others , who in our eyes are nothing amiable . also from hence proceed those strange loves which sometimes fals out , as that a gaul brought up amongst many beauties fals in love with a barbarous stanger . fonseca holds ( and i am of the same minde ) there is something in a woman beyond all humane delight , a magnetick virtue , a charming quality , and a powerful motive . to illustrate this ; there is a story recorded in the lives of the fathers , of a childe whose education was in a desert from his infancy , by an old hermite ; being come to mans estate , he accidentally spied two comely women wandering in the woods ; he enquired of the hermite ( having never seen such before in his life ) what creatures they were , the hermite told him that they were fairies ; after some tract of time , being in discourse , the hermite demanded of him which was the pleasantest and most delectable sight that ever he saw in his life ? he readily replyed ( without any pause or further consideration ) the two fairies he espied in the desert . so that indubitably , there is in a fair and beautiful woman , a magnetick power , and a natural imbred affection , which moves our concupiscence . and this surely proceeds from the particular institutes of nature , and the perfections a man imagins in another creature of his likeness , which he thinks may become another self : for with the distinction of sexes which nature hath bestowed on man , as well as irrationall creatures ; she hath put certaine impressions in the brain ( as in this young man ) which makes a man at a certain age , and at a certain season , to look on himself as defective , and as if he were but the half of an whole , whereof a person of the other sex ought to be the other half ▪ so that the acquisition of this half is represented to us confusedly by nature , as the greatest of all imaginable goods ; and although he see many persons of the other sex , he doth not therefore desire many at the same time , by reason nature makes him conceive that he hath need of no more but one half ; but when he observes some thing in any one , that likes him better then any thing he hath marked at the same time in the rest ; that fixes the soul to feel all the inclination which nature hath given him to seek after that good , that she represents to him , as the greatest he can possibly possesse , on that woman only ; and this is it which furnisheth the romancers and poets with stuffe . to conclude this chapter ; it may be , that some will expect , that i should prescribe some things to cause love ; as to teach them how to temper and spice an amatorious cup , and what time may be elected for the administring of it ; or how love may be caused by natural magick : but not knowing into whose hands the book might come , neither do i write it to be an instrument ready tun'd for every wanton eye , tongue , and hand to play upon ; i forbear , lest more hurt then good come thereby : for pliny reporteth that lucullus a most brave general and captain of great execution , lost his life by a love-potion . — love hath us'd against frail hearts unlawful weapons , shooting poyson'd darts . that there is things that have power and virtue to cause love is not to be doubted ; for the soul of the world ( according to corn . agrip. ) by its vertue doth make all things that are naturally generated , and artificially made fruitfull , by infusing into them celestial properties , for the working of these effects ; then , those things themselves not only administred by potions , or any other such like way , but also when they being conveniently wrapped up , and bound to , or hanged about the neck , or any other way applyed , although by never so small a contact , do impresse their virtue upon us . for by those applications or contacts the accidents of the body and minde are changed , causing them to whom they are administred to love , and render them that carry them to be beloved . but if these be not done under a sutable and proper constellation , you may as well go about to pick stravvs , as effect any thing by them ; no more but verbum sat sapienti . also there are certain seasons ( which i will conceal for modesties sake ) when women ( though never so forward at other times ) may be won , in the which moment they have neither will to deny , nor wit to mistrust ; such a time is recorded in history a young gentleman found to obtain the love of the dutchesse of millaine ; such a time a poor yeoman elected , and in it purchased the love of the fairest lady in mantua . sed vulgo prodere grande nefas . if i have displeased any fools in concealing such things as are to be concealed , i hope the wise will hold me excused , whilst i proceed to declare unto them in the next chapter , the power and effects of love . of the power and effects of love . the reader shall pay nothing but his pains in following me , whilest i shew him the great power and various effects of love ; and yet i think i may as well go about to number the leaves of trees , and sands of the sea , the grasse piles upon the land , and the stars in the firmament , as enumerate the different effects and disorders that love produceth in mortals . what poyson may be dissolved which love mingleth not ? what weapons can be forged and filed , to transfix the sides of innocent creatures which love hammereth and polisheth not in his shop ? or what precipices are there which love prepareth not ? all the mischiefs and crimes which have in former ages been perpetrated , love hath acted and dayly invented them . plato cals it magnus daemon , or the great devill , for its vehemency and soveraingty over all other passions . for saith one , i had rather contend with tygers , wolves , dragons , lions , buls , bears , and gyants , then with love , he is so powerfull . regnat , & in superos jus habet ille deus , saith ovid ; he enforceth all to become tributary to him , he domineers over all , and can make mad and sober whom he list , and strikes with sickness , and cures whom he list ; he is of such power and majesty , that no creature can withstand him ; he is to be seen in creatures void of reason : for the pelican gores her brest to feed her young ones , and the storke is not unkinde to feed her old one in her age . we are informed by common experience , how violently brute beasts are carryed away with this passion , lions , buls , dogs and cocks are so furious in this kinde that they will kill one another ; but especially harts are so fierce that they may be heard fight at a great distance . pliny saith , fishes pine away for love and wax lean ; for ( saith he ) a dolphin so loved a boy , that when he dyed the fish came on land , and so perished . this love is the most fatall plague amongst all the passions , it hath the shiffering and heat of fevers , the ach and striking of the meagrim , the rage of teeth , the stupefaction of the vertigo , the furies of frenzie , the black vapors of the hypochondry , the stupidities of the lethargie , the fits of the mother , and spleen , the faintness of the ptisick , the tremblings and palpitations of the heart . it is wils darling , the triall of patience , passions torture , the pleasure of melancholy , the sport of madnesse , the delight of varieties , and the deviser of vanities . after all this it is made a god called cupid , to whom poems , elogies ▪ hymnes , songs , and victimes are offered . empire over the heart is given to it . there are many millions of men in the world , who would be most fortunate and flourishing , if they knew how to avoid the mischievous power of this passion . what a sweet poyson is the beauty and comelinesse of one sex to another ? which entereth in by the eye and maketh a strange havock . i wonder not at all why the scriptures compare it to a panther ( a savage and cruell beast ) which with teeth , teareth those she hath amazed with the mirour-like spots of her skin , and drawn to her by the sweet exhalation of her body . love hath walked on scepters , parched the lawrels of victors , thrown trouble into states , schismes into churches , corruption among judges , and furies into arms . it assaulteth in company , in solitude , at windowes , at prison gates , at theaters , and in cabinets , at sports , in a feast , at a comedy , and many times at church , ( like the simple old woman belull'd with a sleepy zeal , had a minde to go to church purposely to take a nap ; so many of our dainty ones , desire nothing more , then to go to the temple to present to the deluded eye a new dresse , and captivating love-tainted hearts ) and who can assure us against it ? when it once gets the master-head of reason , and passion prevails , there is nothing left , but wandering of the soul , a fever , a perpetual frenzie , a neglect of operations , of affaires , of functions , sadnesse , languor and impatience , they think businesse is done when 't is but thought on . amor ordinem nescit ; love knows nor keeps no order . o the inexpressible variousnesse of this love ! in some it is sharp and violent ; in others , dull and impetuous ; in others , toyish and wanton ; in others , turbulent and cloudy ; in others , brutish and unnatural ; in others , mute and shamefaced ; in others , perplexed and captious ; in others , light and transitory ; in others , fast and retentive ; in others , fantastick and inconstant ; in others , weak and foppish ; in others stupid and astonished ; in others , distempered ; and in some furious and desperate . magna suo ardent furore pectora . it inflameth the bloud , it weakens the body , it wanneth the colour , it holloweth the eyes , it totally subverts the minde ; it hath somewhat of being possessed , something of idolatry ; for those that are thus love-stricken , make lust the idoll of their souls , and the person loved the idoll of their lust . you may behold in those that are far entred into this passion , floods and ebbs of thoughts , fits and countenances of persons possessed , and it is in all of them to deifie the creature on whom they are so passionately enamored , and would willingly place them among the stars , yea upon the altars . chaines and wounds are honorable if they come from a beloved hand , making their heads cushions for their mistresses feet , shewing that they finde more force in their eyes , then in their own hearts . they would die a thousand deaths for them , so they throw but so much as a handful of flowers , or distill but a poor tear on their tombs . this love awakeneth ( excludeth none ) all other passions , and garboyles them , and makes them all lacques to wait upon it : it makes lovers ( through immoderate watching ) giddy brain'd , having their spirits troubled , and become very fools . fears and joyes , hopes and desires , mixt with despairs and doubts , do make the sport in love ; they are the very dogs by which the hare is hunted ; and being flesh'd in the chase , neither stop nor give ore ( passion being in a hot sent ) till they have killed her . it is a natural distemper , a kinde of smal-pox ; every one hath had it , or is to expect it , and the sooner the better . it is of so great force and authority , that it subjugateth unto its will the greatest power of the minde ; that is will which ruleth and governeth all the other , both interiour and exteriour powers , and yet the will is constrained many times , for the better pleasing and content of love , to follow those things which it doth altogether abhor and detest : so that having so wonderful an empire and command over all the powers both inward and outward , of the body and of the minde , no wonder if love both will and can do what it will . it was love that betrayed sampson by dalila ; it was love made colomon brutish by his concubines and turn idolater ; 't was love caused ahab to be rooted out through jesabel ; marc. anthony slew himself for the love of cleopatra ; the destruction of troy was caused by helena , the pandora of hesiodus , the pitifull death of hercules by deianira , and many other miserable events procured through the love of women , and plentifully declared in histories . how was loves great-master ovid , inamoured of bright julia ( the jewell of his soul ) and celebrated her excellencies , and their love stealths under the mask of corinna ? nay , apollo himself , the inventer of poesie , musick , and physick , elated for his victory over the ugly python , found cupids shaft the most prevalent , when he pursued the too much loved , but overmuch hating daphne , over the uncouth rocks , craggy cliffes , and untrod mazes of the woods . cupid is more then quarter-master among the gods , ( capiumque jovem coelo traxit ) he made jupiter metamorphose himself for europa into a bull ( and put himself to graze , that he might lick her hands who fed him with flowers ) for danae into a shower of gold , for astrea into an eagle , for leda into a swan , for antiope into a satyr , for egina into a flame , for mnemosyne into a shepherd , for dois into a serpent , for calysto into a wood-nymph or nun ; so by this you may see that love made him esteem his pleasure above his state , so as lucian juno called him ludus amoris , cupids whirligig . sen. in herc. oet. . tu fulminantem saepe domuisti jovem . likewise all faigned romances do continually chant forth the complaints of millions of lovers , and the infidelity of their mistresses ; on the other side women waging war with men cease not to accuse their inconstancy , which were able to tire spirits any thing serious . a lovers heart is cupids quiver , an inextinguishable fire ; more hot and vehement then any material fire , it is the quintessence of fire , no water can quench . sen. hippol . — quis meas miserae deus , aut quis juvare daedalus flammas queat ? — what god can ease ? what daedalus can quench such flames as these ? or according to the eloquent poesie of another ; for love hath nets there laid to serve his turn , and in the water , will his wildfire burn . o! how many men do wander in this way ? how many persons in this age are corrupted too much with the extremity of this passion , lulling themselves asleeep in the laps of such as seek to strangle them ? how many excellent spirits are recorded in history , which were in excellent state and in full vigour of the functions of an intellectual life ; who by approaching over-neer to this sex , have entred into affections of fire and flames , which like little creeping serpents have stolne into their hearts . i cannot sufficiently admire at the sottishnesse and drowsinesse of many noble spirits , who are so delighted and captivated with the vain dreams of their own fancies , that they imploy all the gifts and graces of the minde , and incline to some beautiful object . what a ridiculous thing is it , to see men fall from their primitive goodnesse , as to lose their selves in dotage , and that dotage on one creature , and that creature a woman ? really , next to a miracle is my only admiration . o traitresse dalila , which seekest by thy inticings to deliver mans soul to an enemy far worse then the philistines ! such pleasures are like gilded pils , which under their external beauty include bitternesse . they are also like fresh rivers that end their course in the sea , losing their sweet relish in an ocean of saltness . man cannot love and be wise both together , the very best of them is betwixt hawke and buzzard , if once they be overtaken with this passion : it being the first and chief mistresse of all the passions , the most furious and severest of all ; he that suffers himself to be seduced by it , he is no more himself ; his body endureth a thousand labours in the search of his pleasure ; his minde a thousand hels to satisfie his desire , and desire it self increasing growes into fury . as it is natural , so it is violent and common to all : it maketh all the wisdom , resolution , contemplation and the operation of the soul brutish . it is impossible to reckon up the many great dangers and hazzards they undergoe ; they undertake single combates , venture their lives , creep in at windowes , gutters , go down chimnies in ropes , and climbe over wals to come to their sweet-hearts ; anoint the doores and hinges with oil , lest they should make a noise , tread softly , whisper , &c. and if they be surprised , leap out at windowes , and cast themselves down headlong . what a passionate speech was that of callicratides in lucian . dial. amorum . mihi ô dii coelestes ultra sit vita haec perpetua exadverso amicae sedere , & suave loquentem audire , &c. si moriatur , vivere non sustinebo , & idem erit sepulchrum utrisquethe which we thus paraphase ; o ye gods celestial , grant me this life for ever to sit opposite to her i love , that i may continually be an auditor of her mellifluous speeches , to go in and out with her ; he that frowns upon her , shall frown upon me ; if she should die , i would not live , and one tombe should contain us both . when the king of babylon would have punished one of his courtiers , for loving a young lady of the royal blood , far transcending his fortunes , apollonius being in his presence , by all means perswaded him to let him alone ; for to love and not enjoy , was most inexpressible tornent . loves force is shown in the continuation of a design , in spight of all impeachment and crosses ▪ how great was that of psyche in the search of cupid ? she saw three goddesses set against her pretensions , juno , ceres , and venus , and yet her passion became victorious over their malevolence ▪ she did things that seemed impossible , she went down to hell and spoke to preserpina , passing without much difficulty many obstructions in the way . but where it cannot effect its designes , it causes revenge . for when edward courtney earl of devonshire , being released by queen mary , long detained prisoner in the tower , a gentleman of a beautiful body , sweet nature , and royall descent , intending him ( as it was generally conceived ) to be an husband for herself . for when the said earl petitioned the queen for leave to travell , she advised him rather to marry , assuring him , that no lady in the land how high soever , would refuse him for an husband , and urging him to make his choice where he pleased ; she pointed out her self unto him as plainly , as might stand with the modesty of a maid , and the majesty of a queen . hereupon the young earl ( whether because his long durance had some influence on his brain , or that naturally ( as i rather suppose ) his face was better then his head , or out of some private fancy and affection to the lady elizabeth , or out of loyall bashfulnesse , not presuming to climbe higher , but expecting to be called up ) is said to have requested the queen for leave to marry her sister the lady elizabeth ; unhappy was it , that his choice either went so high or no higher ; for who could have spoken worse treason against mary ( though not against the queen ) then to prefer her sister before her ? and she innocent lady did afterwards dearly pay the score of this earls indiscretion ; for the queen having no cause of revenge against the earl , yet she under a colour imposed greater affliction , and closer imprisonment against elizabeth . love causeth him that doth love , to ingrave and imprint in his heart , that face and image which he loveth ; so that the heart of him that loveth is like unto a looking-glasse , in which the image of the party beloved shineth and is represented ; and doth as it were deprive himself of himself , and giveth himself to whom he loveth ; for the delights of love are commonly more in the imagination , then in the thing it self ; and the soul doth cast her eye upon those images which remain in the fancy , and looks upon them as if they were present . when venus commands , all things lose their antipathy , such is the power of love , that for the thing beloved , they neglect their own good , they fear not to expose their bodies to the edge of the sword , deny unto themselves whatsoever to them is profitable , as sleep to their eyes , quietnesse to their mindes , rest to their members , ease to their bodies ; yea , more then all this , they glory in those vain glorious attempts , those labours , sweatings , watchings , wounds , burnings and freezings , all which they endure and undergo for their mistresses ; as sir jo. suckling sings ; ah cruell love , how great a power is thine ! under the pole although we lie , thou mak'st us frie : and thou cast make us freeze beneath the line . yet this amorous passion is not more frequent with men and women , then it is with the airy quiristers , the nimble birds , who are overtaken with cupids nimbler wings , annually electing their valentines . what a perfect harmonie of affection is there betwixt the turtle and his dear mate ? whose continual billing shames diana and her frigid train . what a zealous adorer of venus is the wanton sparrow ( as pliny reporteth in his natural history ) who empties himself of all his radical moisture in her rites , and at three years end ( when the columne of his life fails him ) offers up his dry bones a sacrifice to her . aristotle will have birds sing ob futuram venerem , for joy and hope of their love stealth to come . cupid is as familiar with lions , as children with cosset lambs , and oftentimes mounts on their backs , holding by their brisly mains , and riding them about like horses , whilest they fawn upon him with their tails . he blunts the horns of the bull , and muzzels the fierce tyger , and makes the sluggish bear nimbly dance a corranto . omne adeo genus in terris hominumque ferarumque et genus aequoreum , pecudes pictaeque volucres in furias ignemque ruunt , amor omnibus idem . all kinde of creatures on the earth , beasts grim , and men , and fish with golden fins that swim , and painted birds alike to rage doth flie . thus love bears equall sway in earth , sea , skie . it is love makes old men and women , that have more toes then teeth , dance and frisk like goats ; it makes old gowty fellowes break their cruches , i , and shins too , & dance after fidlers hei go mad : and 't is no new thing , take the poets reason , which seems to me to be as true as ever fiction was , and that is , cupid and death met in an inne , and being merrily disposed , they did exchange some arrowes out of eithers quiver , which is the cause that young men die , and oft-times old men dote . and who can withstand the force of it ? ( saith mr. burton ) if once it pricks us at the heart , young or old , though our teeth shake in our heads like virginal jacks , or stand parallel asunder like arches in a bridge ; there 's no remedy , we must dance and caper candlestick height , leap over tables , chaires , and stools , though we be years above waste , scarce below . maides when they get together ( pardon me ladies , for 't is my design to touch all ) are still either reading or telling of love-stories , singing love-songs or sonnets , talking of this or that young man , such a man is proper , fair , and handsome , saith one ; and such a man is black and comely ; o! what a pearl is he in mine eye , saith another ; and thus they chat when they meet , never thinking or willingly discoursing upon any other subject . and forfoorh they must fast st. agnes eve , to see who must be their first husbands , and flock to the artist to know who they shall marry , and how many husbands they shall have ; nay , what would they not give if they might but see him in a glasse ? this is no court complement or allegation , but a downright truth . we will now turn to the enamorate ; and suppose one should endevour to reform him ( then which , one had better strive and tame a panther ) immediately he will burst out in choler , saying , do you think that love that thinks the whole universe too narrow a compasse to be confined unto , and who disposeth of all our wils according to his pleasure , be hem'd up in such strait limits as you prescribe ? will love be ruled and governed by the will of any but himself ? he will confesse his fault , yet will not insist upon any other argument or reason but his extreme affection , and will not argue with you anywhere but before the throne of love , and there he will prostrate himself upon his knees , and vow by all eternity , ndver to rise so long as he lives , unlesse he be ingratiated into his mistresses favour . and such a one is this who sues for an office in fools paradise ; but let him take it , for my part i le never ride ( like one for the county-clerk ship when a new sheriff is elected ) nor strive with him for it . what ( saith he ) would you have me inconstant ? oh no , not for a world ! what , would you have me mad ? ( as he is no better ) no , i will be constant till death ; startling more at the word inconstancy , then at a devil : so that i have often smiled at those who condemn inconstancy , and are professed enemies against it ; considering that they themselves are not able to be as they say , nor more constant then those whom they brand with the vice of inconstancy . for when they fall in love , do they not fall in love with beauty , or something which seems pleasing unto them ? now when this beauty doth fade , as time doubtlesse will make all beauty do , are they not then inconstant , still loving those faces that are now grown ugly , and retain nothing of what they were , but only the very name of a face ? if to love that , which is contrary to that which was loved , be constancy ; and if uglinesse be contrary unto beauty , then he that did love a fair face , and continues loving when it is ugly , must be concluded inconstant . this consideration makes me think , that the way to avoid inconstancy , is always to love beauty , and when it fades farewel love , finde some other that is faire , and still love beauty ( if you will be loving and accounted constant ) and not its contrary , unlesse you be unconstant to your first love . i know this is point blanck against the opinion of the vulgar , but if they gainsay it , i cannot help it . likewise ( saith this love-simplician ) did you know what it is to be a fool in such occasions , you would confesse that all the wisdom in the world is not comparable to this pleasing folly ; were you able to comprehend it , you would never aske what pleasure and contentment those faithful lovers ( whom you phrase melancholy and pensive ) do receive ; for you then would know that they are so ravished in the contemplation of the party whom they love and adore , as scorning all that is in the whole universe ; they do not repent of any thing more , then the losse of that time , which they spend anywhere else ; and their souls not being well able to contain the grandure of their contentment , they stand astonished at so much treasure , and so many felicities which transcends their knowledge . but i am so far from thinking them felicities , as my opinion of the contrary is much fortified . had i a quill pluck'd from cupids wing , and dip'd in the milke of venus , i could not record all the delight lovers take in displaying the beauty of their mistresses , with obsequious hyperboles , and things most excellent , comparing their eyes to those of night , to the sun , and call them spheres of light , flaming and strongly enkindling all others , they compare her to aurora , or the morning , to the snow , lilly , rose , to the whitenesse of the swan , sometimes to the myrtle , sometimes to gold , rubies , diamonds , crystal , sometimes they parallel her with the heavens , the spring , and whatsoever is in any degree excellent ; and yet , they think those but beggerly similitudes , and would go higher if they could tell how . they suppose their cheek two fair gardens planted with the choisest flowers of paradise , making the lilly and the rose as obscure types and shadowes of those delicate tinctures laid on their blooming cheeks by natures pencil . they imagine their necks towers of alabaster , their breasts hillocks of snow inlaid with saphires , their mouthes musicks temple deckt with rails of pearl , their voices the harmony of the sphears . and these they count as faint metaphors of them , to represent whom ( in their thoughts ) words are too narrow , and freshest colours too dim . oh! how she-lovers fry under the torrid zone of love , hourly in that elizium , quenching and renewing their heats , and letting themselves loose to the freedome of uncontrouled embraces . expressing themselves in these or such like raptures , viz. my dearest , unlesse thou be'st frosty spirited , unlesse alecto's cold poison fils thy veins , i le melt thee into amorous thoughts , and speak charmes to all thy senses , and make thee all flame . and thus they besiege and seek to storme loves-fort , with whole volly of obediential oathes , and the hollow granado's of complement ; crying out to their obstinate sweet-hearts , to tell them ( for loves sake ) if it be not better and more lovely to lie intwin'd in their folding armes , freely enjoying their embraces , like lillies imprisoned in goales of snow , or ivory in bands of alabaster , then to sit muffled in furs like a bed-rid miser ? they lie open to the touch , the warm snow and soft polisht ivory of their brests , which excels in softnesse the ranging clouds , the indian cotton , and in sleeknesse the smoothest cut diamond , and these are lures to catch buzzards . thus wounds they give , and wounds they take again , nor doth it grieve them slaying to be slain . now to return again to our loves weather-beaten widgeon , he hugs and embraces all his mistresses friends and followers , her picture and what ever she wears he adores as a relique , her dog he makes his constant companion , feeding him at his table , verifying the proverb , love me love my dog . if he get a ring , a ribband , a shooe-tie , her garter , a bracelet of hair of hers , he wears it ( ut pignus amoris ) for a favour about his arme , in his hat , finger or next his heart . how many of such like , would not let to hazzard their very souls for their mistresses sake ? forsake heaven with venus for the love of an adonis ? there is no man so pusillanimous , so very a dastard , whom love would not incense , making an heroical spirit ; for ( saith sir . phil. sydney ) they imagine that valour towards men , is an emblem of ability towards women , a good quality signifying a better . nothing drawes a woman like to it . nothing is more behooveful for that sex ; for with it they receive protection , and in a free way too without any danger . nothing makes a shorter cut to obtaining ; for a man of armes is always void of ceremony , which is the wall betwixt pyramus and thisbe , that is , man and woman ; for there is no pride in women , but that which rebounds from our own basenesse ( as cowards grow valiant upon those that are more cowards ) so that only by our pale asking we teach them to deny , and by our shamefacednesse we put them in minde to be modest . this kinde of bashfulnesse is far from men of valorous dispositions , and especially from soudiers ; for such are ever men ( without doubt ) forward and confident , losing no time , lest they should lose opportunity , which is the best factor for a lover . and because they know women are given to dissemble , they will never believe them when they deny . they will defend their mistresses even in a wrong and unjust cause ; for from the first moment that they fastened their affections upon that object , they prize it above their own proper essence , and therefore how justly soever an injury or violence may be offered unto it , they think no injustice in themselves to defend it ; or because winking at the wrong offered their sweet hearts , they make themselves unwortby of their grace . plato is of opinion that it was the love of venus , made mars couragious and valorous : and ( truly ) who would not be valorous to fight under such colours ? before this cowardly age , there was no way known to win a lady but by tilting and turning , and riding , to seek adventures through dangerous forrests ; in which time these slender small bon'd striplings with little legs , were held but of strength enough to marry their widowes . and even in our days there can be given no reason of the inundation of servingmen upon their mistresses , but only that usually they carry their masters weapons , and their valour . it is better to be admitted to the title of valiant acts ; at least that imports the venturing of mortality ; and all women delight to hold him fast in their armes , who hath escaped thither through many dangers . to speak at once , man hath a priviledge in valour . in clothes and good face , we do but imitate women . so then these whiffling skips , these women in mens apparel , are too neer a woman to be beloved of her . a scar in a mans face , is the same that a mole is in a womans , and a mole in a womans face , is a jewell set in white , to make it seem more white ; so a scar in a man is a mark of honour , and no blemish ; for 't is a scar and a blemish in a souldier to be without one . a good face availeth nothing , if it be on a coward that is bashful , the utmost of it is to be kist , which rather increaseth , then quencheth the appetite . she cares not for a man that wooes by letters , and through cowardlynesse dares not come into her company ; no woman takes advice of any in her loving , but of her own eyes , and her waiting maids ; and there is no clothes fits so well in a womans eye as a suit of steel , though not of the fashion : and no man so soon surprizeth a womans affections , as he that is the subject of whisperings , and hath alwayes some twenty stories of his own atchievements depending upon him . there is one love-simplician who is so led by the nose into fools paradise , that if he see an handsome maid smile and laugh upon him , or shew a pleasant countenance , or look ( obliquis ocellis ) asquint upon him , or use some gratious words , or amorous gestures ( as many are too full of ) he applies it all to himself , as done in his favour , thinking that surely she loves him ; to the tavern he runs , looks big , erects his mouchatoes , stampes , stares , and cals the drawer rogue , drinks to his venus in a venice-glace , and thinks he sees the smile she gave him in it , and to moralize her sex , throwes it over his head and breaks it . this fellow is like to mullidor ( in greenes never too late ) who said to his mother , that he compared the church to a looking-glasse , for as a man may see himself in the one , so in the other the wenches eyes are a certificate ; for upon whom you see all the girles look , he for foot and face carries away the bell , phillida solus habet : and i am sure ( sayes he ) for these two years i never came into the church , and was no sooner set , but the maids began to winke one upon another , to look on me and laugh . oh! war mother , when a dog wags his tail he loves his master , and when a wanton laughes , for my life , she is over head and ears in love . another gull seeks to win his mistresses affection with gallant and costly apparell , putting all he hath on his back , thinking women are marryed to fine clothes ; making his taylor his baude , and hopes to inveagle her love with such a coloured suit ; surely the same man hazzards the losse of her favour upon every change of his clothes . another with an affected pace . another with musick . another with rich gifts , and pleasant discourse . another with letters , vowes , and promises , to be gratious in her eyes , struts like a peacock , with his train before her . but there are many other , who every moment declare their fervour , their torment , and martyrdom ; they serve , they sooth , they continually frequent , they spie out all occasions , they silently practise all the ways they can , to come to the end of their designs ; and often it happeneth , that as drops of water incessantly falling , do hollow rocks ; so ceaselesse complements soften the most inaccessible rigors . yet some are so sottishly overcome , as to waste ten years of service to kisse a womans hand , and suffer for a shameful servitude , that , which ( i professe ) i would not endure one year for an empire . fond novices , you pule , and continually strive to please your mistresses , which is the only way to make her flie you , nothing so tiring and tedious ; such as thus love , must needs perpetually be imprisoned , never at liberty , always present , continually talking with her , she cannot stir a foot , but you must do the like . if she chance to be at any time ill , or frown , and do not smile upon you , nor please you , then must you forsooth put the finger in the eye and cry , cry tears . do you think this is the way ? no , no , it is in love as in all things else , the mean is the best measure ; so as to avoid all frivolous follies and troubles ( as they are no other when you have made the best of them ) the only way is but to love indifferently ; and if you will be silly fools , and must needs have mistresses , your best way is never to tie your self to one ; for to love one only , gives her an occasion to think that it is for want of courage , that you dare not attempt to love any else , and therefore she will scorn such a fainthearted lover : whereas , did you love all you look upon ( or at least a good many of them ) she will not think you came to her , because you know not whither to go else ; but she will then prize you the higher , and will be obliged to love you , especially if you particularize her above any other ; and once a week is often enough to tender your service to her , for oftener is a palpable doting . but because i say a mediocrity in love is the best , ( me thinks ) i see one of these melancholy lovers , setting a frowning , tart , saturnine face upon me ; objecting , that he that loves not in the highest point of extremity , does not love one jot ; he that can be indifferent and love all alike , cannot love one as he ought to do ; or he that can measure , or think any greater then his own , is not a lover worth a rush ; for to injoyn a mediocrity in love , is to impose an impossibility . and then ( poor soul ) he shakes his head at me , saying , ah , you little know what belongs to love ! and then having recovered his breath , for ( through the vehemency of anger towards me ) he had almost lost it , he begins to object again , saying , those effects which belong to an extreme love , and one that knowes , what sacrifice and duties belong unto the altars of love , is so far from calling those effects , troubles , or follies ( as you terme them ) as they think them felicities and perfect contentments ; likewise he saith , that love is to die in ones self , that he may live in another ; never to love any thing but what is pleasing and agreeable to the party loved . the will must be transformed into a night toy he cals a mistresse . and can you think ( saith he ) that one who loves thus , will ever be troubled with the presence of her whom he loves . if you did but know what it is to love , you would never think that he who loves , can do any thing to displease . if he chance to commit any fault , the fault it self pleaseth , considering with what intention it was committed . the very desire of being amiable has such a vigour in a right lover , as though he be rough to the world in general , yet will he be sure smooth and spruce up himself towards her he loves . nay , he thinks himself in the orchard of adonis , or the elizium fields , if he injoy her company , he is so taken with delight . and these , and an hundred such like whimsical chym●raes , hot brained lovers conceive , and do affect a vainglorious humor , which lovers use to attribute to themselves , and it is to be reputed constant . they suffer themselves wholly to be led by sense , and are so far from repressing these rebellious inclinations , that they give all incouragement unto them , leaving the reigns , and using all provocations to further them ; bad by nature , worse by art , education , and a perverse will of their own ; they follow on wheresoever their unbridled affections will transport them , doing all out of self-will , casting reason at their heels ; this stubborn-will of theirs perverts judgement , which sees and knows what should and ought to be done , and yet will not do it , slaves to their lusts and appetite , they precipitate and plunge themselves into a labyrinth of cares blinded with lust . for her they do depart even from their reason , bids welcome unto manacles and prison : in sharpest torments think themselves at ease , so they thereby their fair saint shall please ; and all without expectance of reward ; to love her is the honour they regard . but if this be love , heaven shield us from it , and preserve our eye-sight . this love gathereth its heat , and redoubleth its force by hope , which inflameth with the soft and gentle aire thereof our foolish desires , kindleth in our mindes a fire from whence ariseth a thick smoak , which blindeth our understanding , carryeth with it our thoughts , holds them hanging in the clouds , and makes us dream waking . although she be all soveraignty , as high as heaven , and be a deity : yet still my high-blown hopes will have the glory , to enterprise an act beyond all story . if you narrowly survey the palace of this amorous passion ( the plague and frenzie of the soul ) you shall finde it to be built all upon hopes . the staires are of ice , made in such wise , that he who most ascendeth , most descendeth ; the hals , chambers , and wardrobes , are all furnished and hanged with idlenesse , dreams , desires and inconstancies ; the seats and chaires are made of false contentment . it hath affliction , torment , and fraud for engineers ; uncertainty , fear , false opinion and distrust for guard . the court being all composed of heartlesse , soft , and effeminate men ; the counsellors are lying and deceit ; and the steward , suspicion . it is a play-game wherewith nature busieth our mindes ; contrarywise when despair is once londged neer us , it torments our souls in such a sort , with an opinion of never obtaining that we desire , that all businesse besides must yeeld unto it . and for the love of that which we think never to obtain , we lose even the rest of whatsoever we possesse . this passion is like unto little children , who to be revenged of him who hath taken one of their play games from them , cast the rest into the fire . it is angry with it self , and requireth of its self the punishment of its own folly and ( seeming ) felicity ; and hence it is , that many despairing of ever having them whom they affect , make themselves away either by strangling or drowning , or some such like miserable end , or continually deploring their dysasterous condition . plant me where nothing growes but cruelty , ' amongst lions , bears , and other savage beasts ; to see if they that mercy will deny , which i in vain implore from humane breasts . how justly are those cruel ladies to be condemned , who being rich in beauty ( scorning art ) suffer their loyall amorists to die for love of them unpityed . they are so nice they scorn all suitors , crucifie their poor enamoratoes , and think no body good enough for them , as dainty to please , as daphne herself ; they take a pride to prank up themselves , to make young men enamored : but 't is a lamentable thing to see a silly soul so profuse of love , as to confer it upon such ingrate and disdainful women ▪ as if one took delight to feed and flatter owles . and on the other side ( to make neither barrell better herring ) some young men are so obstinate , and as curious in their choise , and tyrannically proud , insulting , deceitful and false hearted . therefore let these go together , for love and hanging go by destiny . yet there are some feminine humours so tractable , that they are won with a small intreaty , according to that of the comedian , such rape thou act'st upon my soul , and with such pleasing violence dost inforce it , that when it should resist , it tamely yeelds ; making a kinde of haste to be undone , as if the victory were losse , and conquest came by overthrow . wounded with love , they yeeld up natures treasure , to be all ransackt at the victors pleasure . there are others , who are more taken with a soothing observance , or handsome congie making , then all the fair qualities or good parts can be in a man , or the faithfullest service can be rendered them . there are others , who lay snares and keep alwayes a kinde of order in the receit of such as they intend to in register in the number of their subjects . but at length , this idalian fire kindles in them , and then are they unable to suffer the absence of their lover , yet modesty will not suffer them to intrrude into his presence , they desire with all impatience to see him , yet shun all occasions of seeing him , seeking and fearing in one and the same time to meet him , a troublesome passion , that brings them to will and not to will in the same time one and the same thing . she is peevish and sick till she see him , discontent , heavy , sad , and why comes he not ? where is he ? why bteaks he promise ? why tarries he so long ? sure he is not well ; he hath some mischance certainly , he forgets himself and me . and when he comes , then with a seeming coynesse she looks upon him , with a cold look , though she be all flame within . some are as sappho , who was subtle to allure , and slippery to deceive , having their hearts made of wax , ready to receive every impression , not content till they have as many lovers as their hearts have entrances for love , their hearts being like pumice stones , light and full of holes . some are as inconstant as cressida , that , be troylus never so true , yet out of sight out of minde ; and so soon as d●omede begins to court , she like venetian traffick , is for his penny currant , à currendo , sterling coyne ; passable from man to man in way of exchange . others are as lydia cruell , whose hearts are hammered in the forge of pride , thinking themselves too good for all , ( when as in truth they are too bad for any ) and none worthy of them , and oft-times nestling all day with the beetle , are at night contented with a cowsherd for a shelter . these have eyes of basilisks that are prejudiciall to every object , and hearts of adamant not any way to be pierced . some are as if they were votaries unto venus , and at their nativities had no other influence , take no pleasure but in amorous passions , no delight but in madrigals of love , wetting cupids wings with rose-water , and tricking up his quiver with sweet perfumes ; they set out their faces , as fowlers doe their daring-glasses , that the larkes that sore highest may stoop lowest ; as soon as the poor loving fools are wrapped within their nets , then they sue with signes and plead with sonnets , faign tears , and paint out passions to win her , that seeming to be coy comes at the first lure . there ate others taken as schoole boyes catch squirrels , hunting them up and down till they be weary and fall down before them . all melted in pure love languidly sweet , she lets her self fall at the victors feet . the coyest she that is may be won by fair opportunity , being the strongest plea in the court of venus , able to overthrow her be she never so coy ; ( for it is more easie for some maides to suffer themselves to be martyred by tyrants in defence of their chastity , then ( if opportunity , pleasing courtship and importunity serve ) not to yield that to a lover , which they would have denyed to an executioner ; and there are some so strongly inclined by nature , and assaulted with such violent temptations , that if they resist and become victors over passion , may well be recorded among noble and heroick women ) yet time may be so elected , that he that takes it wisely , shall be sure never to misse : he that can temper toyes with art , she being in a merry vein , may bring that love which swimmeth in her eyes , to dive into her heart ; but other times they are so squeemish , so skittish , and demure , that one may better catch and tame a wilde horse , then win their favour ; no not a look , not a smile , not a kisse for a kingdome : this being one of their subtle arts , as one wittily saith , quanquam natura & arte eram formosissima , isto tamen astu tanto speciosior videbar , quod enim oculis cupitum agrè praebetur , multo magis affectus humanos incendit . though i was by nature and art most beautifull , yet by those tricks , i seemed to be far more amiable then i was ; for that which men earnestly seek and cannot attain , draw on their affections with a most furious desire . and to gull their lovers the more , and fetch them over , they will shew them rings , gloves , scarffes , &c. saying , that such a gallant sent them , when there is no such matter , but meerly to circumvent them . o the subtilty of women to whet their lovers appetite ! they will fall out and quarrell with them on set purpose , pick quarrels upon no occasion , because they would be reconciled unto them again , according to the old grammar rule , amantium irae amoris redintegratio est . the falling out of lovers is a renewing of love . the blunt countrey wench did as eloquently as she could expresse her self in these words ; there is something runs in my minde , i wish it were out ; but i wish somebody loved me , as well as i love somebody : poor girl , both at milking , walking , and working , still something troubles her : at last she cryes out , hai-ho , for an husband , a bad husband , nay the worst that ever was is better then none . how earnestly do they seek marriage and are never well till they have effected it ! o how sweet is the contemplation of marriage to them ! and likewise we batchelours , when we see and behold those angelical faces , observe their pleasant gestures and graces , lend an ear to their siren-like songs , see them dance , &c. we think their conditions are as fine as their faces , we are taken with dumb signes , we rave , we burn , and how gladly would we be marryed ? but when we feel the cares and miseries of it , then we wish to be single again ; as the story goes of a good-fellow , which whilest he was a batchelour , was a boon companion , and would spend his money freely , and therefore with his hostess he was termed a good-fellow ; but so it happened , that at length he was marryed , and coming not so frequently to his hostess as formerly , nor spending his cash so freely when he came , was by one of them demanded the reason of this his unwonted strangenesse and great change ; who replying said , i am now married ; why then quoth she , thou art now an honest man ; but he sighingly made answer in these words , ha , but if i were once a good-fellow again , i would never be an honest man whilest i lived . if this be true , as some out of disconsolate experience will informe us ; farewell wiving for my part . but to put a period to this section ; volumes would not be sufficient for him , who should write all the passions which dayly arise as members from this passion , all pens would be weak , words would be dried up , and wits lost therein . the power and effects of love in widowes . reader , i pray thee smile , but do not jear at my curiosity in describing the effects of love in widowes ( who , like heralds herse-clothes , serve to many funerals with a little altering the colour ) and the wylie lures they lay to bring on their suitors . it would make a dog laugh to hear how they will belie their age , saying , they are little past when they have scarce a tooth in their heads . as one reports , who loved a widow of years of age , she swore she was but the next december , and 't is a thing more familiar with stale batchelours ; but venus haec perjuria ridet : venus laughes at these perjuries . they will artificially discourse of their former husbands , saying , they have no memory of life , unlesse it be to think of , and to live in him ; thinking thereby to engage their lovers the more , and to let them see how much they doe deserve to be beloved , in shewing them how capable they are of love , and how much they can cherrish the affections of a living man , since they so long retain those of dead ones ; imitating such decoyes , as to gain another mans money , doe willingly deposite some of their own . o heavens ! saith she , ( relating her love to her former husband ) how doe i resent his losse , and have ever since preserv'd so lively a memory of him in my soul ( for i did love him with most perfect affection ) that me thinks i see him every hour before mine eyes , and me thinks i hear him every minute bid me love him still ; making a dead man a ground bait to draw suitors ▪ on ; delighteth in the multitude of them ; for by them she gaines : one serves to draw on another , and with one at last she shoots out another , as boyes do pellets in elder-guns . she has a trick to commend to them a single life ; just as horse-coursers do their jades to put them away . while she is a widow ( observe her ) she is no morning woman ; the evening and a good fire may make her listen to a husband ; but if ever she be made sure , 't is upon a full stomach to bedward . they ( all of them ) are full of suspicion of their lovers , extremely jealous , lest they be deceived by young wenches , exceeding hard to be won , and very easily lost , quickly offended , but abominably hard to be pleased . really , i admire at those men , who take delight to court widowes . what a fantasticall stomach must he needs have , that cannot eat of a dish of meat , till another have cut of it ? who would wash after another , when he might have fresh water enough for asking ? or what a pitiful thing is it , for a man that is about to go a long journey , to be tyed to ride on a beast that is half tyred to his hand ? men will say he is benighted , and is now glad of any inne . therefore i wish you never to marry any advowson that has had other incumbents ; for he that takes her , has but a reversion in taile , and if she prove good , he may thank death for his aime ; if evill , upbraid him , and not unjustly for his occasion . but hold , a church-man she dares not venture upon , for she hath heard widowes complain of dilapidations . never ( with the philosopher ) drink of that fountain another hath dyed in . wherefore it is a resolution of the spaniard , of what mean quality soever he be , he will not marry a widow , although she be very young and wealthy , and it hath been a resolution of theirs from antiquity , and continueth to this day : and to this effect one of them made this answer , i will no widow wed , my reason's sound , i 'le drink no water wherein one was drown'd . he that takes her halfe worne , makes account she hath that will pay for new dressing ; she seems to promise security in her peace , yet invites many times to a troublesome estate ; when the conquest atchieved , scarce countervails the wars , the principall of her love is perished with the use . but ( indeed ) rich widowes were ordained for younger brothers ; for they being born to no lands , must plough in another mans soil . but i expect no thanks from them for this , having trespassed a little too much upon their patience . wherefore i will proceed on to the next chapter ; and discover to you the signes of love . the signes of love . having entered thus far within this melancholy devils territories ; it is our purpose to set before thee ( courteous reader ) in this section ( as in a glasse ) a clear representation and image of a love-sick soul , and an account of those various gestures , and actions lovers have , as few books of this nature do so copiously demonstrate . love though it be never so close and kept private , may be discovered , if prudence and artifice be used . yet i wish every one , who deposites his judgement in the discovering of an enamorato , not rashly to give credit to one testimony of contingent signes , but joyn many , and consider them together for the perfection of your judgement ; therefore aristotle adviseth , vni signo non fidendum , sed pluribus inter se collatis . and first , how it may be discovered by physiognomie . we commonly call physiognomie the science , whereby men judge of the nature , complexion and manners of every one , by the contemplation of all the members of the body , and chiefly of the face and countenance : but there is no physiognomie so certain , as that we are about to touch , whereby men may be easily convinced of that which they think to hide in their hearts , which notwithstanding is quickly discovered in their countenances , as if we read it in a book ; according to ovid ; heu quam difficile est crimen non prodere vultu ! how hard is it a fault with face not to bewray ? and to the same effect , the wise man saith , ecclus. . . cor hominis immutat faciem sive in bono sive in malo : the heat of man changeth his countenance , whether in good or evill ; for in anger and fear we see men , either extreme pale or high coloured ; in melancholy and sadnesse , the eyes are heavie ; in joy and pleasure , the motions of the eyes are lively and pleasant , according to the diverb , cor gaudens exhilarat animum ; a rejoycing heart maketh merry the face . and it is a received opinion , that vultus est index animi ; the countenance is the discoverer of the minde . so that one affirmes that those that are in love , semper conniventes , have a continuall motion or winking with their eye-lids . tears are signums of this passion , which may be observed by the poets so often representing unto us lovers weeping and lamenting ▪ because love is delighted in tears ; but this signe is not pathognomical , nor very certain , especially in women , who have the command of their tears , and can unsluce the floudgates of their eye when they please . but as this passion enters first into the internall parts by the eyes ; so they send forth the first assured and undoubted tokens of the same ( for there is no passion but some particular gesture of the eyes declare it ) : so soon as ever the malady hath seized upon the patient , it causeth a certain kinde of modest cast of the eyes ; but if it begin to get strength upon the party , then the eyes begin to grow hollow and dry , and you may observe them to stand , as if they were in some deep contemplation , or else were fixed in beholding something that much delights them . jonadab discovered by the languishing countenance of amnon , davids son , that he was in love with some great princesse or personage . the hair of his eye-browes stand upright and grow hard , he rubs his eyes very much as though he were sleepy , he rols his eyes much . his eyes are all white , either to weare the livery of his mistresse complexion , or to keep cupid from hitting the black . hair growing thick behind the ears , and besides the temples , is a signe of a vehement inclination to love . valescus de tarenta the most famous physitian of his age , observes the chopping of lips in women to be a sign of their inclination to this malady ; for that it denotes the intemperate heat of the matrix . they cannot endure to look any in the face , because they think , that through their eyes they see their hearts . his armes are carelesly used , as if their best use were nothing but imbracements . he is untrust , unbuttoned , ungartered , not out of carelesnesse , but care ; his farthest end being but going to bed . her favours lift him up as the sun doth moisture ; when she disfavours , unable to hold that happinesse , it fals down in tears . if you aske him a question , he answers not , or not to the purpose ; and no wonder , for he is not at home , his thoughts being gone a wool-gathering with his mistresse . stragling thoughts are his content , they make him dream waking . speak to him , he hears with his eyes , eares follow his minde , and that 's not at leasure . ovid saith , that palenesse is a constant colour with lovers . pallidus omnis amans , color hic est aptus amanti . one trembles at the sight of his mistresse , tremor cordis , palpitations of the heart ; another sweats , blowes short , his heart is at his mouth , leapes , he burns , freezes , and sometimes through violent agitation of the spirits bleeds at nose . he denies nature her due in sleep , and payes her with watchfulnesse , he lies upon a bed of thornes , he has no order or equality at all in his gestures , motions or actions ; he thinks of businesse , but never does any ; he is all contemplation and no action ; nothing pleases him long , but that which pleaseth his own fancy . they are the consuming evils , and evill consumptions that consume him alive . he perpetually sighes to the hazzard of his buttons , and complaines without any evident cause . poor soul , he is inflam'd with fits of love , so violently hot , as they do move his pulse to beat a madmans temper : he does sigh , does langish , and half dead is he , and ever in such violencies swell , as aske him what he ailes , he cannot tell . as the old woman catechized her son mullidor ; thy cheeks are lean , and now thou looks like leuton pale and wan , i saw thy stomach to night , thou art not thine own man ; thou hadst of late ( god save thee ) a lovely plump pair of cheeks , and now thou looks like a shotten herring . tell me mullidor , and fear not to tell me , for thou tellest it to thy mother , what ailest thou ? is it a grief of body , or of minde , that keeps thee on the holy-dayes from frisking at the foot-ball ? thou art not as thou wert wont , and therefore say what thou ailest , and thou shalt see old women have good counsell . at these speeches of his mother , mullidor fetched a great sigh ; and with that , being after supper , he brake winde ; which his mother hearing , oh son ( quoth she ) it is the colick that troubles thee , to bed man , to bed , and we will have a warme pot lid . the colick mother , no , 't is a disease that all the cunning women in the countrey cannot cure , and strangely it holds me ; for sometimes it holds me in my head , and sometimes in mine eyes ; my heart , my heart , oh there ( mother ) it plays the devill in a morter ; sometimes it is like a frost , cold ; sometimes like a fire , hot ; when i should sleep , then it makes me wake ; when i should eat , then it troubles my stomach ; when i am alone , it makes me cry right-out , i can wet one of my new lockeram napkins with weeping . it came to me by a great chance ; for as i looked on a fair flower , a thing i know not what , crept in at mine eyes , and ran round about all my veins , and at last got into my heart , and there ever since hath remained , and there ( mother ) so wrings me that mullidor must die , and with that he fell on weeping . his mother seeing him shed tears , fell to her hempen apron , and wip't her bleared eyes , and at last demanded of him if it were not love . at that question , he hung down his head and sighed . ah my son ( quoth she ) now i see 't is love , for he is such a sneaking fellow , that if he but leap in at the eye-lid , he dives down into the heart , and there rests as cold as a stone , and yet touch him and he will screek . erasistratus discovered the love of antiochus to his step-mother , for so soon as ever she entered the chamber , his colour changed , his speech stopped , his looks were pleasant , his face burned , and he was all in a sweat , his pulse beat very disorderly , and lastly his heart failed him ; with other such like symptomes , which are wont to appear in melancholy lovers . galen saith , that by these forementioned signes joyned together , he discovered the miserable doting of the wife of justus upon pylades , because saith he , at the naming of pylades , her colour changed from white to red , and from red to white , alternis vicibus , her pulse beat unequally and with divers motions . it is undeniable , but that a passionate lover may be known by the pulse , by reason of the stirrings of the spirits ; for which cause , saith avicen , if one would know the name of such a ones mistresse , he must feel his pulse , and at the same instant name the party whom he suspects to be the cause of his malady , and take some occasion or other to commend her beauty , sweetnesse of behaviour , attire , or qualities of the minde ; for at the same time , pulsus diversicabitur in varietate magna , & fiet similis intersecto ; you shall perceive ( saith he ) a strange alteration in the motion of the pulse , and it will be very unequall , swift and often interrupted . mr. burton in his anatomy of melancholy saith , the best conjectures are taken , from such symptomes as appear when the parties are both present , all their speeches , amorous glances , actions , and gestures will bewray them , they cannot contain themselves , but they will be still kissing , joyning hands , treading on one anothers toes , embracing , pinching , diving into their bosoms , &c. though it be so that they cannot come neer and have the opportunity to dally , yet if they be in presence , their eyes will bewray them : ubi amor , ibi oculus , where i look i like , and where i like i love . they will be still gazing , staring , winking , nodding , stealing faces , smiling and glancing at her , with much eagernesse and greedinesse , as if their eyes should never be satisfied with seeing her . it is affirmed by some , that those that are sick of love melancholy , are generally lean throughout the whole body , facit amor maciem , as well by reason of their little eating and drinking , as also for their bad digestion , by reason that the spirits , and natural heat are withdrawn from the stomach to the brain . another will have leannesse to be caused in a lover , by reason of too much intention of the minde , pensivenesse and anxietie ; the lover loseth the fulnesse of flesh , and good liking of his body , that before he enjoyed . a third will have leannesse caused in lovers , by a direction of vitall heat from the circumference to the center , thereby consuming the vitall spirits , drying the body and causing leannesse . they are troubled with immoderate watchings , wakings , and sighings , because in lovers are divers imaginations , and fancies , that steal into the brain , and never suffers them to take any quiet repose ; whence the brain becomes dry and cold ; and if by chance they be surprised by any light slumber , which is the provision nature hath made for the repairing of the animal spirits , which in them are wasted and much impaired , by the violence of their imagination and excessive wakings ; that slumber is attended on by a thousand phantasmes and fearful dreams , so that they awake oft-times more discontented , sad , pensive and melancholy then before ; and for the most part they finde themselves more tormented sleeping then waking . they are vexed with immoderate sighings , by reason that they many times are oblivious of drawing their breath , being wholly taken up with the strong imagination , that they love either in beholding the beauty of their objects , or else in their absence contemplating on their rare perfections , and contriving the means how to come to their desires : so that recollecting themselves , nature is constrained to draw in as much air at once , as before it should have done at two or three times ▪ and such a respiration is called a sigh ; which indeed is nothing else but a double respiration . observe one tranfixed with violent love ( whose minde is bewitched , brain dislocated , and reason eclipsed ) and you shall finde that all he holdeth , all he meditateth on , all he speaketh , all he dreameth , is of the creature he loveth . he hath her in his head and heart , painted , graved , carved in the most pleasing formes . for her he entereth sometimes into quakings , sometimes into faintings , another while into fits of fire , ice ; he soreth in the aire , and instantly is drenched in the abysse ; he attendeth , he espieth , he fears , he hopes , he despaires , he sighes , he blushes , he waxeth pale , he doteth in the best company , he addresses his colloquiums to woods , groves and fountains ; he writeth , he blots out , he teareth , he lives like a spittler estranged from the conversation of men : repose which charmeth all the eares of the world , is not made for him , still this fair one , still this cruel one , tormenteth him . plutarch saith , the heart of a lover was a city , in which upon one and the same day , were seen sports and banquets , battles and funerals . you shall see another of cupids slaves burthen himself with newes of no value ; he makes a secret of every thing , and gives out those for mysteries to his mistresse , which are proclaimed with a trumpet . another is so extremely open breasted ( that you need look for no other signe ) he tels all his thoughts , and as if his heart were a sieve , it keeps nothing which it sends not out by the lips . he becomes an extreme babler , which proceeds from the influence of the heart ; for plutarch saith , that love is naturally a great babler , chiefly when it chanceth to light upon the commendation of those things that are its objects . for that lovers have a strong desire to induce others to give credence to that whereof themselves are already perswaded ; which is , that they love nothing but what is absolutely perfect , both for goodnesse and beauty ; and they would willingly have these opinions of theirs confirmed also by all other judgements . he is importunate and unseasonable in complements ; he pratles with his friends whilest he hath a fever ; he tels extravagant tales , wherein he makes himself very facetious , although at the latter end of the discourse , he askes where the conceit to be laughed at lies . he is very merry , and then within a moment he fals to be very melancholy and extreme sad , pensive and dejected ; then by and by he entertains himself with some merry pleasant conceits , and then within a small tract of time the contrary ; by this weather cock you may perceive in what quarter the winde is . this passion makes him very simple , next door to sottishnesse , and makes him do many extravagancies ; so that through these fooleries , he brings to himself a turbulent life , a continual torment , a hasty death , and his salvation doubtful . all of them are restlesse , casting their weari●d members upon their loathed beds in their solitary chambers , filling the aire with a thousand throbs and interrupted sighes , sometimes disturbed with the rivality of others , sometimes afflicted , and fear those manifold mischances that may befall the person beloved ; so that the many passions that multiply in the breast of a lover , do bring with them an extenuation and impairing of the complexion ; and sometimes a strange kinde of alteration in the individual essence , from whence doe arise those furies of love , and potent frenzies , and insensible astonishments , which happen many times to those that love , either because they make not reason the forerunner of their sense , or because they directed not their loves by the rules of wisdome , which teacheth the only means to the attaining of all other virtues . they are guided with the blind lanthorne of sense , whilest rambling in the streets , they leave reason sleeping with the constable . never raged alcides on mount oeta , nor fierce orlando for his angelica more then these vtopian lovers , for their imaginary shadowes . you may observe this passion drawn to the life by virgil in his dido aeneid . . uritur infelix dido , totaque vagatur urbe furens , &c. she was so tormented with the heat of her love , that she ran up and down the city as if she had been distracted . for lovers through despair of obtaining their desires , through the inflamation of the vitals become nelancholy , which is ( to speak truth ) a madnesse ; for all passions that produce strange and unusuall behaviour , are called by the general terme of madnesse . and of the severall kinds of madnesse caused by love , he that would take the paines might enroll a legion . by reason of these perturbations of the minde , the bloud becomes adust , as in all other violent passions , excepting joy , according to galen , by which means divers have fallen into strange and desperate diseases , growing foolish , mad , cynicall and wolvish . the learned avicen reporteth in his chapter de amore , that from this passion proceeds the green sicknesse in women , ( which is sometimes accompanyed with a gentle fever , called by our modern writers an amorous fever ) suffocations , head-ach , epilepsies , and divers other desperate symptomes , which ▪ for the most part ( saith he ) admit neither cure nor mitigation . the poor inamorato loves to be in melancholy saturnine places , where he may best contemplate the beauty of his ▪ mistresse , and not be obstructed by other objects , where he may best remember any one action of hers ; nay , the very place where he last saw her ; for love breedeth melancholy , and melancholy requires solitarinesse , and solitarinesse setteth the thoughts on worke . do you think he would change his contentment , for any thing in the whole universe ? he is so jealous and so careful to entertain this very thought , that lest he should make any a sharer with him , he will retire unto the most solitary and unfrequented places that he can finde ; he cares not for the society of men , or all the delight that men can devise and use to court with such care , so he may enjoy his own thoughts . he may be styled an astronomer , for he fixes the eye of his meditation upon the wandring venerean planet . if you go into his study , you shall finde ten amorous volumes , for one pamphlet of theologie , and scarce that too . o! how the shelves are stuft with romances , and his pockets with songs and sonnets ; he longs to be graduate in the university of venus ; he accounts himself already master in this art in actu designato , and thinks long till he be in actu exercito ; nothing now in his judgement is wanting to compleate his degree but a pone manum in manum maritae . if you observe a lover in the presence of his mistresse , you shall see him either struck dumbe , or when he speaks it is but stammeringly , not knowing how to speak . and this is , because the sense of a lover being too earnestly intent and setled in the contemplation of the beauty of his mistresse , he doth as it were altogether forget himself , and being lull'd asleep in his beloved object ; the over vehement intention of the minde , taketh away the outward use of the tongue ; for experience the best schoole-mistris , whilest a man attentively hearing any delightful musick , all his other senses are out of joynt and uselesse , the powers being hindered from their due operation , by the concourse of the vitall spirits to that power only , which so attentively worketh , and therefore it is no great wonder , if men stand as mute as fishes in the presence of their mistresses , when they have most need to speak . or because ( as an amorist saith ) that a lover fearing that he should not speak so as may please , and tickle the ears of his mistresse , chuseth rather to be silent ( making his tongue more a stock then a lambes tail ) then to utter his minde imperfectly ; and if he dare proceed so far as to open his mouth , still fearing that he cannot speak as he should , nor so eloquently as he would , utters his minde stammeringly and interceptedly . also at that present he is of a flushing colour , and looks as though he were drunk , because the object from which his love taketh greatest force being present ; he by reason of the great joy that he feeleth in the presence thereof , sendeth forth those lively flames , which being plainly descried in the superficiall parts of the face , do commonly give such a vermilian tincture , that the whole countenance seems to be covered with a flashing kind of ardor , and that by reason of the great store of spirits gathered into that place . an unfortunate lover speaks of nothing but his mistresse and his flames , he is alwayes in the fire like the salamander , he has a perpetual mount aetna in his breast ; nay , saith he , i will touch a forrest with my finger , and it will totally burn and waste it . but contrarily , he that prospers and speeds in his love , or gets a pleasing answer from his mistresse , he alwayes shews a merry cheerfull countenance , jocond and laughing , full of spirit , quick eyed , eloquent , and in his whole carriage full of joy and consolation . this passion cannot be concealed , for amorous passions do prick and wound the hearts of inamoratoes , and therefore provoked by the sharpenesse of such a spur , they cannot but manifest their grief ; for it is some comfort to him that is assailed , to vent that which went in at the eye by the mouth , by the help of his tongue , by sighing , by making complaints to senselesse creatures , many times to his bed-curtains . it requires much subtlety and craft to discover this passion in women , they conceal and smother it so closely , that they will seem to be in a great fury and hatred , when they most of all love , giving peevish answers , and refuse seemingly the affections presented unto them ; but — licet ipsa neget , vultus loquitur quodcunque teget . they are like those physitians and lawyers , that refuse a fee , yet put out their hand to take it . or , she 'l flie away , and yet would fain with all her heart be overtain . she will deny , yet seem to dant a lover when she fain would grant . she will resist , that you at length may seem to vanquish her by strength . for thus her honour does ordain , she should resist , and yet but faign . yea , ( ladies ) you shall see some of your own sex so surprized with affection , as it bursts out into violent extremes ; their discourse is semibrev'd with sighs , their talk with tears ; they walke desperately forlorn , making woods and groves their disconsolate consorts . their eyes are estranged from sleep , their weakened appetite from repast , their wearied limbs from repose . melancholy is their sole melody ; they have made a contract with grief , till grief bring them to their graves . and truely those poor maids are to be pityed , because their own tender hearts brought them to this exigent ; have either set their affections where they thought verily they might be requited , and were not ; or else where they received ▪ like seeming tender of affection , but afterwards rejected ; what they wished to effect , they could not . so as in time they fall in a poor maudlins distemper by giving rains to passion , till it estrange them from the soveraignty of reason . i could say more , but modesty will not permit me . yet , some there are , who are not such kinde souls , nor half so passionate , more discreet in their choise , and in the passages of love more temperate . these will not daigin to cast a loose look upon their beloved ; but stand so punctually upon their termes , as if they stood indifferent for their choise , albeit constantly ( though privately ) resolved never to admit of any change . these scorn to paint out their passions in their colours , or utter their thoughts in sighes , or shed one dispassionate tear for an incompassionate lover . their experience hath taught them better notions ; they will seemingly flie ( as i have said ) to make them more eagerly follow , and to take them by whom they are most taken . they can play with the flame and never singe their wings , look love in their face , and preserve their eyes , converse where they take delight , and colour their affection with a faigned disdain . these are they who can walke in the clouds to their intimatest friends , making their eyes strangers to their hearts , and conclude nothing more foolish then love if discovered , and nothing more wise if artificially shadowed . some artists will undertake to judge who are in love by chiromancy , by the lines of the hand . for say they , if a little crosse be upon the line of life ( in the hand ) neer the angle , it portends maladies of love . also , if the table line joyn it self with the middle naturall line , so as both do make an angle , this doth demonstrate one to be variously troubled with love , rendring the parties life very displeasing . it seems to some ( how true it is i know not ) to be possible for a man to know whether one be in love or no , by their natural and animal dreams , if the party will but relate them at his awaking ; for the fancy in sleep is most taken up with those things that the minde hath been busied with in the day ; according to that in the poet ; judicibus lites , aurigae somnia , currus : vanaque nocturnis meta cavatur equis . gaudet amans furto , &c. the lawyer pleads in 's sleep ; the careful swains manage their pransing coursers o're the plains . lovers dream of their stoln delights , &c. and indeed dreams do sometimes so far ingage them , as they cannot dissemble nor deny them . they say , that those lovers who are very melancholy through the extremity of this passion , are accustomed to horrible and fearful dreams , by reason of the melancholy vapors that ascend up into the brain . and because this affection of all others doth most disturbe and afflict the spirits , and from that disturbance and purturbation these monstrous and horrible dreams do arise ; so that many times by reason of their ( little ) sleep , they bewray a strange kinde of horror and astonishment in their countenances . also , to dream of travelling through woods , sticking in bushes , and bryers doth signifie much trouble and crosses in love . to dream of angling and fishing signifies a difficulty , and the party despaires of obtaining the party beloved . but to dream of banquets and feasts , doth signifie the hopes of the party loving , and that his proceeding in love shall be prosperous . to dream of winds , stormes , and showers of rain , doth signifie love passion . to dream of riding on a tired horse , or drawing water out of a well , or climbing upon a steep hill , is a sign of a vebement love passion . to dream of seeing ones mistresse in a glasse , is an infallible token of love , and that there shall be reciprocall affection between the parties . to dream of being a husbandman or plowman , to sow , plant , or dig , is a signe of being in love . but sanguine-complexioned lovers , use to dream of pleasant and delectable things , as fair gardens , orchards , flowers , green meadowes , bedeck't with the pride of flora , pleasant rivers , dreaming that they sit culling and playing with their sweet-hearts upon their pleasant bancks , often thinking they see many little cupids flying in the aire ; and all delightful dreams they say , proceed from an amorous and love pierc't soul . as to dream of singing or playing on any instrument , doth signifie that love hath seiz'd upon the party . for if dreams and wishes had been all true , there had not been since popery one maide to make a nun of . but whether dreams are onely the working of the fancy and imagination , upon such things as have been seen and thought upon , or presages of things future , it is not our present purpose to determine . we will now see what we can discover in a love-sick minde , by the sublime science of astrology , maugre all its antagonists . first diligently inquire whether the party hath had any crosses or troubles which might cause a dejection of the soul in him , and whether they do not suspect the party to be in love ; these being considered then you may safely go on to judgement . saturn generally signifies melancholy , and by consequence alienation of the minde , madnesse , &c. and therefore always when you finde him to be significator of the malady , or in the ascendant , or in the sixth house , the sick is afflicted with care and grief , and be sure the love-sick minde suffers for it . also if venus be author of the disease , and she lady of the ascendant sixth or twelfth houses , the distemper comes from love , or something else of this nature is the cause . if the ☉ or ☽ or lord of the ascendant , or two of them at the least be afflicted , the disease is in the spirits , together with an indisposition of the minde ; the reason whereof is , because the lord of the ascendant , and dispositor of the ☽ , are properly the significators of the animall faculties , which do cause infirmities in man , or which may chance unto him ; a deprivation of sense , madnesse , or frenzie through love melancholy . venus significatrix and afflicted , argues a great desire to women , wherewith both body and minde are disturbed . wheresoever you finde mercury afflicted and significator , shewes doting fancies . if the planet who rules the sign , wherein the lord of the ascendant is , and he who is dispositor of the ☽ be infortunate and in their fall , detriment or otherwayes very much afflicted , the disease reignes and rageth in the minde . at what age we begin to be in love . what complexions do best sympathize . what complexions are most subject to this malady ; and at what time more then another . it is most certain , that there is nothing more impatient of delay then love , nor no wound more incureable whilest we live . there is no exemption , no age , no condition are more ignorant of it , then of their bread , all have a taste of this potion , though it have several degrees of operation , and at several seasons . look all about you , who so young that loves not ? or who so old , a comely feature moves not ? but the most received opinion is , that men and women are subject to this passion , as soon as they are entered into those years in which they come to their puberty ; which appeareth in men chiefly by their voice , which at that time growes great and harsh ; it may be known also in women by observing their breasts , which about this time begin to swell and grow bigger , and that for the most part about the age of and ; so likewise it is the justice of nature , that those creatures that soonest meet their period , do as suddenly arrive at their perfection and maturity ; as we may observe in women , who as they are ripe sooner then men , so they commonly fail before them . some there are that would deprive men of this power , or love to have any power over them , so long as they are under the age of twenty years ; for homer saith , love pricks not till such time as the chin begins to bud : which is altogether repugnant to truth and dayly examples ; for we see many to rage furiously before they come to years of discretion ; especially women . quartilia in petronius never remembered that she was a maide . rahab the harlot began to be a profest quean at ten years of age , and was but when she hid the spies , as some report . leo saith , that in africk one shall scarce finde a maid at years of age ; for when the vehemency of adolescency ( which is betwixt the age of and ) beginneth to tickle them , and when they have greatest need of a bridle , then they let loose the raines , committing themselves to the subjection of this passion . there are many forward virgins of our age are of opinion , that this commodity can never be taken up too soon , and howsoever they neglect in other things , they are sure to catch time by the forelock in this ; if you aske them this question , they will resolve you is the best time of their age , if be not better then that , and they have for the most part , their mothers example before them to confirme and prove their ability ; and this withall they hold for a certain ground , that be they never so little , they are sure thereby to become no lesse ; yet let me tell these forward girles , the effects that ( most commonly ) ensue , are dangerous births , diminution of statute , brevity of life , and such like . this passion is more tolerable in youth , and such as are in their hot bloud ; and shall i be bold to speak it without offence to the stale batchelors , that love is not properly nor naturally in season , but in that age next unto infancy . — nunc grata juveni venus . venus to young men is a welcome guest . but for an amorous complexion to cover glowing fires beneath the embers of a gray-beard ; to see an old man to dote upon women , what more odious ? what more absurd ? yet in some this idalian fire flameth more in their old age then in their youth . aristotle saith , that old men are not out of the reach of cupid , nor bid defiance to venus till they have passed the age of years . and truly a gray-head and a wanton-heart are ill suited ; it is more ridiculous to see it in women then men . it rageth in all ages ; yet is it most common and evident among young and lusty persons , in the flower of their age , high fed , and living idly ; for such as are continually imployed , it scarce touches them till they come to be or years of age , and then but very lightly , according to the speech of lyndamor to pallemas , that he had arrived to the age of years , before he ever felt any effects , as love useth to produce in hearts of his age . not but that he was of his naturall inclination as much devoted servant unto ladies , but being continually exercised in businesse much different from idlenesse , he had no pleasure to let love sow any seeds in his soul ; for ever since he was able to bear armes , moved by a generous instinct , which invites noble spirits unto dangerous enterprizes , he was perpetually in wars , where he did most heroically signalize himself . some have given two reasons , why youth is more subject to this illimited passion , then any other age . the first is , that naturall heat or vigour which is most predominant in youth , provoking him to attempt the greatest of difficulties , rather then suffer the repulse where he affects . the second is , want of imployment , which begets this distemperature ; vacuo pectore regnat amor , love playes hai-day in an idle person . amor otiosae cura est solicitudinis , saith theophrastus , it is an affection of an idle minde . also it fosters it self by a writ of priviledge in the hearts of young men , who abounding with much bloud , and consequently with great store of vitall spirits , are more fiery and ardent , making them full of wanton and youthfull desires . i have many times observed a great sympathy and affection young boyes and girles have one to another ; and ( indeed ) there is a pretty pleasing kind of wooing , drawn from a conceived , but concealed fancy , which suits well with these amorous younglings ; they could wish with their hearts , ever to be in the presence of those they love , so they might not be seen by them . might they chuse , they would converse with them freely , consort with them friendly , and impart their truest thoughts fully ; yet would they not have their bashful loves finde discovery . they would be seen , yet seem obscured ; love , but not disclose it ; see whom they love , but not be eyed . yea ( which hath struck me into more admiration ) i have known divers , whose unripe years half assured me , that their green youth had never instructed them in the knowledge , nor brought them to conceit of such vanities ; excellently well read in love lectures , and prompt enough to shew proofes of their reading in publick places . the amorous toyes of venus and adonis , with other poems of like nature , they peruse with such devotion , and retain with such delectation , as no subject can equally relish their unseasoned palats , like those lighter discourses . if this passion begin in infancy , and so continue , it is more affectionate and strong , because that custom which is taken in that age , doth by degrees become a nature , which growing up with years , growes solid and unalterable . fronutus saith of love , juvenis pingitur , quod amore plerumque juvenes capiuntur ; sic & mollis , formosus , nudus , quod simplex & apertus hic affectus ; ridet , quod oblectamentum prae ase ferat , cum phiretra , &c. the reason why love was painted young is because young men are most apt to love ; soft , fair and fat , because such folks are soon captivated ; naked , because all true affection is simple and open ; he smiles , because merry and given to delights ; hath a quiver , to shew his power , and none can escape him , old nor young ; is blinde , because he sees not where he shootes , nor whom he hits , &c. let us now demonstrate what temperatures and complexions do sympathize together , and are most prone and apt to receive the impression of this passion . the diversitie of complexions , breeds a diversity of desires : whereby they judge diversly of things present , and follow those which do best agree with their constitutions , whereby we see that in the election of any thing whatsoever , the appetite doth accommodate it self to the temperature of the body ; for we see men fit themselves in their customs and carriages to their corporeal temperature , ever desiring to converse with their like ; for nature would so have it , to this only end that every one should be esteemed , and be loved ; and they that are not absolutely faire in every part , should not be despised ▪ but being received into grace and favour with their lovers might live honestly , in mutuall society , and in good esteem with them . every like desireth , and loveth his like ; whereby ever for the publick good , there remaineth nothing despised , because there is nothing but hath its like . and therefore to the eyes of a moor , the black or tawny countenance of his moorish damosel pleaseth best ; and yet such a one would almost turn the stomach of a sanguine complexioned english man to look upon . now to discover those who are most prone and apt to love . the fairest are inclined to love , because the cause of love is beauty ; and he or she that hath the cause in potentia , doth easily produce the effect : and therefore saith the divine plato , that love reigneth most in the hearts of those young men ( the which , he that hath but half an eye may dayly see ) that are honorably born , and tenderly brought up , who as apt receptacles receive into them that passion . or more probably , venus being the giver of beauty , likewise inclineth those to love , upon whose nativity she cast her influence ; for it seldome falleth out that beauty is separated from the force of love , and for as much as custome in all things hath the force of love , they that are beautiful following custome cannot but love . galen saith , that the manners of the minde do follow the temperature of the body . we see those that are of a sanguine complexion , are generally very amorous . hairinesse , saith aristotle , is a signe of abundance of excrements , and therefore much addicted to this passion , venus tickling them with a delight of emptying of their seminal vessels ; for a woman cannot endure a man with a little beard , for that they are commonly cold and impotent . the aire , climate , and place of ones birth , are of very great consideration in this particular . and now being in the bowels of love , some will ask , whether men or women be soonest allured , and whether be most constant , the male or the female ? i answer , that most women are to be won with every pleasing winde , in whose sex there is neither force to withstand the assaults of love ( as we shall hereafter more fully declare ) neither constancy to remain faithful ; therefore women are the soonest allured , and most inconstant . likewise , a hot and dry temperature , or else such a one as is only hot , is much inclined to love ; for a man that is hot is hairy , high coloured , with a black thick curled head of hair , great veines and big voice ; ( and what a pretious thing a black man is in a womans eye , i will refer to the judgement of their own sex ) i dare boldly affirme , that that man hath a hot and dry liver , and his generative parts are also of the same temper , and so consequently very much inclined to this passion ; which is also confirmed by that of galen , that a hot complexion , or such a one that is hot and dry , is much more prone and subject to a violent and irregular love , then any other temperature or complexion whatever : from whence we may infer , that men are oftner and more grievously tormented with this malady then women , whose temperature is lesse hot and lesse dry . but women are naturally of meaner spirits and lesse courage then men , having weaker reasons : and therefore are lesse able to make resistance against so strong a passion . and hereto accords that of hero in her epist. to leander in ovid . vrimur igne pari : sed sum tibi viribus impar ; fortius ingenium suspicor esse viris . vt corpus , teneris sic mens infirma puellis . our flames are equall : but your kinder fate hath lent you strength , your hearts to temperate . but in our weaker sex , our passions finde , a feeble body bears a feeble minde . women often become frenetick , and mad for love , but rarely men ; unlesse it be some effeminate weak spirited fellowes . upon this , i took occasion one day to visite bedlam , and for one man that was there for love , i found five women ; and those men that were there , were such as had lived effeminately , idly , and dieted themselves riotously and delicately . ficinus cap. . comment. in convivium platonis , saith , irretiuntur cito quibus nascentibus venus fuerit in leone , vel luna venerem vehementer aspexerit , & quia eadem complexione sunt praediti . they are most prone to burning lust , or the vehement scorching of the idalian flame , that have ♀ in ♌ in their horoscope , when the ☽ and ♀ be mutually aspected , or when ♄ is in a △ or ⚹ aspect , with the ☉ or ☿ , especially if it happen in the second or fifteenth day of the ☽ ; or such as be of the complextion of ♀ , and that is a white ruddy complexon , fair and lovely eyes , a little black , a round and fleshie face , fair hair and smooth , a rolling eye , and one desirous of trimming and making himself neat both in clothes and body . in whose geniture ♂ and ♀ are in ☌ , ⚹ or △ , plerumque amatores sunt , & si foemina , meritrices , they are undobtedly inclined to love and erorick melancholy , and if women , queans ; for martialists and men of war are easily taken prisoners by cupid . cardan saith of himself in the judgement of his geniture , that a ☌ of ♀ and ☿ in the dignities of ☿ , perpetually troubled him with venereal thoughts , that he could never rest , so strong was their influence upon him . in whose genesis ♀ shall be in a masculine signe , and in the termes or ☍ of ♃ , signifies the parties to be very much inclined to the sports of ♀ . phlegmatick persons are rarely captivated , and those who are naturally melancholy lesse then they ; but if they once be catched in the snare ( unlesse they hang themselves , which they will be much inclined to ) they will never be free . but ( as mr. burton saith ) the colts evil is common to all complexions , whilest they are young and lusty . and some refer it adtesticulorum crisin , to the hot temperature of the resticles . now to declare what time is most fit and delightfull to lovers ; it is that time of the year , when the longest dayes make the evenings most delightful , and dispose lovers to accommodate their ears , to the chirping melody of the airy quire , which awakeneth a marvellous desire in their hearts . may is called loves moneth , either because the temperature of the season which is hot and moist , of the nature of venus , doth incline all creatures to chuse and select their mates ; or because venus at that time doth usher in aurora , and by her influence doth excite the hearts of lovers to rise early to view the richnesse of flora , and the ear-pleasing harmony , and love-exciting melody of the nightingale . in what principal part of the microcosme or body of man is the seat of love . love having his first entrance in at the eyes , which are the faithful spies and intelligencers of the soul , stealing gently through those sluces , and so passing insensibly to the liver , it there presently imprinteth an ardent desire of the object , which is either really lovely , or at least appears to be so . but distrusting its own strength , and fearing it is not able to overthrow the reason , it presently layeth siege to the heart ; of which having once fully possest it self , as being the strongest fort of all , it assaults so violently the reason , and all the noble parts of the brain , that they are suddenly forced to yield themselves up to its subjection . so that now the poor enamorato , or loves weather ▪ beaten widgeon thinks of nothing but his mistresse . so that through the eye it seizeth upon the liver , which is the first receptacle of love , then the heart , then the brain and bloud , and then the spirits , and so consequently the imagination and reason . the liver to be the seat of love is grounded upon the saying of solomon ( in prov. . ) that a young man void of understanding goeth after a strange woman till a dart strike through his liver . cogit amare jecur , the which being affected and inflamed setteth all the other principall parts on fire ; according to senec. in hippol . — pectus insanum vapor amorque torret , intimas saevus vorat penitus medullas , atque per venas meat visceribus ignis mersus & venis latens , vt agilis altas flamma percurrit trabes . now love within my raging bosome fumes , and with a cruell fire my reins consumes . the flame within my bowels hid remains , thence shooteth up and down my melting veins , as agile fire over dry timber spreads . valesius lib. . contr. . saith , that that love which is in men , is defined to be an affection of both powers , appetite and reason . the rationall resides in the brain , and the appetite in the liver , and the heart is diversly affected of both , and carryed a thousand wayes by consent , being variously inclined , sometimes merry and jocond , and sometimes sad and dejected . the sensitive faculty over-ruling reason , carryes the soul hoodwink't , and hurries the understanding to dawfair to eat a wood-cock pie . of jealousie in lovers ; the defininition , the signes , and symptomes of it . it is described and defined to be a certain suspicion which the lover hath of the party he chiefly affecteth , lest he or she should be enamoured of another . or an eager desire of enjoying some beauty alone , and to have it proper to himself only . it is a fear or doubt lest any forainer should participate or share with him in his love ; still apt to suspect the worst in such doubtfull cases . this passion of jealousie is more eminent among batchelours , then marryed-men . if it appear among batchelours , we commonly call them rivals or corrivals , a similitude having its original from a river , rivales a rivo ; for as a river divides a common ground betwixt two men , and both participate of it : so is a woman indifferent betwixt two suitors , both likely to enjoy her ; and thence cometh this emulation , which breaks out many times into tempestuous stormes , and produceth lamentable effects , murders it self with much cruelty , many single combates . ariosto calls it a fury , a continual fever , full of suspicion , fear and sorrow , a mirth-marring monster . ( ecclus. . . ) the sorrow and grief of heart of one woman jealous of another is heavier then death . but true and pure love is without jealousie , for this affection springs from the love of concupiscency , for jealousie is a fear ( as i have said ) which a man hath , lest another should enjoy the thing he desireth : the reason thereof is , because we judge it hurtfull either to our selves , or to those whom we love , if others should enjoy it . and if they have any interest in the party beloved , they have a speciall care that no other have the fruition thereof but themselves , taking the matter heavily if it fall out otherwise ; being very much offended and full of indignation , against him that should attempt any such thing ; being very suspicious , and carrying within themselves matter of jealousie , and tormenting themselves and others without cause ; for love with jealousie and a madman are cozen ▪ germans in understanding ; for questionlesse immoderate love is a madnesse : and then had bedlam need be a great and spacious house ; for he that never was in that predicament is either blinde or babish . when jealousie once seiseth on these silly , weak , and unresisting souls ; 't is pitifull to see , how cruelly it tormenteth them , insultingly it tyrannizeth over them . it insinuateth it self under colour of friendship : but after it once possesseth them , the same causes which served for a ground of goodwill , serves for the foundation of mortal hatred . of all the mindes diseases , that is it , whereto most things serve for sustenance , and fewest for remedy . this consuming fever blemisheth and corrupteth all that otherwise is good and goodly in them . but as the most firme in religion , may have doubts ; so the most confident in love , are capable of some suspicion . the strongest trees are shaken by the winde , though the root be fixed , whilst the leaves and branches be tossed . why should we not rest our selves , and abandon all suspicious ideas , after having had a tryall of a person , and many effects for testimonies of the affection ? yet all these proofs and tryals keep us not from vexing and tormenting our selves ; because fear , which is not in our power to restrain , interprets ill the least appearance , and buries it self in false objections , where it findes no true ones . o weak jealousie , did ever thy prying and suspicious sight finde thy mistresses lip guilty of any smile ? or any lascivious glance from her eye ? doest not thou see the blushes of her cheeks are innocent ? her carriage , sober ? her discourse all chast ? no toyish gesture ? no desire to see the publick shewes , or haunt the theater ? she is no popular mistresse , all her kisses do speak her virgin ? such a bashful heat at several tides ebbes and flowes ; flowes and ebbes again , as it were affraid to meet our wilder flame ? what is it then that stirs up this hot passion in thee ? some will object and say , all this is but cunningnesse , ( as who knowes the sleights of sirens ? ) it is these idiots that have these symptomes of jealousie , as fear , sorrow , suspicion , strange actions , gestures , outrages , lockings up , oathes , tryals , with a thousand more devises then any pen is able to enumerate . 't is a vehement passion , a furious perturbation , a bitter pain , a scorching fire , a pernicious curiosity , it fils the minde with grief , half suspicion , accidentall brawles , compassionate tears , throbbings of the heart , distracted cogitations , inconstant desires , and a thousand the like lancing razors , that cut and wound the hearts of men ( as gall corrupting the hony of our life ) more then ordinarily disquieted and discontented . next time you see a jealous lover , doe but mark him , and you shall see ( without a pair of spectacles ) how he misinterprets every thing is either said or done , most apt to mistake or misconster , he peeps into every corner , followes close , observes to an hair all the postures and actions of his mistresse , he will sometimes sigh , weep , and sob for anger , swear , slander , and belie any man , sometimes he will use obsequious and flattering speeches , and aske forgivenesse , condemning his rashnesse and folly , and then immediately again , he is as impatient and furious as ever he was ; therefore i wish ( gentlewomen ) to beware of such infidels , who wax and wane an hundred times in an hour , as though they were got in the change of the moon : so strange is the inferences of this malicious jealousie , that it never makes a good logician . he pries on all sides , accurately observing on whom she looks , and who looks on her . argus did not so keep his cow , the watchfull dragon the golden fleece , or cerberus , hell gates , as he does her , toyling and wasting away himself in pursuite of so concealed a mystery , and so obscure a verification . if he see her discourse familiarly with another , if by nod , winke , smile or message , he think she discloseth her self to another , he is instantly tormented , none so dejected as he is , he thinks himself utterly undone , a cast away , the scorne of fortune . there are some , ( though their hearts be violently assaulted with jealousie and false suspicion , insomuch that they can never rest in quiet ) make shew outwardly of a happy life , and a carelesse neglect of their best beloved ; yet in despite of themselves and their best endevours , they cannot dissemble it . it is the natural course of this passion , for it is with those who are in the highest pitch of love , as those who are on the tops of great elevations , their heads grow dizie , and though no body touch them , they reel till they fall of themselves , meerly by the fear of falling . and this is the passion that ruines loves reputation , and disorders ▪ the souls tranquillity . therefore , if lovers needs must jealous be , and from this venom ne'r be free , then fie upon 't ; my prayer shall be , from love ( good jove ) deliver me . now as touching women , they have the symptomes of this passion more vehemently , their wils being stronger then their reason , there is no counsell to be given them against this evill of jealousie , their nature being wholly suspicion , vanity and curiosity . if you seek to perswade them , they will flie out against you like so many lyonesses , objecting , how can they moderate their passions ? how can they but be jealous , when they see themselves manifestly neglected , contemned , loathed , unkindly used , and their unkind lovers court ladies to their faces ? there is a tree in mexicana which is so exceedingly tender , that a man cannot touch any of its branches , but it withers presently : so women are so subject to this passion , that ( like tinder ) they will take fire at the least sparke of suspicion , and a small touch will wound and kill their love . this passion is most predominant in old men ( as saith the author of the accomplisht woman ) which very properly be compared to ivy , because that grows ordinarily upon old heapes or ruines ; so this passion wreathes it self most commonly about old tortured and dejected spirits , such as marry young wenches , and how can they be otherwise , all things considered ? we see ivy flourishing upon dry , withered , and saplesse trees : so in old men this passion is very potent and youthfull ; and becomes the stronger in such , as age , or crazinesse of wit infeebles or stupefies . it is no great miracle , if jealous ones be lean , their passions feeding on nothing but faintnesse ; and nothing like melancholy to entertain jealousie . therefore i exhort gentlewomen not to bestow themselves upon fools , or apparent melancholy persons , jealousie being a symptome of that disease , and fools have no moderation . it is an enemy with poysoned weapons , and his approach is enough to overthrow ; when the memory hath once received it , reason often comes too late for a resistance . i hope i shall not be thought a vagrant from my subject , if i tell marryed couples that suspicion of it self is able to make one flie out that was otherwise honest . if we consider that jealousie and cuckolds differ no otherwise then a city sheriffe and alderman , a little time makes the one the other ; for it is as common as the moon gives hornes twice a moneth to the world , for a jealous man to wear actaeons badge ; the miller sees not all the water that goes by his mill : sometimes sweet-heart and cuckold are reciprocal termes : many a good gentleman hath worn a plume of buls feathers in his crest , being set in by his arrant honest mistresse . there was a roman named cydippus , who took so great a delight to see buls baited , that it set such an impression in his idea , as he thought so much of it over night , that he arose in the morning with a horned head . this spectacle pleased him , for that he had entertained his fancy with it , and in the end his imagination did him this ill office . there is no malice sufficiently black to blind this passions capacity ; it gives subtlety and craft to the dullest , and perverts the most vertuous to seek satisfaction for the injury : if has no bound to inventions , it brings ruine to its fosterer , as it did to procris , jealous of her husband cephalus , she imagined he had a mistresse besides her self ; which ( she thought ) he went to seek in the woods under pretence of hunting ; she hid her self behind a bush , thinking to hear the discourse of his solitary thought ; he hearing a stir and a noise in the thicket , and believing it was a deer , shot an arrow at it and struck her to the heart ; she dying cryed cephalus , which word made him know he had taken his wife for a beast ; and i think he was not very much mistaken . also mr. brathwaith in his english gentlewoman records a matchlesse president of jealousie acted in england , with the like tragicall conclusion ; he hath it in these words : it sometimes pleased a young gentlewoman , whose fortunes had swelled her high , to settle her affections on a gentleman of deserving parts , which he entertained with a generous requitall : nothing was omitted that might any way increase their respect , or second the height of their joyes . continuall resort and frequent made them inseparably one ; no day so pleasing as when they were together , no hour so tedious as when they were asunder . but short is that moment of fading happinesse , which hath in it a relish of lightnesse , and is not grounded on essentiall goodnesse . long had they not thus lived , and sociably loved , but the gentlewoman conceived some private suspicion that her self was not the sole soveraignesse of his heart ; but that another was become sharer in his love . neither was this competitrice , whom she suspected , any other then her own attendant , whose casket she secretly opened , where she found a ring of especiall note , which she had formerly bestowed on him . this confirmed her conceit , changed her reall love into mortall hate ; which she seconded with this tragick act . inviting him one day into a summer arbour , where in former times , they were wont to repose , amidst of an amorous discourse , she casually fixt her eye upon three lennets , one whereof picking some privet leaves , purposely to build her nest , flew away , whilest the two which remained , lovingly billed one with another ; which she intentively observing , used these words , how tenderly and intimately do these poor fools mate it ? were it not pity they should be ever divided ? which words she had no sooner uttered , then the she lennet flew away , and left the male alone , till another returned ; with whom the he lennet billed , and amorously wooed , as he had done before ; which she more seriously eyeing , o , quoth she , how light these males are in their affection ! this may seem to you an easie errour , but were i judge of birds , it should receive due censure . why lady ( replyed he ) these poor birds doe but according to their kinde . yea but what do ye men then , who ingage your selves , interest your selves , empawn your souls to be constant where you professe love , and perform nothing lesse then what you professe most . nor would her long intended revenge admit more liberty to her tongue ; for with a passionate enterbreath , she closed this speech with a fatall stab ; leaving so much time to her unfortunate and dysasterous lover , as to discover to one of that sorrowfull family the ground of her hate ; the occasion of his fall , which hastened on the dolefull scene of her tragedy . and these are the products of that hell-born fiend jealousie . an astrologer may give a probable conjecture , by every mans nativity ( if it may be had ) whether he will be jealous or no , and at what time , by the direction of the significators to their severall promissors ; of which you may read many aphorismes in sconer , junctine , pontanus , ptolemy , albubator , &c. the remedies of love . that we may use the method of art ; to cure the effects , is first to take away the cause . cessante causa , cessat effectus , take away the cause , and the effect ceaseth . it was the scope of our discourse in the second section of this treatise , to discover the causes ( those incendiaries and fomenters of this inordinate passion , or this intoxicating poyson ) in the third section we demonstrated the effects arising from them ; now in this last section it is our purpose to treat of the cure and remedies of them . we will begin at the second cause , viz. the stars ( for the first cause instituted by the creator was moderate and good . ) as the minde hath its natural principles of knowledge , so the will hath her natural inclinations and affections from the influence of the stars ; for they do incline the will to love , but do not compell it ; agunt non cogunt ; of their own nature they are good , as they are taken from the first nature created of god ; neither would they be at any time hurtfull , if there were not excesse in us proceeding from nature corrupted ; which afterwards by the force of their influence , breed in us such inclinations and affections as are these passions . for god in the beginning made all things good ; neither doth he forbid and condemn this love and affection in his law , so far forth as it is ruled thereby , but approveth it being instituted in the creation . but when this love and affection is disordered in us , and is inflamed , giving way to the power of the superiours to work together with it , it is not only vitious , but is as it were the originall and fountain of all vices , ( for what vice , would a man , whose reason is governed by will , and that will inclined by the stars , leave unperpetrated to effect them ? ) whereas if it were well ordered , and ruled according to the will and institutes of god , it would be the original and well-spring of all vertues . sapiens dominabitur astris ; a wise man through grace , and the strength of reason can moderate and divert their evill influences , and convert them into good seeds of virtue ; but if they be not well ordered and ruled , they corrupt and degenerate . as if venus be lady of the nativity , she giveth to the native a sanguine complexion , whose nature is bloud , and beareth greatest sway among the other humors and qualities ; or if she be in a ☌ , ⚹ , or △ of ♂ , inclineth the native naturally to love ; if this be not moderated and well guided by reason , but letteth the will receive their influence , and their work upon it without any obstruction , it easily passeth measure , and falleth into this foolish doting passion of love . therefore seek for grace of him that can give it , and that he will grant strength of reason to divert the influxious power of the superiours , and to moderate the vehement heat of this idalian fire . let us now remove the third cause , and that is , education . ( for to remove that which comes gradually from parents we cannot , unlesse we seek to subvert nature , and utterly extinguish the race of man ; but according to the old proverbe , that which is bred in the bone , will never out of the flesh . ) if you finde that your parents have been addicted to this folly , and that they brought you up delicately and idly , and that you feel in your self an inlcination to the same passions ; corripite lora manu ; take up the slackned rains in time , before you run your selves past recovery . addict your selves to the study of good letters , flying idlenesse as a mortall enemy , reading of love books , comedies , looking upon immodest pictures , feasts , private familiarities , loose company , and have in derision even the shadow of impurity . love has no subject so apt to work upon as idlenesse , therefore handle the matter so , that he may alwayes finde you busied ; for vitia otii negotio discutienda sunt , the vices of idlenesse should be shaken off with businesse ; and to this effect speaks the poet ; otia si tollas , frangis cupidinis arcum . — an idle life forsake . what made thee love , a lover makes thee still : the cause of nourishment of that sweet ill , shun idlenesse , and cupids bow will break , his slighted flames flie out , disarm'd and weak . as reeds in marishes affect their site ; as poplars in the running brooks delight ; so venus joyes in sloth : let cupid be by action tam'd ; live busie , and live free . faint ease , long sleeps , which no cōmand controls , time spent in sport , & drench't in flowing bowls , without a wound th' enfeebled minde surprize : then in unspi'd insidious cupid flies . that sloth-affecting boy , doth toyle detest : do something to imploy thy empty brest . witty and proper was that elegant invention of lucian , who faigned cupid to invite the gods to an amorous feast , prevailed with all of them to give way to love , till he came to pallas , but she was found conversing with the muses , and would admit of no time to enter parley with cupid . by this you may see that exercise draweth the minde from effeminacy ; and remisnesse feeds the desire , and adds fuell to loves fires . and no lesse occasion gives wanton discourse or lascivious books to the inraged affections of distempered youth . therefore as love is entertained with idlenesse and feasts , subdue him with austerity and exercise . he will fall upon some object , scatter and confound him . as he laboureth to finde out a loose and unbridled spirit , hold yours extended upon the study of some good science . he requires liberty , private places , and night , let him have witnesses , and enlighten him on every side . he will be governed by fantasie , keep him obedient both by admonition and menaces ; so by this means you will banish the wanton jack of apes out of house and harbour . the bed being a sensitive nourishment , renders many lascivious fancies , therefore no sooner wake but arise , and expell such cogitations with pious meditations . i could advise maides ( as the only remedy for this passion ) to walk early into the fields , and keep themselves continually both head and hand in motion in some good exercise ; and not alwayes pricking a clout , for many times ( their thought being gone a wool-gathering with cupid ) they chance to prick their fingers , and cupid their hearts too if they be not aware . this sedentary life is the cause of the disease called the greensicknesse , and it having seized upon their sloath affecting bodies , makes them laizie , and as quick as snails in all their operations , and then it is more difficult to make them marry , then cure the disease . st. cyptian found nothing more powerfull to conquer the temptations of venus , then to turn the otherside of the medall . but above all it behoveth us to use the example of an arabian , who presented to himself perpetually over his head , an eye which enlightened him , an ear which heard him , a hand which measured out all his deportments , and demeanors , and guards of chastity , which daily blunt a thousand arrowes shot against the impenetrable hearts of brave and undaunted champions : that you may not fall into the fire , it is good to avoid the smoke , not to trust our selves too much to petty dalliances , which under pretext of innocency , steal in with the more liberty : for to court and dally with beauty ( as we shall hereafter declare ) is an enterprise of danger ; for some i have known , who upon their accesse to beauty have been free men , but at their return have become slaves . we now intend to extinguish the heat and vehemency of love in the fourth cause , which is meer beauty , and the particulars of it . be not so sensual as to love only the body , and to dote upon an outside , but look higher , and see something in the person loved of an angelical nature ; that is , a free and vertuous minde , which to an understanding soul appears to be of a divine essence , and to which he mingles his soul in love , which is ( if really considered ) a far more excellent and permament love , then that of an externall and fading beauty , and consequently much more pleasant . do we not commonly see , that in painted pots of apothecaries are contained the deadliest poyson ? that the cypresse tree bears a fair leaf , but no fruit ? that the estrich carryeth fair feathers , but rank flesh ? how frantick then are those lovers , who are hurried headlong with the gay glistering of a fine face ? the beauty whereof is parched with the suns blaze , and chapped with a winters blast : which is of so short continuance , that it fadeth before we see it flourish ; of so small profit , that it poysoneth those that possesse it ; of so little value with the wise , that they account it a delicate bait with a mortall hook ; a sweet panther with a devowring panch , a tart poyson in a silver pot . but hark , one word with you , love symplicians . let your humane imaginations think and assemble into one subject whatsoever is most beautiful and delicious in nature . do you imagine a quire of sirens , and do you joyne in consort , both the harpe of orpheus , and the voice of amphion . let apollo and the muses be there to bear a part ; and do you search within the power of nature , rifle up her treasure , and all the extreme pleasures which it hath produced in the world hitherto , to charme our souls , and to ravish our spirits ; what permanency and felicity do you finde in all these ? they are meer chimeraes , and as a vain idea ; a meer shadow of a body of pleasure in comparison of vertues , and those divine thoughts and pleasures which may be enjoyed in the contemplation of the almighty , and his infinite beauty , glory , and love , and of the felicity of felicities which he hath prepared for them that love him . so that happy are those ( but too few are they ) who with wise ithacus hudwink themselves , and stop their eares to those soul-tainting , and sin-tempting sirens . what a great example of continency and neglect of beauty was that of mahomet the great , towards the fair greek , irene ; whom albeit he entirely loved ; yet to shew to his peers , a princely command of himself , and his affections ; as he had incensed them before by loving her , so he regained their love by slighting her ; whence the poet , with that he drew his turkish cymeter , which he did brandish o're the damsels head , demanding of such janizers were there , if 't were not pity she sh'd be slaughtered ? pity indeed ; but i perforce must do that which displeaseth me , to pleasure you . many such instances , ancient and modern histories afford , but i must not insist on each particular lest i should enlarge my self too much , and swell that into a volume , which i intend but a pamphlet . how many do we finde , who having their spirits possessed with other passions , one of ambition , another of avarice , another of revenge , another of envie , another transported by the solitude of a law suite , and the turmoile of a family , who think very little upon love ? how many others are there , from whom study affaires , charges , ( wherein they strive supereminently to transcend ) free their mindes from all other thoughts , not suffering them to have any complements with cupid ? and how many ladies do we see in the world , with countenances ever smiling , of humours cheerfull , and conversation most pleasing , who make love to wits and spirits , as bees to flowers ; but have with the body no commerce at all ? the author of the theater of nature , holdeth , that the basilisk alone among serpents cannot be enchanted : and i dare really affirm , that there are men who have the like priviledge , and have their eyes love proof , and their hearts shut up and defended as with a palizado against the piercing darts of cupid , and the fiery assaults of the idalian flame . democritus made himself blinde voluntarily , by stedfastly beholding the sunbeams , to free himself from the charming beauties , and inticing opportunities of women : and ( seriously ) i think he shut up two gates against love , to open a thousand to his imagination . for some affirm that this malady or love melancholy , is cherished by the presence of the party affected : and that the contrary , to wit , absence is the best remedy . and this they seem to prove by resembling our passions with ecchoes : ( but omne simile non est idem , every like is not the same thing ) for ( say they ) do you not see the ecchoes , the further you go from them , the lesse repercussion there is , they diminishing and losing themselves in the aire ; so the affection which is caused by the reflexion of the countenance , which you dayly behold with so much entertainment , will quickly vanish by a little absence . but may i be so bold as to whisper my opinion in your ear , craving leave to insist a little upon this ; to prove that absence doth more augment then decrease the heat of this passion . i will be brief . i confesse eyes may conceive and produce a green infant affection , but there must be something more solid and substantial to make it grow unto perfection ; and that must be by the knowledge of the vertues , merits , ( as well as beauty ) and a reciprocall affection of the party loved . now this knowledge doth take indeed its originall from the eyes , but it must be the soul which must afterwards bring it to the test of judgement , and by the testimonies both of the eyes and ears , and all other considerations concoct a verity , and so ground upon it . if this verity be to our advantage , then it produceth such thoughts , whose sweetnesse cannot be equalled by any other kind of contentment , then the effects of the same thoughts . if it be advantagious to the party affected , then doubtlesse it doth augment our affection ; but yet with violence and inquietude ; and therefore no question but absence doth augment love , so that it be not so long , as that the very image of the party loved be quite effaced ; whether it be that an absent lover never represents unto his fancy but only the perfections of the person loved ; or whether it be that the understanding being already wounded will not fancy any thing but what pleaseth it ; or whether it be that the very thought of such things does add much unto the perfections of the party loved : yet this is infallibly true , that he does not truly love , whose affection does not augment in absence from the party loved . for in absence nothing can content the reall lover ; not sweet harmony , not beautiful gardens , or groves , not pleasant company , not eloquent tongues , not civill entertainment , but every sweetnesse is converted into sowrenesse , all ear-pleasing harmony is turned into an obstreperous jangling , and nothing can content but the wished object , which being far distant from their enflamed desires , do ingender a vehement grief in the heart , which cannot be expressed by them that prove it ; much lesse by my pen which is not acquainted with such miseries . now it is objected , that absence is the greatest and most potent and dangerous enemy that love hath . but ( with their favour ) presence without comparison is much more , as we may dayly see by experience ; for you may see a thousand loves change in presence for one in absence ; for in presence , some imperfections may be found , which may cause a detestation , which absence could never do ; and to illustrate and confirm this by example . the excellent philosopher raymund lullius , was passionately enamoured of a lady , wise , prudent and honest ; she purposely to cure his frenzie , shewed him one of her breasts eaten and knawed through with a canker , and extremely hideous to behold , stay simple man ( said she ) behold what you loved ; he at that instant coming to himself uttered ; alas ! was it for this i lost so many good houres , that i burned , became entranced , that i passed through fire and water ? all lovers would say the like if the scarffe were taken from their eyes . consider that if one absent cease from loving ( which is very rare ) its cessation is without any violence or noise of strugling , and the change ( through a long tract of time ) is only because the memory is by degrees smothered with oblivion , as a fire is with its own ashes . but when love breaks off in presence , it is never without a noise and extreme violence , and ( which is a strange argument to prove my assertion ) converts that love into a greater hatred then if love had never been : which proceeds from this reason ; a lover is always either loved or hated , or held in a degree of indifferency ; if he be loved , as an abundance is apt to glut , so love being loadened in presence with too many favours , growes weary . if he be hated , then he meets with so many demonstrations of that hate every moment , as at length he is forced to ease himself . if he be in a degree of indifferency , and findes his love still slighted , he will at length , if he be a man of any courage , make a retreat and resist the continual affronts which are put upon him ; whereas in absence , all favours received , cannot by their abundance glut , since they do rather set an edge on desire , and the knowledge of hatred entering into our souls only by the eare , the blow smarts not so much as that which is received by sight ; and likewise disdain and slight be more tolerable in absence , then presence ; doubtlesse absence is then more fit to preserve affection , then presence ; for there is a vast difference betwixt the love that is nourished by the eyes , and a love that is nourished by the understanding . as much as the soul is superiour to the body , so much is the understanding to be preferred before the eyes . and absence is so far from diminishing love , that it augments and begets fresh and violent desires to augment it ; and the contemplation of a beauty , doth imprint it deeper in the fancy , then any eye can . therefore ( you love simplicians ) make a little resistance , cast away those idle toyes that afflict you ; let not absence be so troublesome , that you must torture your bodies , vilifie your spirits , and yeeld up your reputations as preyes to slander . if you know what you desired , you would be ashamed of your selves , you would be amazed that so noble spirits should suffer themselves to be transported with such follies . represent to your selves that a thousand undanted courages , have set themselves free , at liberty , and enjoyed tranquillity of spirit ; and you for want of a little resolution , tumble and involve your selves faster and faster in these fetters . will any man in his wits be thus deluded ? can he be so silly as to consume himself in seeking such a toy ? do you call this love , forsooth ? may it not rather be called madnesse and folly ? what , languish in the lap of an ungratefull mistresse ? fie , fie , it is an errour far unworthy of a man , that pretends unto any wisdom or courage . put a stop to your passions , and couragiously contend against them . you shall no sooner have put the wedge of courage into the block , but it shall be done ; you shall have your souls victoriously elevated over passion , which shall rejoyce amidst the trophies thereof . never stay upon thoughts and imaginations of love ; but so soon as it presents it self , chase it away , and extinguish it in your hearts , no otherwise then you should extinguish a hot iron in a river . if it be in presenim restrain your eyes , for they are the windowes , the allurements , the snares and the conducts of love . it buddeth in the eyes , that it may at leasure blossome in the heart ; therefore divert your sight from objects which dart a sting into the minde apt to receive , and sensible of such penetrations . likewise lest it get entrance at the ear , stop them against the inchanting melody of sirens songs , and charming musick of their tongues , never open them to be auditors of any lascivious discourse . but if you be already tainted with these charmes , unloose your selves , stoutly take your selves off , dispute not any longer with your passions ; flie from it , cut the cable , weigh anchor , spread sails , set forward , go , flie , look not for any more letters , regard not their pictures , no longer preserve favours , let all your endevours be to preserve your reason . i add one advice ( which i think very essential ) which is infinitely to fear a relapse after health , and to avoid all objects that may re-inkindle the flame . for love oftentimes resembleth a snake enchanted , cast asleep and smothered ; which upon the first occasion awaketh and becomes more strong , and more outragious then ever . you must not only fortifie your bodies against it , but also your souls . but my discourse like nilus overflowes , it shall return within its banks ; concluding with this , that terrestriall beauty is like a shadow , and therefore we are not to fix the eyes of our understanding upon it , but to turn them to that soveraign beauty which is permament and free from all change and passion . we will now indevour our selves to remove the cause of money causing love , which is meer covetousnesse ( the root of all evill ) and to satisfie their own voluptuousnesse , having their only delights upon earth ; who desire not the woman but her riches to make his houses the larger , to fill his chests fuller , being respectlesse of a virtuous woman , and the supreme good wherein all happinesse consisteth . and this , he saith , is to raise a fortune for his ( i say seldom thriving ) posterity ; studying how he may become an eternal affliction to himself . his minde is so fixed on money ( not on the woman ) as he findes no time to erect it to heaven . he employes so much time in getting and gathering of goods , as he reserves no time for doing good . he runs on still in desire ( not of his mistresse ) labouring of a disease incurable till death cure him . he encreaseth his cares with his substance , ( not his love to his wife ) and the more he adds to his estate , the more he detracts from his content , and love towards her . but consider ( you money-lovers ) and seek for a remedy while it is to be had , lest you repent your delay when 't is too late ) how secure was the rich-man ( as he thought ) when he invited his wretched soul to take her rest , having much goods laid up for many years ! but this self-security , was the occasion of his succeeding misery ; for that night was his soul to be taken from him . o how terrible will the approach of death seem to you , being to be divided from the staffe of your confidence , from thence to descend without the least hope of comfort to the land of forgetfulnesse ; for as the scorpion hath in her the remedy of her own poyson , a receipt for her own infection ; so the evill and covetous carry alwayes with them the punishment of their own wickednesse , the which doth never leave ( so incessant is the torment of a guilty conscience ) to wound and afflict the minde , both sleeping and waking : so as to what place he betakes him , he cannot so privily retire , but fear and horrour will awake him ; nor flie so fast , though he should take the wings of the morning , but fury and vengeance will overtake him . consider this ( i speak to both sexes ) and let not money and riches be the sole object of your love ; but look at that which is far more noble , that which is more permanent , that summum bonum , that chief good , which will direct you the way to all felicity . before we proceed any further , we will ( hoping such variety will prove the more pleasant ) turn our discourse a little in particular to the female sex , such whose kinde hearts , like wrought wax , are apt to receive any amorous impression . therefore to you ( loving souls ) do i recommend these necessary cautions ; which if carefully observed , will preserve you from the causes and consequently the effects of love , and may make you wiser then you thought of ; and to have a tender care of that , which before you had never minde of . the best preservative and soveraignest receipt is , to fortifie the weaknesse of your sex with strength of resolution , for the imagination of love is strong , and works admirable effects on a willing subject . give not power to an insulting lover to triumph over your weakness , or which is worse , to work on the opportunity of your lightnesse . ram up those portals which betray you to your enemy , and prevent his entry by your vigilancy . keep at home , and let neither you nor your thoughts stray abroad , lest by gadding you incur dinah's fate . check your madding , and to love inclining fancy , and if it use resistance , curbe it with restraint ; forbear to resort to places of publick meeting , till you have drawn up and sealed a covenant with your eyes , to see nothing that they may lawfully covet . this will yeeld you more liberty then the whole worlds freedome can afford you . be not too liberall in bestowing your favours , nor too familiar in publick converse . presume not too much on the strength of a weak fort . make a contract with your eyes , not to wander abroad , lest they be catch'd in coming home . treat not of love too freely ; be not too bold to play with the blinde boy ; he hath a dangerous aime , though he hath no eyes ; the cat playes with the mouse , but at last bites off her head ; the flie playes with the candle , till at last her light wings are sindged . sport not with him , that will hurt you ; play not with him , that would play on you ; your sports will turn to a bad jeast , when you are wounded in earnest . if this wanton frenzie hath never surpriz'd you ; prevent the means , and it will never invade you ; be not such foes to your selves as to purchase your own disquiet . if love issue out in too violent a stream , it is to be cooled by a temperate expostulation with fancy , or else fix your eyes upon some more attractive object ; divert the course of that madding passion , as physitians do to their patients who having a violent efflux of bloud in one place , cut a vein in another to turn the course of it another way . expostulate with fancy ( as brathwaite adviseth in his english gent. ) thus ; how is it with me ? me thinks it fares with me otherwise then it hath done formerly . a strange distemper i finde in my minde ; and might seem to resemble love , if i knew the nature of it . love ! can virgin modesty return that accent and not blush ? yes , why not ? if the object i affect he worth loving . ( if the party affected have more virtues then money , and not more money then virtues ) and if not , what then ? is not the lover ever blinde in affection towards his beloved ? he who may seem a thersites to another , may be a paris in mine eye . yea , but a little advice would do well . art thou perswaded that this non-parallel , thou thus affectest , hath dedicated his service only to thee ? that his affection is really towards thee ? that his protests , though delivered by his mouth , are ingraven in his heart ? yea , his protests have confirmed him mine . that hour is tedious wherein he sees me not . his eye is ever fixed on me ; his sole discourse is to me . these i must confesse are promising arguments of love ; yet these may deceive you , and consequently leave you in a miserable error . he may prove a false-hearted jason , demophoon , or theseus , and leave you in the briers for all your confidence . you say his vowes and protests have confirmed him yours ; and he hath attested heaven to bear record of his love . but take heed he play not the part of the ridiculous actor in smyrna , who pronouncing , o heavens , pointed with his finger to the ground . therefore i wish you , ground your fancy with deliberation ; and do not affect , before you finde ground of respect . entertain not a rhetoricall lover , whose protests are formall complements , and whose promises are gilded pils , which cover much bitternesse . many men are flattering gnatho's , dissembling chamelions , meer outsides , hypocrites that make a shew of great love , ( but 't is no more then from the teeth outwards ) pretend honesty , zeal , modesty , with affected looks , and counterfeit gestures , full of lip-love , faigned vowes , stealing away the hearts and favours of poor silly soules , deceiving them , specie virtutis & umbra , when as ( in truth ) there is no worth of honesty at all in them , no reality , but meer hypocrisie , subtilty and knavery . therefore ( gentlewomen ) trials in affairs of this nature , have ever a truer touch then protestations . for i am confident there are some ( yea , i really know many ) who make it their only study , how to tip their glozing tongues with rhetoricall phrases , ear-charming oratory , vowes , and protestations , purposely to gull credulous ▪ creatures , for the purchase of an unlawful pleasure ; which obtained , they leave them to bewail their lost honour . i exhort you to sift him narrowly to see what bran there is in him , before you chuse him . taske him before you take him . as thus ; hath his fair carriage got him estimation where he lives ? hath he never enured his tongue to play the hypocrite with his heart ? hath he kept a fair quarter , and been ever tender of his untainted honour ? hath he never boasted of young gentlewomens favors , nor run descant on their kindnesse ? hath he ever since he vowed himself your servant , solely devoted himself yours , and not mixt his affection with forain beauties ? if so , then chuse him , he well deserves your choise . be like the juniper tree , whose coal is the hottest , and whose shadow is the coolest ; be hot in your affection , but cool in your passion . set before your eyes the difference betwixt a wise and a wilde passion ; the one ever deliberates before it love , and the other loves before it deliberate : therefore let your fancy be grounded with deliberation . if you be a maid , ever fear to become a woman , and cast not the garland of your virginity under the feet of hogs . give not a hair of your head to those who promise you golden mountains , for such will deceive you , and when they most desire you in the quest of marriage , then is the time you must least be for marriage : for all you grant to their importunities , will be the subject of your disgrace ; and when they shall have marryed you , though you should live as chast as susanna , they will be jealous , and continually imagine you will be liberal to others ▪ of that whereof you were prodigal to them . if you desire to marry by fancy , rather pursuing your own wanton humors , then the reasonable commands of those to whom you owe your being ; hold it as a crime the most capitall you can undertake , and confidently believe if so you do , you will open a floud-gate to a deluge of miseries and cares , which will flow upon you thorow all the parts of your life . account the resolutions you make to this purpose , as treasons , and think whatsoever shall to you suggest the execution of them , will poison you by the eare to murther your chastity . but i fear ( reader ) i have too much trespassed upon thy patience , in insisting so long upon this branch . and i know there are some enamoratoes will account my precepts too difficult to be followed , and set my perswasions at nought ; they will not desist from their melancholy thoughts , not want the least idea of their lovers , so much pleasure they take in it . therefore i will instruct their friends , and see if they can withdraw their affection ; the which take as followeth . the arabians do advise us to take occasion to discourse of the party affected , in the patients hearing , and to enumerate all her imperfections and vices , making-them more and more , and far greater then they really are ; and to set out her perfections and virtues in the colours and shape of vices ; and to labour by probable arguments to prove unto him , that that which he judgeth to be comely and handsome , is in the judgment of those that are more quick sighted , both ugly and deformed ; telling him that cupid is blind , and makes all enamoratoes so too . endevour with what possibility you can , to convert his love either into hate of jealousie , by preswading him , that his mistresse doth not love him so well as she makes him believe she doth , and that all her entertainments , favours , kisses , dalliances , and embraces , are only baits and enticements to keep him from slavery : but if the party be of the other sex , then may be pleaded the obsequiousnesse and dissembling of man , ( which is as frequently found in them , as inconstancy in women : ) the parthians , to cause the youth to loath the alluring trains of womens wiles , and deceitful inticements , had most exquisitely carved in their houses , a young man blinde , besides whom was adjoyned a woman so exquisite , that in some mens judgement , pigmalions image was not half so excellent , having one hand in his pocket as noting her theft , and holding a knife in the other hand to cut his throat . injuries , slanders , contempts , and disgraces are very forcible means to withdraw mens affections ; for lovers reviled or neglected , contemned or abused , turn love into hate . mr. burton adviseth you to tell him she is a fool , an ideot , a slut , and many time so nasty that one cannot touch her with a pair of tonges , and that always against the time of his coming , she tricks and trimmes her self up to allure him , and will not be seen by him , but in an inticing dresse ; that she is a scold , a devill incarnate ; that she is come of a light heel'd kinde ; or that he or she hath some loathsome incurable disease ; that she is bald , her breath stinks , that he or she is mad and frenetick hereditarily ; to tell her that he is an hermophrodite , , an eunuch , imperfect , impotent , a spend-thrift , a gamester , a gull , his mother was a witch , his father was hanged , that he will surely beat her , that he is a desperate fellow , and will stab his bedfellow , and that no body will lie with him . if she be fair and wanton , tell him she will make him a cornuto , and to sing an april song . if she be virtuous , that it is but a cloak for her more secret vices , a meer outside , a whited sepulchre . if he be enamoured on a widow , that she will still hit him in the teeth with her first husband , that she hath cast her rider , and will endanger him too , and that a wife and children are a perpetual bill of charges . endevour to divert the patients thoughts from his former mistresse , by making him fall in love with another ; upon whom when once his affection begins to take root , make him hate that , and fall in love with a third ; following this course with him still , till at length he begins of his own accord to be weary of loving : for ( i le assure you ) he that is in love with many women at once , will never run mad for any of them ; for the minde being thus disunited , the desires are lesse violent ; so one love takes away the force of another . love is of the nature of a burning-glasse , which kept still in one place fireth ; but changed often it doth nothing , not so much as warm : or a kinde of glowing cole , which shifted from hand to hand , a man easily endures . a young man ( saith lucian ) was pitifully in love , he came to the theater by chance , and by seeing variety of objects there , was fully recovered , e theatro egressus hilaris , ac si pharmacum oblivionis bibisset ; and went merrily home , as if the had drunk a dram of oblivion . a mouse ( saith the fabulist ) was brought up in a chest , and there fed with fragments of bread and cheese , thought there could be no better meat , till at last coming to feed on other varieties , loathed her former life : just so it is with a silly lover , none so fair as his mistresse at first , he cares for none but her ; yet after a while when he hath compared her to others , he abhors her name , sight , and memory . if all this will do no good , let us see what may be done by physicall means ; yet , some there are , who exclaim and cry with open throats against the gods , for ordaining for every malady a medicine , for every sore a salve , for every pain a plaister ; leaving only love remedilesse , and then exclaiming with the inventer of physick apollo . hei mihi quod null is amor est medicalilis herbis ! did you ( oye gods ! ) deem no man ( say they ) so mad as to be entangled with desire ? or thought you them worthy to be tormented , that were so misled ? have ye dealt more favorably with brute beasts then with reasonable creatures ? no simple lovers you want not medicines to cure your maladies , but reason to use the means . of physicall means therefore we will treat as followeth . first , it is good to take away the superfluity of bloud , ( if age and the strength of the patient will permit ) by opening the liver vein . i should have said , vena hepatica , ( but i speak as well to those that do not understand latine , as them that do ) in the right arme , let the quantity taken be according to the constitution and strength of the patient ; and if you see cause , open the saphaena or ankle vein ; for phlebotomie maketh those that are dejected merry , appeaseth those that are angry , and makes lovers come to themselves , and keep in their right mindes , amantes ne sint amentes : for ( saith one ) amantes & amentes iisdem remediis curentur ; lovers and madnen are cured by the self-same remedy : affirming that love extended is meer madnesse ▪ aelian montaltus saith , love makes the bloud hot , thick and black ( being converted into black choler and melancholy ) and if the inflamation get into the brain , with continual meditation , it so dryes it up , that a madnesse followes , or they make away themselves , as divers in that case have done . let him have change and variety of place , for that doth awaken the spirits of melancholy lovers ; let him not be without company and frequent conversation , for many times that diverts the minde of a doting lover , and cheeres him up , making him see his errour ▪ it is good for the patient to be in a cold and moist aire ; and not to use in his diet such things as do heat the bloud and provoke lust . let him use to fast often , and feed often on bread and water : sine cerere & baccho frig●t venus ; love takes not up his lodging in an empty stomach ; but on the contrary venus delights in dainties . let him use these simples in his broath and sallads ; purslane . sorrell . endive . woodbine . ammi . succory . and lettice , which is so soveraigne a remedy against this malady , that venus desiring to forget all her unchast desires , buried her dear adonis under a bed of lettice . likewise the syrup or conserve of red-roses , or province-roses ; the same virtue is attributed to mints . let him also use to eat , grapes . mellons . cherries . plums . apples . pears . cowcumbers , &c. it is good to take sometimes , hempeseed . seed of water lillies . hemlock . tu●san . camphire . cominseeds . coriander seeds . agnus costus , or the chast tree , not only the seeds of it used and taken in what manner soever doth restrain the instigation to venery , which it doth by a specifick property , seeing it is of the same tēperature with pepper , which worketh contrary effects ▪ and therefore the athenian matrons in their thesmophoria did use the leaves as sheets to lie on , thereby to preserve their thoughts ( if it were possible ) from impurity . rue is an excellent remedy , but of different operation in men an women . one quality thereof commend i must , it makes men chast , and women fils with lust . let his sauces with his meat be , vinegar , orenges , or verdejuyce . lemmons , sorrell , let him abstain from all aromaticall things , and all fryed or salt meats ; because that salt by reason of its heat and acrimony , provokes to lust , those that use to eat it in any great quantity . let him abstain from meats that are nutritive , hot , flatulent , and melancholy : as , soft egges . partridges . pigeons . sparrows . testicles of creatures . quails . rabbets . hares . greengeese especially . let him not eat , pine nuts . pistachoes . small nuts . artechokes . turneps . greenginger . eringoes . mustard . coleworts . rapes . carrots . parsnips . chesnuts . pease . sweet almonds . satyrion . onions . water nuts . rocket . cich-pease . beans . syrrups . electuaries . let him not lie upon a soft bed . also from all manner of fish * , &c. and oysters . prawnes . lobsters . crabs . muscles . cockles , &c. let him exercise usque ad sudorem , till he sweat again ; provided that the disease be not already grown to madnesse . often bathes are good . eye the heart , and be sure what ever you do , have a care to keep that on wheels , for all melancholy vapors afflict that especially . therefore to fortifie that , take conserve of roses . borrage flowers . buglosse flowers . rosemary flowers . marigold flowers . saffron . green walnuts preserved . juniper berries . bettony . citron pils candied , &c. thebane crates saith , there is no other remedy for love then time , and that must wear it out ; if time will not , the last refuge ( saith he ) is an halter . and that 's a speedy and sure remedy , very quick of operation . but when all fails , apply that cordiall salve to your corroding sore made by loves wounding weapon , that excellent remedy , that soveraign balme , that universal medicine , which if seasonably administred , will give you comfort when you are most distempered . the recipe is , divine contemplation ; for certainly those spirits which are truly raised to the study and knowledge of divine things , and do well know the art of celestiall contemplation , are elevated above all terrestrial pleasures , in as much as eternity is above time , and infinite felicities above vanities . and not finding any thing on earth worthy our desire , and to fix our affections upon , let the object of our love and felicities be in the empyreall heaven . and while we are in these divine extasies , let our spirits be so strong , as they may be conquerors of our bodies ; so heavenly , that they may esteem the chiefest pleasures of the body ( as this of heroick love ) but as dung and drosse , nay worse if worse may be , in comparison of those sublime and celestial pleasures we enjoy in our souls . and in such comparison we may rejoyce more in contemning these corporeal delights , and being above them , then in the fruition of them . therefore in stead of placing our affections on terrene objects , let us seek after that fountain and well-spring of all love , lovelinesse , beauty , sweetnesse , and excellencies of the creator ; which is infinitely more permanent , and doth as much transcend all other beauties and excellencies in the world , if they were all united in one : so that when a soul is possessed with the beauty and love of god , it will have the eye of its imagination fixed on him , often soaring and mounting up to heaven as its center , on the wings of contemplation ; and a sa vapor exhaled by the sun , often gliding after its love , being thereunto attracted by the allurements of his most amiable , fair and divine lustre and lovelinesse ; insomuch as it will be enlightened with glorious ideas , touring apprehensions , ardent affections , and celestial raptures . we will conclude with that poetical and divine strain of the nightingale of france . if wanton lovers so delight to gaze on mortall beauties brittle little blaze ; that not content with ( almost ) dayly sight of those deer idols of their appetite ; nor with th' ideas which the idalian dart hath deep imprinted in their yielding heart ; much more should those , whose souls , in sacred love are rapt with beauties ▪ proto-type above . finis . the postscript . reader , i know i shall come under the lash of a satyrical dijudication , and be boy'd out of countenance , for presuming to appear in this subject , which would have become the neat flourishes of a more elegant pen . therefore i will acknowledge that philomus as one of my most energetical palizadoes , who will defend this enchiridion against the malevolous aspersions of the venemous tongues of detractors , that will endevour to derogate its worth by calumny . but i have herculean hopes , that some will vindicate me ( where i cannot answer for my self ) against the viperous brood of backbiters . and as i love not to come within the jawes of such black-mouth'd plutonian curs ; so i desire not to be bandied up and down in the tennis court of this world with the racket of praise ; for there is a herb called lingua pagana ( i translate it ) a double tongue ; the devill that crafty gardner hath got a slip of it , and hath set it in the heart of the g●athonical reader ; for bilinguis was none of gods making ; no , it was of the devils marring , he loves to make that double which god made single : so there will be some cloven tongues that will disallow of that in the writers absence , which before did approve of and commend in his presence ; and if such distastful criticks shall misinterpret the innocency of my harmlesse meaning , i shall but reply , and play with their sporting censures , as doth ben. johnson in his play works , their praise or dispraise is to me alike , th' one doth not stroke me , nor the other strike . i will conclude with one word to momus , who like a cowardly cur will fawn in a mans face , but bite him by the heels when his turn'd back hath given the farewell , or like the cholerick horse-rider , who being cast from a young colt , not daring to kill the horse cut the saddle . think ▪ ( momus ) speak do what thou wilt , th'art free ; thy thoughts , thy words , thy deeds are nought to me . finis . the contents . of love , the original , the universality and the definition of it ▪ pag. . the whole vniverse tendeth to love ▪ and that it was love which caused god to create the world . pag. . mans inclination to a seeming good , and the cause of womans creation . . the sympathy that minerals and vegetables have one to another . . the definition of amorous love , and the several opinions of theophrastus , montagne , socrates , tully , seneca , and others . pag. , . the policy of paris , in the disposal of the golden ball to venus . . the power of the planet venus . pag. . the concord betwixt pallas , the muses and venus . ibid. the conclusion . . the causes of love . pag. . the first cause from god . ibid. the second from the influence of the stars . , . parents and education . , . the example of themistocles . . idlenesse . ibid. luscious fair . ibid. dancing schooles , and schooles of musick . . quintilians opinion of nurses . ibid. the example of socrates . . a harmony and consonancy of spirits , &c. . that beauty and goodnesse make us love . . the great power that beauty hath in procuring love . . the particulars of beauty causing love , . the eyes . . . fair hair . . . the tongue , a gracious laughter , songs , kissing , &c. . . a tall slender body , &c. ibid. . breasts and paps , affected carriages , garments , guises , colons , jewels , pendants , painting , &c. . apparel . . . pleasant looks , glances , &c. . good instruction to ladies . . . a tender and hot heart . ibid. . love-letters . . . words . ibid. . eare . ibid. lysidas love to astrea . ibid. money causing love in men . . money causing love in women . . what the poets say are the causes of love . . fonsecas opinion of the cause of love . . the conclusion . . of the power and effects of love . . what plato cals love . ibid. the effects of love in animals . , . diseases caused by love . . powers and assaults of love . . the variousnesse of it . ibid. divers examples of the effects of love . . the many dangers and hazzards lovers undergoe . . loves force is shown in the continuation of a designe . . the effects of love in birds , &c. . the effects of love in old persons . . in maids . ibid. constancy in lovers inconstancy . . how lovers display the beauty of their mistresses . . the effects of love in she-lovers , with their ear-charming notes . . a loves simplician described . . a description a great many guls . . instructions to lovers . , . love strengthened by hope , &c. . a description of the palace of love . . the effects of love in women . , , , , . the conclusion . . of the power and effects of love in widows . widows compared to heralds hearse-clothes , and how they will belie their age , &c. ibid. the artificial discourse of widows . ibid. widow courters , &c. . the cause why spaniards will not mary widows . . widows were ordained for younger brothers . . the signes of love . . cautions before you judges of signes . ibid. what physognomie is . ibid. various signes of love are from pag. . to . signes of love in women . , , . signes of love by chiromancy . . signes of love by dreams . , . signes of love by astrology . , . at what age we begin to be in love . what complexions do best sympathize . what , &c. . when it beginneth in men . , . when in women . ibid. , , . what temperatures and complexions do sympathize together , and are most prone to receive the impression of this passion . , , , , . in what principal part of the body of man is the seat of love . . where love first entreth . , . of jealousie in lovers . . the definition of it . , . the effects , signes and symptomes of it . . , , , , . how it may be known who will be subject to jealousie by every mans nativity . . the remedies of love . . how to take away love caused by the stars . , . how to remove it caused by parents and education . , , , . how to extinguish it , caused by beauty . , . that love is sooner extinguished in presence then absence . . how to take away the cause of money causing love . , . a preservative and soveraign receipt for women to fortifie themselves against the contagion of this pussion . , , , , . how to extinguish love according to the way of the arabians . . and the parthians . , . several other instructions to divert the patients thoughts . . physical cures , by letting of bloud ▪ change and variety of places , and what air is best ; how to diet him , as what simples to use in his broaths . what syrups and conserves he must take ▪ what fruit he may eat , &c. what sauces to use with his meats . , , . what the patient must abstain from . . his exercise . . fortifie the haart . ibid. the remedy of theban crates . ibid. the conclusion . , . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a e- * and that is the cause why women love fish better then flesh , for they will have plaice what ever they pay for it . a treatise of the passions and faculties of the soule of man with the severall dignities and corruptions thereunto belonging. by edvvard reynoldes, late preacher to the honorable society of lincoln's inne: and now rector of the church of braunston in northamptonshire. reynolds, edward, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a stc estc s this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) a treatise of the passions and faculties of the soule of man with the severall dignities and corruptions thereunto belonging. by edvvard reynoldes, late preacher to the honorable society of lincoln's inne: and now rector of the church of braunston in northamptonshire. reynolds, edward, - . [ ], , - , - , - , - , - , [ ] p. printed by r. h[earne and john norton] for robert bostock, dwelling in saint pauls church-yard at the signe of the kings head, london : . quires a- k printed by norton; hearne printed the rest (stc addendum). cf. folger catalogue which gives signatures: a⁴ (a)⁴ b⁴ [-b ] b- x⁴ y² a- i⁴ k² l- t⁴ [ v] [ x] . with a final errata leaf. reproduction of the original in the henry e. huntington library and art gallery. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng psychology -- early works to . emotions -- early works to . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - judith siefring sampled and proofread - judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a treatise of the passions and facvlties of the soule of man. with the severall dignities and corruptions thereunto belonging . by edvvard reynoldes , late preacher to the honorable society of lincoln's inne : and now rector of the church of braunston in northamptonshire . iuvenal sat. . quicquid agunt homines , votum , timor , ita , voluptas , gaudia , discursus , nostri est farrago libelli . london , printed by r. h. for robert bostock , dwelling in saint pauls church-yard at the signe of the kings head. . to her highnesse the princesse elizabeth , princesse palatine of the rhine , dvtches of bavaria , &c. and eldest daughter to her majestie the queen of bohemia . may it please your highnesse ; what the great philosopher hath observed of mens bodies , is , upon so much stronger reasons , true of their mindes , by how much our intellectuall maturity is more lingring , and sluggish than our naturall , that the too early conceptions and issues of them doe usually proove but weake and unusefull . and we shall seldome find , but that those venturous blossoms , whose over-hastie obedience to the early spring doth anticipate their proper season , and put forth too soone , doe afterwards for their former boldnesse suffer from the injury of severer weather , except at least some happy shelter , or more benigne influence redeeme them from danger . the like infelicity i finde my selfe obnoxious unto at this time . for i know not out of what disposition of minde , whether out of love of learning ( for * love is venturous , and conceives difficult things easier then they are ) or whether out of a resolution to take some account from my selfe of those few yeares wherein i had then been planted in the happiest of all soyles , the schooles of learning ; whether upon these , or any other inducements , so it hath happened , that i long since have taken boldnesse in the minority of my studies to write this ensuing treatise : that before i adventured on the endevour of knowing other things , i might first try whether i knew my selfe . least i should justly incurre the censure , which that * sowre philosopher past upon grammarians . that they were better acquainted with the evils of vlysses then with their owne . this hasty resolution having produced so untimely an issue , it hapned by some accident to be like moses in his infancy exposed to the seas . where i made no other account , but that its own weaknesse would there have revenged my former boldnesse , and betrai'd it unto perishing . but as he then , so this now , hath had the marvellous felicity to light on the view , and fall under the compassion of a very gracious princesse . for so farre hath your highnesse vouchsafed ( having hapned on the sight of this tractate ) to expresse fauour thereunto , as not onely to spend houres in it , and require a transcript of it , but further to recommend it by your gracious judgement vnto publike view . in which particular i was not to advice with mine owne opinion , being to expresse my humblest acknowledgement to your highnesse . this onely petition i shall accompany it withall unto your highnesse feete , that since it is a blossome which put forth so much too soone , it may therefore obtain the gracious influence of your highnesse favour , to protect it from that severity abroad which it otherwise justly feareth . god almighty make your highnesse as great a mirrour of his continuall mercies , as he hath both of his graces and of learning . your highnesse most humble servant , edvvard reynoldes . a preface to the reader . having beene moved to give way unto the publication of this phylosophicall miscellany , the fruit of my yonger studies , i conceive it needfull to prevent one obvious prejudice under which i may labour . for it may haply seeme undecent in me , having adventured to publish some few , though weake discourses in arguments divine , that i should now suffer the blossomes of my youth to looke abroad and runne the ha●…rd of publike censure . whereunto when i shall have ●…ven a short answer , i shall rest something the more confident of a c●…ndid construction . and here i might first alledge the ●…our which god himselfe hath beene pleased to give . vnto ins●…ur , and naturall knowledge . in the first creation when he gave unto man the do●…nion over other creatures for his use , he gave him likewise the 〈◊〉 , and knowledg●… of them , for his makers glory , and his owne delight . ( for god bro●…ght them unto him to give them names . ) and as the holy scriptures are all over full of the mysteries of gods wisdome in naturall things , so are there some speciall passages thereof written a as it were purposely on that argument . and we finde that moses and solomon have therein testimony given unto them , not onely of their divine , but of their humane , and naturall knowledge likewise . and if we looke into the ancient christian churches , or into these of later times , wee shall finde that very many ecclesiasticall persons have not denyed unto the world , their philosophicall & poeticall labors , either whole and alone , or mixed , and directed to theologicall ends , as we finde in the writings of clemens alexandrinus , tertullian , eusebius caesariensis , saint austins bookes , de civitate dei , and others , venerable bede , isidore hispalensis , synesius sidonius apollinaris , honorius augustodunensis , &c. in the hexam●…rons of saint basil , nyssen , ambrose , and the bookes of those who have written more directly upon some parts of the argument of this present treatise , as gregory nyssen , lactantius , nemesius , procopius , gaz●…us , damascen , and others . and in later times , besides the schoolmen , and those vast labours of many of that side , in dialecticall , physicall and metaphysicall writings we might in stance in very many of the r●…formed churches abroad , some of whose yonger labours have seene the light ▪ as also in the oratory ▪ logicall , morall , historicall , mathe maticall , miscell●…nious writings of many learned di vines of our owne church , under the protection of which great examples i shall use the apologie which quintilian b dictateth unto me , vel error honestus est magnos duces sequentibus . that it is no uncomely , but a pardonable errour , which hath great examples to excuse it . in which respect i finde my selfe chiefely subject to this infelicity , that i am constrained to follow such examples , as little children doe their fathers , non aequis passibus , at a very great distance . and truely , when i againe , consider the excellent c vse and subordination , of humane learning unto learning divine ( it being hardly possible , without it , to understand sundry passages of holy scripture , depending upon the propriety of words and idiomes , or upon the customes . rites , proverbes , formes , vsages , lawes ▪ offices , antiquities of the assyrian , persian , greeke , and romane monarchies , as might be shewed in sundry particulars , and were a labour most worthy the industry of some able and learned pen : ) when i consider that the d spoiles of egypt were by god allowed to enrich israel , and a the spoyles of the gentiles reserved by david for the building of the temple : that a b gentile by legall purification and marriage , might become an israelite , that the c crowne of rabbah was put upon the head of david , and the d sword of goliah used to stay himselfe : that the a gold and myr●…h , and frankincense of the wise men of the east , was offered unto christ ▪ when i finde the b apostle convincing the iewes , out of their law , and the philosophers out of their maximes . and that c every gift , as well as every creature of god is good , and may be sanctified for the use and delight of man ; i then conclude with my selfe , that this morall and philosophicall glasse of the humane soul may be of some service even unto the tabernacle , as the d looking glasses of the israelitish women were unto the altar . n●…r 〈◊〉 i 〈◊〉 a little wonder at the melancholly fancy of saint c hierom , who conc●…iving himselfe in a v●…on beaten by an angel for being a ciceronian , did for ever after promise to abjure the reading of secular 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 d himselfe both justifying the 〈◊〉 at use of that kind of learning , and acknowledg●… 〈◊〉 conce●…d vision of his to have beene but a drea●… . it is true indeed that in regard of the bewitching danger from humane learning , and the too great aptnesse in the minds of man to surfeit and be intemperate , in the use of it ; some of the ancients have sometimes interdicted the reading a of such authors unto christian men ; but this calleth upon us for watchfulnesse , in our studies , not for negligence , for the apostle will tell us . that to the pure all things are pure . and even of harmefull things when they are prepared , and their malignancy by art corrected , doth the skilfull physitian make an excellent use . if then we be carefull to moderate and regulate our affections , to take heed of the pride and inslation of secular learning , not to admire philosophy , to the prejudice of evangelicall knowledge , as if without the revealed light of the gospel , salvation might be found , in the way of paganisme ; if we suffer not these leane k●…ne to devoure the sat ones , nor the river iordan to be lost in the dead sea ; i meane piety to be swallowed up of prophane studies , and the knowledge of the scriptures ( which alone would make any man conversant in all other kinde of learning with much greater felicity , and successe : ) to be under-valued , and not rather , the more admired , is a rich iewell compared with glasse . in this case , and with such care as this , there is no doubt , but secular studies prepared and corrected from pride and prophanenesse , may be to the church as the gt●…eonites were to the congregation of israel , for h●…wers of word , and drawers of water , otherwise we may say of them as cato major to his 〈◊〉 , of the graecian art●… and learning . b quandocunqu●… ista gens suas literas dabit , omnia cor●…umpet . nor have i upon these considerations onely adven tured on the publication of this tract , but because withall , in the reviewing of it , i found very many touches upon theologicall arguments , and some passages wholy of that nature . yea , all the materiall parts of the treatise doe so nearely concerne the knowledge of our selves , and the direction of our lives , as that they may be all esteemed borderers upon that profession . in the perusing and fashioning of it for the presse , i have found that true in writing , which i had formerly found true in building ; that it is almost as chargeable to repaire , and set right an old house , as to erect a new one . for i was willing in the most materiall parts of it , so to lop off luxuriances of style , and to supply the defects of matter , as that with candid , favourable , and ingenuous iudgements , it might receive some toleralle acceptation . in hope whereof i rest , thine in all christian service , edward reynolds . perlegi tractatum hunc , cui titulus ( a treatise of the passions and faculties of the soule , &c ) in quo nihil reperio orthodoxae fidei , aut bonis moribus adversum , quo minus cum summa utilitate imprimatur . m●… . . tho. wykes . r. p. episc. lond. capell . domest . a summary of the severall chapters contained in this booke . chap. . of the dependance of the soul in her operations upon the body . pag. . chap. . in what cases the dependance of the soul on the body , is lessened by faith , custome , education , occasion . p. . chap ▪ . of the memory , and some few causes of the weaknesse thereof . p. . chap. . of the fancy it's offices to the will and reason , vol●…bility of thoughts fictions , errours , lev●…ty fixednesse . p. . chap. . of passions , their nature and distribution , of the motions of naturall creatures , guided by a knowledge without them : and of rationall creatures guided by a knowledge within them : of passions mentall sensitive , and rationall . p. . chap. . of humane passions in generall , th●…ir use , naturall , morall , civill : their subordination 〈◊〉 , or rebell on against right rea●…n . p ▪ ●… . chap. . of the exercise of passion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apathy : of 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cure thereof p. ●… . chap. . of 〈◊〉 ●…ls of passions , 〈◊〉 th●…y 〈◊〉 vertue : of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , diverti●… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 , and of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. . chap. . of the affection of love , of love naturall , of generall communion , of love rationall , the object and generall cause thereof . p. . chap. . of the rule of true love : the love of god and our selves : similitude to these , the cause of love in other things : of love of concup●…ence : how love begetteth love : and how pr●…sence with , and absence from the object , doth upon different reflects exercise and encrease love , p. . chap. . of the effects of love , union to the object , stay and immoration of the minde upon it , rest in it , zeal●… , strength , and tend●…rnesse towards it , condescention unto it , lique●…ion and languishing for it . p. . chap. . of the passion of ●…atred , the fundamentall cause or object thereof , evill : how farre forth evils willed by god , may be declined by men , of gods se●…t and revealed will. p. . chap. . of the other causes of hatred secret antipathy ▪ difficulty of procuring a good commanded , 〈◊〉 , base sears , disparity of desires , a fixed jealous 〈◊〉 . p. . chap. . of the quality and quantity of hatred ▪ and how 〈◊〉 either respects it is to be regulated . p. . chap. . of the 〈◊〉 and evill effects of hatred , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wisedome to profit by that wee hate , w●…th confidence , victory ▪ reformation . hatred , in generall against the whole kinde , cunning ●…ss 〈◊〉 , cruelty , running ●…ver to persons innocent , vielating religion . envy , rejoy●…ing at evill . creeked suspition , contempt , contumely . p. . chap. . of the affection of desire , what it is . the severall kindes of it , naturall , rationall , spirituall , intemperate , unnaturall morbid desires . the object of the●… , good , pleasant , as possible , as absent , either in whole , or in degrees of perfection , or continuance . the most generall internall cause vacuity , indigence other causes , admiration ▪ greatnesse of minde , curio ▪ sity . p. . chap. . of other causes of desire , infirmity , temerity , mutability of minde , knowledge , repentance , hope , of the effects of it in generall labour , languor . in speciall , of rationall desires , bounty , griefe , wearinesse , indignation against that which withstands it . of vitious desires , deception , ingratitude , envie , greedinesse , basenesse of resolution . p. . chap. . rules touching our desires . desires of lower objects , must not be either hasty , or unbounded , such are unnaturall , turbid , unfruitfull , unthankfull . desires of heavenly objects fixed , permanent , industrious , connexion of vertues , sluggish desires . p. . chap , . of the affection of joy or delight , the severall objects thereof , corporall , morall , intellectuall , divine . p. . chap. . of the causes of ioy. the union of the object to the faculty , by contemplation , hope , fruition , changes by accident a cause of delight . p. . chap. . of other causes of delight , vnexpectednesse of a good , strength of desire . imagination , imitation . fitnesse and accommodation . of the effects of this passion : reparation of nature , dilatation . thirst in noble objects , satiety in baser . whetting of industry . atmorous unbeliefe . p. chap ▪ . of the affection of sorrow the object of it , evill ▪ sensitive , intellectuall as present in it selfe , or to the minde , by memory , or suspition , particular causes , effects of it , feare , care , experience , erudition , irresolution , despaire , execration , distempers of body , p. . chap. . of the affection of hope , the object of it , good , future , possible , difficult . of regular and inordinate despaire . p. . chap. . of the causes of hope , want , and weaknesse together , experience and knowledge . in what sense ignorance may be said to strengthen , and know ledge to weaken hope : examples quicken more then precept , provision of aides : the uncertainty of outward meanes to establish hope , goodnesse of nature , faith , and cred●…lity ▪ wise confidence . p. . chap. . of the effects of hope : stability of minde ▪ wearines , arising not out of weaknes , but out of want , contention , and forthputting of the minde . patience under the want , distance , and difficulty of good desired , waiting upon aide expected . p. . chap. . of the affection of boldnesse , what it is , the causes of it , strong desires , strong hopes , aydes , supplies , reall or in opinion . despaire and extremities , experience , ignorance , religion , immunity from danger , dext●…rity of wit , strength of love , pride or greatnesse of minde and abilities . the effects of it , executi●…n of things advised , temerity , &c. p. . chap. . of the passion of feare : the causes of it , impotency , obno●…ousnesse , suddennesse , neerenesse , newnesse , conscience , ignerance of an evill . p. . chap. . of the effects of feare , suspition , circumspection , superstition , betraying the succours of reason , feare generative , rest●…cting inward wea●…ning the faculties of the minde , base susp●…tion , wise caution . p. . chap. . of that particular affection of feare ▪ which is called shame , what it is . whom we thus feare . the ground of it evill of turpitude . injustice , intemperance , sordidnesse , so●…nesse , pusillanimity , flattery , vainglory , misfortun●… , ignorance pragmaticalnesse , deformity , greatnesse of minde , unworthy correspondencies , &c. shame , v●…ous , and vertuous . p. . chap. . of the affection of anger , the distinctions of it , the fundamentall cause thereof contempt . three kindes of contempt , dis●…estimation disappointment , calumny . p. ●… . chap. . of other causes of anger : first in regard of him that suffers wrong : excellency , weaknesse , strong d●…sires , sus●…ition , next ●…regard of him who doth it ; rasenesse , impudence , neerenesse , freedome of speech , contention , ability , the effects of anger , the immutation of the body ▪ impulsion of reason , exp●…dition , precipitance . rules for the moderating of this passion . p. . chap. , of the originall of the reasonable soule whither it be immediately created and i●…sused , 〈◊〉 derived by seminall traduction from the parents . of the derivation of originall sinne . p. . chap. . of the image of god in the reasonable soule in regard of it's simplicity , and spirituality . p. . chap. . of the soules immortality proved by it's simplicity , independance , agreement . of nations in acknowledging a god and duties due to him , dignity above other creatures , power of understanding things immortall , unsatisfiablenesse by objects mortall , freenesse from all causes of corruption . p. . chap. . of the honour of humane bodies by creation , by resurrection , of the endowments of glorified bodies . p. . chap. . of that part of gods image in the soule , which answereth to his power , wisedome , knowledge , holinesse . of mans dominion over other creatures . of his love to knowledge , what remainders we retaine of originall iustice. p. . chap. . of the faculty of understanding , it 's operation outward upon the object . inward upon the will. of knowledge , what it is . the naturall desire and love of it . apprehension , iudgement , retention requisite unto right knowledge . severall kindes of knowledge . the originall knowledge given unto man in his creation . the benefits of knowledge , of ignorance naturall , voluntary , poenal , of curiosity , of opinion , the causes of it , disproportion betweene the object and the faculty , and an acute versutilo●…snesse of conceits , the benefits of modest hesitancy . p. . chap. . of errours : the causes thereof . the abuses of principles , falsifying them : or transferring the truth of them out of their owne bounds . affectations of singularity , and novell courses . credulity and thraldome of judgement unto others . how antiquity is to be honoured . affection to particular objects corrupteth judgement . curiosity in searching things secret . p. chap ▪ . the actions of the understanding , inventition , wit , iudgement : of invention , distrust , prejudice , immaturity : of tradition by speech , writing : of the dignities and corruption of speech . p. . chap. . of the actions of the understanding upon the will , with respect to the end and meanes . the power of the understanding over the will , not commanding , but directing the objects of the will to be good and convenient . corrupt will lookes onely at good present . two acts of the vnderstanding , knowledge and consideration . it must also be possible , and with respect to happinesse immortall . ignorance and weaknesse in the vnderstanding , in proposing the right means to the last end. p. . chap. . of the conscience ; it's offices of direction , conviction , comfort , watchfulnesse , memory , impartiality . of consciences ignorant , superstitious , sleeping ▪ frightfull , tempestuous . p. . chap. . of the will : it 's appetite : with the proper and chiefe objects therof , god. of superstition and idolatry . of it's liberty in the electing of meanes to an end. of it's dominion coactive and perswasive . of fate , astrology . satanicall suggestions . of the manner of the wills operaation , motives to it . acts of it . the conclusion . p. . a treatise of the passions and faculties of the soule of man. chap. i. of the dependance of the soule , in her operations upon the body . it hath been a just complaint of learned men , that usually wee are more curious in our inquiries after things new than excellent ; and that the very neerenesse of worthy objects , hath at once made them both despised and unknowne . thus like children , with an idle diligence , and fruitlesse curiositie , wee turne over this great booke of nature , without perusing those ordinarie characters , wherein is exprest the greatest power of the worker , and excellencie of the worke ; fixing our admiration onely on those pictures and unusuall novelties , which though for their rarenesse they are more strange , yet for their na ture are lesse worthy . every comet or burning meteor strikes more wonder into the beholder , than those glorious lampes of nature , with their admirable motions and order , in which the heathen have acknowledged a divinenesse . let a child be borne but with six fingers , or have a part more than usuall , wee rather wonder at one supers●…uous , than at all naturall . sol spectatorem nisi cum desicit non habet , nemo observat lunam nisi laborantem , adeò naturale est magis nova , quàm magna mirari : none looketh with wonde●… on the sunne , but in an eclipse ; no eye gazeth on the moone , but in her travell : so naturall it is with men , to admire rather things n●…w than common . whereas indeed things are fit for studie and observation , though never so common , in regard of the perfection of their nature , and usefulnesse of their knowledge . in which respect , the plaine counsell of the oracle was one of the wi●…est which was ever given to man , to studie and to know himselfe ; because , by reason of his owne neerenesse to himselfe , hee is usually of himselfe most unknowne and neglected . and yet if wee consider , how in him it hath pleased god to stampe a more notable character of his owne image , and to make him , amongst all his workes , one of the most perfect models of created excellencie , wee cannot but acknowledge him to be one , though of the least , yet of the fittest volumes , in this great varietie of nature to be acquainted withall . intending therefore , according to my weakenesse , to take some view of the inside , and more noble characters of this booke , it will not be needfull for me to gaze upon the cover , to insist on the materials or sensitive conditions of the humane nature , or to commend him in his anatomie ; though even in that respect the psalmist tells us , that he is fearefully and wonderfully made : for wee commonly see , that as most kind of plants or trees exceed us in vegetation and fertilitie ; so , many sorts of beasts have a greater activitie and exquisitenesse in their senses than wee . and the reason hereof is , because nature aiming at a superiour and more excellent end , is in those lower faculties lesse intent and elaborate . it shall suffice therefore , onely to lay a ground-worke in these lower faculties , for the better notice of mans greater perfections , which have ever some connexion and dependance on them . for whereas the principall acts of mans soule are either of reason and discourse , proceeding from his vnderstanding ; or of action and moralitie , from his will ; both these , in the present condition of mans estate , have their dependance on the organs and faculties of the body , which in the one precede , in the other follow : to the one , they are as porters , to let in and convey ; to the other as messengers , to performe and execute : to the one , the whole body is as an eye , through which it seeth ; to the other a hand , by which it worketh . concerning the ministrie therefore of the body unto the soule , wee shall thus resolve ; that the reasonable part of man , in that condition of subsistence which now it hath , depends in all its ordinarie and naturall operations , upon the happie or disordered temperature of those vitall qualities , out of whose apt and regular commixion the good estate of the body is framed and composed . for though these ministeriall parts have not any over-ruling , yet they have a disturbing power , to hurt and hinder the operations of the soule ▪ whence wee finde , that sundry diseases of the body doe oftentimes weaken , yea , sometimes quite extirpate the deepest impression and most fixed habits of the minde . for , as wheresoever there is a locomotive facultie , though there be the principall cause of all motion and activitie ; yet if the subordinate instruments , the bones and sinewes be dis-jointed , shrunke , or any other wayes indisposed for the exercise of that power , there can be no actuall motion ; or as in the body politique ▪ the prince ( whom seneca calleth the soule of the common-wealth ) receiveth either true or false intelligence from abroad , according as is the fidelitie or negligence of those instruments ▪ whom xenophon tearmeth the eyes and eares of kings : in like manner , the soule of man being not an absolute independant worker , but receiving all her objects by conveyance from these bodily instruments , which cicero calleth the messengers to the soule , if they out of any indisposition shall be weakened , the soule must continue like a rasa tabula , without any acquired or introduced habits . the soule hath not immediately from it selfe that strange weakenesse , which is observed in many men , but onely ▪ as it is disabled by earthie and sluggish organs ; which being out of order , are more burthensome than serviceable thereunto . there are observable in the soules of men , considered in themselves , and in reference one to another , two defects ; an imperfection , and an inequalitie of operation : the former of these i doe not so ascribe to that bodily weakenesse , whereby the soule is any way opprest , as if i conceived no internall darknesse in the faculties themselves ; since the fall of man working in him a generall corruption , did amongst the rest infatuate the mind , and as it were smother the soule with ignorance ; so that the outward ineptitude of bodily instruments , is onely a furtherance and improvement of that native imperfection . but for the inequalitie and difference of mens understandings in their severall operations , notwithstanding it be questioned in the schooles , whether the soules of men have not originally , in their nature , degrees of perfection and weakenesse , whence these severall degrees of operation may proceed ; yet neverthelesse that being granted , i suppose , that principally it proceeds from the varietie , tempers , and dispositions in the instrumentall faculties of the body ▪ by the helpe whereof , the soule in this estate worketh : for i cannot perceive it possible , that there should have beene , if man had continued in his innocencie , ( wherein our bodies should have had an exact constitution , free from those distempers to which now by sinne they are lyable ) such remarkable differences betweene mens apprehensions , as wee now see there are : for there should have beene in all men a great facilitie to apprehend the mysteries of nature , and to acquire knowledge ( as wee see in adam ) which now wee finde in a large measure granted to some , and to others quite denyed . and yet in that perfect estate ( according to the opinion of those who now maintaine it ) there would have beene found a substantiall and internall inequalitie amongst the soules of men : and therefore principally this varietie comes from the sundry constitutions of mens bodies ; in some , yeelding enablement , for quicknesse of apprehension ; in others , pr●…ssing downe and intangling the vnderstanding ; in some , disposing the minde unto one object ; in some , unto another ; according as the impetus and force of their naturall affections carrieth them . and therefore aristotle in his politiques ascribeth the inequalitie which hee observes betweene the asiatique and european wits , unto the severall climates and temperature of the regions in which they lived ; according whereunto , the complexions and constitutions of their bodies onely could be alter'd ; the soule being in it selfe , according to the same philosopher , impassible from any corporeall agent . and to the same purpose againe he saith , that if an old man had a young mans eye , his sight would be as sharpe and as distinct as a young mans is ; implying 〈◊〉 diversitie of perception to be grounded on●…ly on the diversitie of bodily instruments , by which it is exercised . and therefore he elsewhere observes ( i shall not trouble my selfe to examine upon what ground ) that men of soft and tender skins have greatest quicknesse of wit ; and on the contrarie , duri carne , inepti●…mente : thereby intimating , that there is no more significant and lively expression of a vigorous or heavie soule , than a happie or ill-ordered body ; wherein wee may sundry times reade the abilities of the minde , and the inclinations of the will : so then it is manifest , that this weakenesse of apprehension in the soules of men , doth not come from any immediate and proper darknesse belonging unto them ; but onely from the coexistence which they have with a body ill-disposed for assistance and information . for hee who is carried in a coach ( as the body is vehiculum animae ) though he be of himselfe more nimble and active , must yet receive such motion as that affoords ; and water , which is conveyed through pipes and aqueducts , though its motion by it selfe would have beene otherwise , must yet then be limitted by the posture and proportion of the vessels through which it passeth . chap. ii. in what cases the dependance of the soule on the body , is lessened by faith , custome , education , occasion . bvt yet this dependance on the body is not so necessarie and immutable , but that it may admit of variation , and the soule be in some cases vindicated from the impression of the body : and this first , in extraordinarie ; and next , in more common actions . in actions extraordinarie , as those pious and religious operations of the soule , assent , faith , invocation , and many others ▪ wherein the soule is carried beyond the sphere of sense , and transported unto more raysed operations : for to beleeve and know , that there are layd up for pious and holy endeavours those joyes which eye hath not seene , nor care heard , and to have some glimpses and fore-taste of them , which saint paul calleth the earnest , and first fruits of the spirit ; what is this , but to leave sense behind us , and to out-run our bodies ? and therefore it is , that religion , i meane chiefely , the principles , foundations , articles , and mysteries evangelicall , were alwayes not to be urged by disputes of secular learning , but to be sacredly and secretly infused ; not so much perswading to the knowledge of apparent truths ▪ as drawing to the beleese of true mysteries . divine truths doe as much transcend the reason ▪ as divine goodnesse doth the will of man. that one nature should be in three persons , and two natures in one person : that the invisible god should be manifested in the flesh , and a pure virgin bring forth a sonne ; that death should be conquered by dying , and not be able to digest and consume the body which it had devoured : that dead bones should live , and they who dwell in the dust awake and sing : these are mysteries , not onely above the reach of humane , but even of evangelicall disquisition ; in somuch , that even unto principalities and powers they were not otherwise made knowne , but by divine revelation delivered unto the church . sarah laughed , when abraham beleeved ; and the philosophers mocked , when paul disputed ; and reason expected , that the apostle should have fallen downe dead , when contrarily , faith shooke the viper into the fire . there is a great difference betweene the manner of yeelding our assent unto god and nature : for in philosophie , we never resigne our beleese , nor suffer our judgements to be wholly carried to any conclusion , till there be a demonstrative argument grounded on induction from the sense , for the enforcement thereof . but divinitie , on the other side , whe●… god speakes unto us , worketh science by faith ▪ making us so much the more assured of thos●… truths which it averreth , than of any natural●… conclusions , ( notwithstanding they may seem●… sometimes to beare opposition to humane reason ) by how much divine authoritie is more absolute and certaine , than any naturall demonstration . and this freedome from bodily restraint , have ( according to the schoole-men ) those raptures and extasies , which rayse and ravish the soule , with the sweetnesse of extraordinarie contemplations . and yet even religion it selfe hath so much condiscended to the senses of men , as to give them manner of roome and service in this great mysterie . and therefore generally , the doctrine of christ is set forth in parables and similitudes , and the faith in christ confirmed by sacraments ; things most agreeable to the perception and capacitie of the senses . now , for the exemption of the more ordinarie actions of the soule from any predominancie of the body , it is chiefely wrought by these three meanes , education , custome , and occasion . for the rule of aristotle , though in agents purely naturall and peremptorie ( which are not directed by any degree of knowledge inherent ) it held true ; yet in man it is not universall , that any thing which comes from nature , is unalterable by custome : for we commonly observe , that the culture of the minde , as of the earth , doth many times deliver it from the barrennesse of its owne nature . exercetque frequens tellurem atque imperat arvis ; as frequent husbandry commands the emptiest and most barren lands . education then , and custome , doe as it were revenge nature ; insomuch , that though the outward humours and complexions doe worke the mind unto an unhappie temper , yet by a continuall grapling with these difficulties , it getteth at the last some victorie , though not without much reluctancie . and for occasion ; that alters the naturall inclination of the will and affections , rather than of the vnderstanding : for so wee see , that the byas and force of mens desires are oftentimes turned , by reason of some sudden emergent occurrences , contrarie to the standing temper and complexion of the body . thus wee reade some times of men in warre ; who notwithstanding of themselves timerous and sluggish , yet when the disadvantage of the place had taken away all possibilitie of flight , and the crueltie of the adversarie all hope of mercie , if they should be conquered , have strangely gayned by their owne despaires , and gotten great and prosperous victories , by a forc'd and unnaturall fortitude . vna salus victis , nullam sperare salutem . the onely weapon which did win the day , was their despaire , that they were cast away . an example whereof , wee have in the philistims : when the israelites brought forth the arke of the lord in the campe , they were sore afraid , and cryed out , woe unto us , woe unto us ; who shall deliver us out of the hands of these mightie gods ? and thereupon resolved to quit themselves like men , and fight . and caesar in his commentaries telleth us of a people ▪ who when they went out to warre , would burne their houses ; that having no home of their owne , to flye unto , they might by that despaire , be urged to gaine one by the sword. the historian reporteth of a band of scythians , who though they were of themselves bond-slaves , did notwithstanding , upon occasion of their masters absence , endeavour to shake off their in-bred civilitie ; usurping to themselves a freedome , of which the basenesse of their condition was uncapable : nor could they be removed from this insolencie , till the sight of rods and staves , and other the like instruments of feare , had driven them back into their nature againe . chap. iii. of the memorie , and some few causes of the weakenesse thereof . now for these inward senses , which are commonly accounted three , ( though extending themselves unto sundry operations of differing qualities ) ●… take the two later , to wit , memorie , and fancie , or imagination , to have a more excellent degree of perfection in man ; as being indeed the principall store-houses and treasuries of the o●…●…ons of the soule . where ▪ by memorie , i under stand not the facultie , as it is common to beas●…s with men , and importeth nothing but the simple retention , and conservation of some species , formerly treasur'd up by the conveyance of the outward sense : but as it is consors & co-operatrix rationis , ●…s hugo speakes , a joynt-worker in the operations of reason ; which the latines call reminiscentia , or recordatio ; including some acts of the vnderstanding ▪ which is a reviewing , or ( as wee speake ) a calling to minde of former objects , by discourse , or rationall searching for them ; which is made by aristotle to be the remote ground of all arts : for ( saith hee ) memorie is the ground of experience , and experience the mother of art : the dignitie hereof in man , is seene , both by perfecting the vnderstanding ▪ in matter of learning and discourse , ( wherein some men have attained unto almost a miraculous felicitie ; as seneca the elder confes seth of himselfe , who could immediately recite two thousand words , in the same order as they had beene spoken before to him ; and cyrus , of whom zenophon testifieth , that hee could salute all the souldiers in his armie by their names ▪ and mithridates , who being king over twentie two countreyes ▪ did speake so many languages without an interpreter ; and politian in his epis●…les telleth of fabius vrsinus , a child but of a eleven yeeres of age , in whom there was so rare a mixture of invention and memorie , that ●…ee could unto five or six severall persons , at the same time , dictate the matter and words of so many severall epistles , some serious , some jocular , all of different arguments , returning after every short period , from the last to the first , and so in order ; and in the conclusion , every epistle should be so close ▪ proper , and coherent within i●… selfe , as if it alone had beene intended : ) as also by affording speciall assistance for the direction and discreet managing of our actions , conforming them either unto precepts and rules in moralitie , or unto principles of wisdome and publike prudence ▪ gathered from historicall observations ; while the minde , by the helpe of memorie , being as it were conversant with ages past , and furnished with examples for any service and imployment , doth by mature application , weighing particulars , comparing times , circumstances , and passages of affaires together , enable it selfe with the more hope and resolution , to passe successefully through any enterprise or difficultie : for qui credit sp●…rat , hee that beleeveth , and is acquainted with the happie issue of other mens resolutions , will with the lesse anxietie or discouragement goe on in his owne . the principall corruptions which i conceive of the memorie , are first , too much slightnesse and shallownesse of observation ; when out of an impatiencie of staying long , or making any pro●…ound enquirie into one object , and out of a gluttonous curiositie to seed on many , the greedinesse of the appetite weakeneth the digestion , ( for so some have called the memorie , the belly of the soule ) and an eagernesse to take in , makes uncarefull to retaine . and this is the reason , why many men wander over all arts and sciences , without gaining reall improvement , or soliditie in any : they make not any solemne iourney to a particular coast , and head of learning , but view all as it were in transitu ; having no sooner begun to settle on one , but they are in haste to visit another . but such men as these ( except endowed with an incredible and usuall felicitie of dispatch ) are no more able to finde the use , or search the bottome of any learning , than he who rides poast , is to make a description and map of his iourneyes : who , though by much imployment , he may toyle and sweat more in travelling from place to place ; yet is hee farre lesse able to discover the nature of the countreyes , temperature of the aire , character of the people , commodities of the earth , than he , who though not so violent in the motion , is yet more constant in his abode : and though his haste be lesse eager , yet his observations are more serious . omnis festinatio coeca est , saith seneca ; precipitancie and unstablenesse , as well in the motions of the wit as of the body , dazeleth and disableth the eyes : and it is true in the minde , as in the stomack ; too quick digestion doth alwayes more distemper than nourish , and breedeth nothing but crudities in learning . nor can i call that so much studie , as agitation and restlesnesse of the minde ; which is as impatient of true setled labour , as it is of quiet . now , the reason why such a temper of minde as this , is corruptive to the memorie , is first , because memorie is alwayes joyned with some measure of love ; and wee most of all remember that , which wee most respect : omnia quae ●…urant meminerunt ; there where the treasure is , the minde will be also : there therefore , where our love is most constant , our memories will be most faithfull . so , that sudden vanishing , and broken desires , which like the appetite of sick men , are for the time violent , but give presently over ; as they argue an eager love for the present , of what wee pursue , and by consequence , ●… fastidium and disesteeme of that which wee soone forsake ▪ so doe they necessarily inferre weakenesse on the memorie , by how much they make our hopes the stronger . for , as seneca speakes , cad●…ca memoria futura iminentium ; men strongly bent upon things future , have but weake memories of things past . secondly , the body of any one homogeneall learning , hath this excellent propertie in it , that all the parts of it doe by a mutuall service relate to , and communicate strength and lustre each to other : so that he who goes through with any science , doth from every new branch and conclusion which he meets with , receive a greater clearenesse and more strong impression of his former degrees of knowledge . now then , that man who out of impatiencie of that restraint , cannot endure to goe through an art , to search into the root , to observe the knittings and dependencies of the parts amongst themselves , to see by what passages truth is derived from the principles , to this or to other branches ; must needs be so much the more forgetfull of what he knowes , by how much he is ignorant of those other parts whereunto it referreth . other causes there are of weakenesse in the memorie ; as namely , a distrust , and from thence an unexercise of it . whereupon plato telleth us , that the use of letters , in gathering adversaria and collections , is a hinderance to the memorie ; because those things which wee have deposited to our desks , wee are the more secure and carelesse to retaine in our minds . and on the other extreme , a too great confidence in it , and thereupon an over-burthening it with multitude of notions ; whereby as it sheds much over , so it is withall indisposed for the readie use of what it retaines ; it falling out in a huddle and tumultuarie heape of thoughts , as in any other throng , that we can never so easily finde out , or order and dispose what we desire to use ▪ but are consounded in our owne store . but i forbeare to insist on these , because i hasten to the higher and more noble part of man. chap. iv. of the fancie : its offices to the will and reason , uolubilitie of thoughts , fictions , errors , levitie , fixednesse . now for the imagination , the dignitie thereof consists , either in the office , or in the latitude of it : its office , is to be assistant both to the vnderstanding and the will ; its assistance to the vnderstanding , is principally in matter of invention , readily to supply it with varietie of objects whereon to worke , as also to quicken and rayse the minde with a kind of heat and rapterie proportionable in the inferior part of the soule , to that which in the superior , philosophers call ext●…sie ; whereby it is possessed with such a strong delight in its prope●… obje●… , as makes the motions thereof towards it , to be restlesse and impatient : and of this , is that of the poet ; est deus in nobis agitante ealescimus ipso : by divine raptures we aspire , and are inflam'd with noble fire . the office of the imagination to the will , is to quicken , allure , and sharpen its desire towards some convenient object : for it often commeth to passe , that some plausible fancie doth more prevaile with tender wills , than a severe and sullen argument , and hath more powerfull insi●…uations to perswade , than the peremptorinesse of reason hath to command . and the reason ●…ereof is , because libertie being naturall unto mans will , that course must needs most of all gaine upon it , which doth offer least force unto its libertie : which is done rather by an argument of delight , than of constraint ; and best of all , when a rationall and convincing argument is so sweetned and tempered , to the delight of the hearer , that he shall be content to entertaine truth , for the very beautie and attire of it ; so that you shall not know , whether it were the weight of the reason that over-rul'd , or the elegancie that enticed him . a man can be well pleased , to looke with delight on the picture of his enemie , when it is drawne with a skilfull and curious hand . and therefore , in that great worke of mens conversion unto god , he is said to allure them , and to speake comfortably unto them , to beseech , and to perswade them ; to set forth chris●… to the soule , as altogether lovely , as the fairest 〈◊〉 ten thousand , as the desire of the nations , as th●… riches of the world , that men might be inflame●… to love the beautie of holinesse . that whic●… must perswade the will , must not onely have 〈◊〉 truth , but a worthinesse in it : in which respect , the principles of knowledge are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 worthy or honourable speeches : and the gospe●… is not onely called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a true saying ; but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a worthy saying ; and in that respect ▪ fitted for acceptation . it is true of the will , which seneca hath observed of princes ; ap●… reges etiam quae prosunt ita tamen ●…t delectent su●…denda sunt : that unto them even things profitable must be represented with the face rathe●… of delight than of necessitie ; even as physicians , when they minister a very wholesome potion : — prius or as pocula circum contingunt d●…lci mellis flavoque liquore : that they their patients may both please & cure , with mixed-sweets their pallats they allure . and hence is that observation , that the first reformers and drawers of men into civill societie ▪ and the practise of vertue , wrought upon the will by the ministrie rather of the fancie , than of rigid reason ; not driving them thereunto by punctuall arguments , but alluring them by the sweetnesse of eloquence ; not pressing the necessi●…ie of moralitie , by naked inserences , but rather secretly instilling it into the will , that it might at last finde it selfe reformed , and yet hardly perceive how it came to be so . and this was done by those musicall , poeticall , and mythologicall perswasions ; whereby men in their discourses , did as it were paint vertues and vices ; giving unto spirituall things bodies and beauties , such as might best affect the imagination : yea , god himselfe hath beene pleased to honour this way of setting out higher notions , in that wee finde some roome in the holy scriptures for mythologies ; as that of the vine , the fig-tree , and the bramble , for riddles , for parables , similitudes , and poeticall numbers and raptures , whereby heavenly doctrines are shadowed forth , and doe condiscend unto humane frailties . and another reason hereof is , because the desires of men are fixed as well on pleasant as on profitable objects ; so that those inducements must needs have most authoritie , which have that happie mixture of 〈◊〉 & dulce together ; not onely pressing necessitie upon the vnderstanding , but pointing as it were and deciphering delight to the fancie . and this reason scaliger gives in his inquirie , how false things , such as plato his elizium , homers fictions , orph●…us his musick , should delight wise men : propterea quod exuperant vulgares limites veritatis , saith hee ; because they are not exacted to the rigor and strictnesse of reason , nor grounded on the severitie of truth , but are ( as i may so speake ) the creation of the fancie , having a kind of delightfull libertie in them , wherewith they refresh and doe is it were open and unbind the thoughts , which otherwise , by a continuall pressure in exacter and more massie reasonings , would easily tyre and despaire . concerning the latitude of this facultie , it hath there in a double prerogative above others ▪ one , in the multiplicitie of operations ; another , in the framing of objects . to the former of these , i reduce the thoughts ; which , by reason of their quicknesse and volubilitie , and withall , their continuall interchanges and successions , are the most numberlesse operations of the soule of man : where , by thoughts , i understand those springings and glances of the heart , grounded on the sudden representation of sundry different objects ; for when the mind begins once to be fixt , and standing , i call that rather meditation than thought . this multiplicitie of thoughts is grounded first upon the abundance of their objects ; and next , upon the quicknesse and activitie of apprehension ; that is the matter , this the forme of those thoughts which i now speake of . the abundance of objects is seene in this , that it includes all the varieties of species belonging to other faculties ; as that knowledge which the schooles call philosophia prima , doth within its owne limits draw in , in some sort , all the severall objects of particular sciences . there are thoughts belonging unto the will , flying and pursuing thoughts , wishings , and loathings ; and there are thoughts belonging to the vnderstanding , assenting and dissenting thoughts , beleefe and dis-opinion : there are thoughts likewise proceeding from anger , firie and revengefull thoughts ; from envie , knowing and repining thoughts ; from ioy , sweet and refreshing thoughts ; from conscience , comforting and affrightfull thoughts ; and so in all other faculties . and for the quicknesse of working , the motions of the thoughts shew it , in the concu●…rence of these two things , suddennesse of journey , and vastnesse of way ; while like lightning they are able to reach from one end of heaven unto another , and in one light and imperceptible excursion , leave almost no part of the vniverse untravelled . now , of these two grounds of multiplicitie in thoughts , the former , namely , the abundance of objects , is ab extrinsec●… , and dispersed over things , ( though they are not otherwise the objects of thought , than as the mind reflecteth on the phan●…asmata or images of them in this facultie ) but the latter , which is the quicknesse of apprehension , though it may seeme to be the most peculiar worke of reason , yet the imagination hath indeed the greatest interest in it : for , though the act of apprehending be the proper worke of the vnderstanding , yet the forme and qualitie of that act ( which properly makes it a thought in that strict sense , wherein here i take it ) namely , the lightnesse , volubilitie , and suddennesse thereof , proceeds from the immediate restlesnesse of the imagination ; as is plaine , by the continuall varietie of dreames and other fancies , wherein the facultie is the principall worker . the next thing , is the latitude of imagination , in framing of objects , wherein it hath a propertie of boldnesse beyond other faculties : for reason , and all other powers , have their fixed and determined limits in nature ; and therefore they alwayes frame themselves to the truth of things , yeelding assent to nothing but what they finde : but the imagination is a facultie boundlesse , and impatient of any imposed limits , save those which it selfe maketh . and hence it is , that in matter of perswasion and insinuation , poetrie , mythologie , and eloquence ( the arts of rationall fancie ) have ever ( as was observ'd ) beene more forcible than those which have been rigorously grounded on nature and reason ; it being ( as scaliger observes ) the naturall infinitenesse of mans soule . aspernari c●…rtorum sinium praescriptionem , to disdaine any bounds and confines in her operations . now , the libertie of the imagination in this particular , is three-sold ; creation , as i may so speake , and n●…w making of objects ; composition , or new mixing them ; and translation , or new placing them : unto some of which three , will be reduced all poeticall fictions , fabulous transmutations , high metaphors , and rhetoricall allegories ; things of excellent use , and ornament in speech . now , for the corruptions and diseases of this facultie , i conceive the principall to be these three , error , levitie , and dull fixednesse : the error of the imagination may be taken both actively , and passively ; the error which it produceth , and the error which it suffereth : that the fancie is fruitfull in producing error , is as manifest , as it is difficult to shew the manner how it doth it . hence , those strange and yet strong delusions , whereby the mind of melancholy men ( in whom this facultie hath the most deepe and piercing operation ) have beene peremptorily possessed : hence , those vanishing and sh●…dowie assurances , hopes , feares , ioyes , visions , which the dreames of men ( the immediate issues of this facultie ) doe produce : hence those gastly apparitions , dreadfull sounds , blacke thoughts , tremblings , and horrors , which the strong working of imagination doth present unto , or produce in men ; disquieted either with the uglinesse of their sinnes , or heavinesse of their natures , making them to feare , where no feare is : which , whether it be done by affecting onely the fancie , or by the impression of such formes and shapes upon the spirits , which goe unto the outward senses , as may thereby affect them with the same images ( not by reception from without , but by impression and transfusion from within ) it is manifest , not onely by various relations , but by continuall experience , what strong and strange effects those distempers have produced . neither are wee to conceive this impossible when we see as admirable effects in another kind wrought by the same facultie , and , as is probable , by the same meanes ; i meane , the impression o●… likelinesse of an infant in the wombe , unto the parents , or some other , who shall worke a stronger conceit in the fancie : or if this be not ascribed unto the working of this power , but rather to a secret reall vertue intrinsecall unto the seed of the parents ( as many doe affirme ) yet that other effect of stamping on the body the images and colours of some things , which had made any strong and violent immutation on the fancie , must needs be hereunto ascribed , as wee see commeth often to passe , in the longing of women ; and in her , who having the picture of an ethioplan in her chamber , brought forth a black child ; and in the course which iacob tooke , 〈◊〉 putting speckled rods before the cattell , when they were to conceive , that the sancie of them might make their lambes to be ring-straked and speckled . the errors which are in the fancie , are usually of the same nature with those that are wrought by it : such was the error of that man , which would not be perswaded , but that he had on his head a great paire of hornes , and for that reason would not moove sorth nor uncover his face to any . and the causes of these errors are by francis mirandula ascribed first to the varietie of tempers in the body , with the predominancie of those humours which give complexion thereunto : secondly , to the imposture of the senses : thirdly , to the government of the will , ( though that , as is granted , hath least power over this facultie ) and lastly , to the ministry of evill angels , who can easily cast into the fancie strange and false species , with such subtletie , as shall easily gaine them plausible credit and admittance . and of this , we finde an expresse example ( as i conceive ) in that evill spirit ▪ who promised to be a lying spirit in the mouth of ahabs prophets . for the vision : of such men being for the most part imaginarie , the impression of that lying and deceitfull perswasion was , in all probabilitie , made upon the imagination . for , notwithstanding i confesse , that prophets had events by divers meanes revealed unto them , as by true voices , by reall accesse of angels , and by immediate illapse of truth into the vnderstanding ; yet because those two wayes , by visions and by dreames , were ( for ought can be observ'd ) the most usuall meanes of revelation ; it is not unlikely , that the devil ( who in such things strives , for the better advancement of his owne ends , to imitate gods manner of working ) did by this manner of imposture on the imagination , seeke to possesse the false prophets , and to delude the king. and here , by the way from the three former , we may take occasion to observe the miserie of mans corrupted nature ; wherein those faculties which were originally ordained for mutuall assistance , doe now exercise a mutuall imposture : and as man did joyne with a fellow-creature to dishonour , and if it had been possible , to deceive his maker ; so in the faculties of man , we may discover a joynt conspiracie in the working of their owne overthrow and reproach , and a secret joy , in one to be deluded by another . the next corruption which i observed , is the levitie and too much volubilitie of this power , proceeding from the over-hastie obtrusion of the species . for , notwithstanding i grant the quicknesse of its operations to be one principall part of the excellencie thereof ; yet i thereby understand the power , not the infirmitie ; the nature , not the disease of that facultie ; the abilitie of having speedie recourse unto varietie of objects , treasured up in the memorie ; or of apprehending new , with dexteritie ; not that floating and inconstant humour , whereby it makes many needlesse excursions upon impertinent things , and thereby interrupteth the course of the more needfull and present operations of the soule . for , since it may fall out , that unto the same facultie , from diversitie of occasions , contrarie operations may proove arguments of worth ; a restraint unto one manner of working , is an argument of weaknesse and defect , in that it straitneth and defraudeth the power of those advantages which it might receive , by a timely application of the other : there may be a time , when the fancie may have libertie to expatiate ; but againe , some objects will require a more fixed and permanent act . and therefore , to have a vanishing and lightning fancie , that knoweth not how to stay and fasten upon any particular , but as an hanging of divers colours , shall in one view present unto the vnderstanding an heape of species , and so distract its intention ; argues not sufficiencie , but weaknesse and distemper in this facultie . the last corruption observed , is in the other extreame ; i meane , that heavinesse and sluggish fixednesse , whereby it is disabled from being serviceable to the vnderstanding , in those actions which require dispatch , varietie , and suddennesse of execution : from which peremptorie adhesion and too violent intension of the fancie on some particular objects , doth many times arise not onely a dulnesse of mind , a syncope , and kind of benumnednesse of the soule , but oftentimes madnesse , distraction , and torment : many examples of which kind of depravation of the phantasie in melancholy men , wee every where meet withall ; some , thinking themselves turned into wolves , horses , or other beasts ; others , pleasing themselves with conceits of great wealth and principalities ; some , framing to themselves feares , and other hopes ; being all but the delusions and waking dreames of a dist●…mpered fancie . his ego saepè lupum fieri & se condere sylvis moerim , saepè animas imis exire sepul●…ris , atque salas alio vidi traducere messes : here o●…en i have seene this moeris worke himselfe into a wolfe , and into woods lurke ; o●… have i seene him raise up ghosts from hell , and growing corne translate by magick spell . and upon this over-strong working and stay of the fancie on some one or other object , it hath of●…entimes come to passe , that some men , out of depth of contemplation on some difficulties of learning , ( as is reported of aristotle , in his meditation on the cause of the ebbing and flowing of the sea ) others , out of some strong and predominant passion , as love , feare , despaire , drawing all the intention of the mind unto them , have attempted such strange practises on themselves , and others , as could not proceed but from a smothered and intangled reason . and thus much briefely shall suffice , touching the honour of mans common and inferiour faculties . chap. v. of passions , their nature , and distribution ; of the motions of naturall creatures , guided by a knowledge without them ; and of rationall croatures , guided by a knowledge within them : of passions mentall , sensitive , and rationall . inow proceed unto the soule of man : of which , i must speake in a double reference ; either according to its motions and impressions which it makes on the body , and receiveth from it ; or according to those more immanent perfections which it hath within it selfe : under the former of these , come to be considered the passions of mans minde , with the more notable perfections and corruptions ( as farre as my weakenesse can discover ) which the soule and body contracted from them . passions are nothing else , but those naturall , perfective , and unstrained motions of the creatures unto that advancement of their natures , which they are by the wisdome , power , and providence of their creator , in their owne severall spheares , and according to the proportion of their capacities , ordained to receive , by a regular inclination to those objects , whose goodnesse beareth a naturall conveniencie or vertu●… of satisfaction unto them ; or by an antipathie and aversation from those , which bearing a contrarietie to the good they desire , must needs be noxious and destructive , and by consequent , odious to their natures . this being the prop●…rtie of all unconstrained selfe ▪ motions , it followeth , that the root and ground of all passions , is principally the good ; and secondarily , or by consequent , the evill of things : as one beareth with it rationem convenientiae , a quieting and satisfacto rie ; the other , rationem disconvenienti●… , a disturbing and destroying nature . this being premised touching the nature and generall essence of passions , the division of them must be then grounded ; because ( as philosophie teacheth us ) faculties and operations receive their essentiall distinctions from their objects , and those severall respects wherewith they in order to the facultie are qualified . now , since all appetite ( being a blind power ) is dependant upon the direction of some knowledge ; from the diversitie of knowledge in , or annexed unto things , may be gathered the prime distinction of passions . knowledge , in respect of created agents , may be considered , either as dis-joyn'd , and extrinsecall to the things moved , or 〈◊〉 intrinsecall and united thereunto ; both which serve as a law and rule , to regulate the inclinations of each nature , that they might not swerve into disordered and confused , or into idle and vaine motions , ●…ut might ever worke towards that fixed end , which god hath appointed them to moove ●…nto . passions which proceed from knowledge severed and extrinsecall , are those motions of meerely naturall agents ; which are guided to their generall or particular ends , by the wisdome and power of him that made them . and this it is which causeth that peremptorie and uniforme order , observed by these kind of agents in their naturall course , never either swarving or desisting there-from , so farre as the condition of the matter and subject whereon they worke permitteth them ; because they are all governed by an immutable , most wise , and most constant law , proceeding from a will with which there is no variablenesse nor shadow of changing . and therefore we finde those aberrations and irregularities of nature , wherein it swerveth from this law onely , or at least principally in these inferiour things ; wherein partly from the deficiencie and languishing of secondarie agents , and partly from the excesses , defects , mutabilitie , and the like exigences of matter , wee finde sundry times error and enormitie in their severall workes and ends : which , whether it be to set forth the beautie of regular operations ( which by deformitie and confusion will appeare more beautifull ; or whether the originall thereof be divine mal●…diction , which for the sinne of man hee pleaseth to lay upon his fellow creatures , which were all created for his comfort and service , ( which saint paul calleth the vanitie of the creature ) it proceedeth certainely from the will an●… power of that law-giver , who is onely able , s●… reasons best knowne to his owne wisdome , t●… dispense sometimes with that otherwise unalterable law , which he gave all his creatures to observe : so that all the miracles which ever god hath beene pleased to worke , for the conversion of men unto the faith , or confirmation in it , were but so many exceptions and dispensations from that generall law. but , as i said , those irregularities and deviations before spoken of , are seene principally in inferiour things . the earth , being the principall creature that did beare the curse of man●… fall , which made ( if wee will beleeve that relation , though i rather suppose it to be fictitious ) the heathen philosopher , upon observation o●… that wonderfull eclipse of the sunne at the passion of our saviour , to crie out , aut deus natur●… patitur , aut mundi machina dissolvetur ; either the god of nature suffereth , or the frame of nature dissolveth : either something hindereth that universall power , which sustaineth and animateth all the creatures , or he doth at least willingly detaine that vertue and the vigour of that law ; without execution whereof , there cannot but follow a laxation of the whole frame : which particular i have the rather observ'd , to note , that the more raysed and heavenly a nature is , the more stable and constant likewise it is , to every divine law imposed on it . now , this naturall passion which i speake of , is called by sundry names amongst philosophers , the law , the equitie , the weight , the instinct , the bond , the love , the covenant and league of naturall things in order , to the conservation of themselves , propagation of their kind , perfection , and order of the vniverse , service of man , and glory of the creator ; which are the alone ends of all naturall agents . by all which we are given to understand , that when at any time the ordinarie course of nature is intermitted , when any creature forsakes its native motion , and falleth into confusion and disorder , there is then admitted a breach of a law ; or , as aristotle calls it , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , an error , ( which saint iames telleth us , is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , an iniquitie of nature ) also a certaine levitie , unusefulnesse , and emptinesse of true worth , which i call in saint pauls phrase , the vanitie of the creature : thirdly , loosenesse , decay , and dissolution ; and thereupon , discord and unserviceablenesse towards the other parts , with which it should jointly conspire for the glory of the whole . these are the inconveniences that follow natures ; how much greater are those , which follow reasons disobedience : for all this , touching the passions of nature , i have observed onely to give light unto those of reason , there being the same proportion of government in them all ; saving that , what in things destitute of all knowledge , is guided by the law-giver himselfe , is in the rest performed by a knowledge conjoyn'd , and intrinsecall to the worker ▪ and this is either mentall , or sensitive , or rationall ▪ from all which , arise sundry degrees of motions , or passions : mentall passions , are those high , pure , and abstracted delights , or other the like agitations of the supreme part of the vnderstanding , which aristotle calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the latines , mens , or apex animi ; which are the most simple actions of the mind , wherein is the least intermixtion or commerce with inferior and earthy saculties . which motions are grounded first on an extraordinarie knowledge , either of vision and revelation , or of an exquisite naturall apprehension ▪ both which are beyond the compasse of usuall industrie , here to attaine unto : the former of these , i call with the schoole-men , extasie and rapture ; such as saint pauls was ( for so himselfe calleth it ) novi hominem raptum ; and such as was the passions of the mind , in the prophets and holy men of god ; when they were inspired with such heavenly revelations , as did slide into the soule with that lustre and abundance of light , that they could not but ravish it with ineffable and glorious delight . and such , no doubt , is that joy unspeakable , and peace past understanding , which the apostle makes to be the fruits of the spirit of god , in those hearts wherein he lodgeth ; whereby the purest and most abstracted part of the soule , the mind , is lifted up to some glimpses and apprehensions of that future glory , which in heaven doth fill the spirits of men with ineffable light. and for the later branch , aristotle hath placed his greatest felicitie in the contemplation of the highest and divinest truths ; which he makes to be the object of that supreme part of the soule . and it was the speech of the philosopher heracl●…tus to the same purpose , that animae sicca est sapientissima , ( which toucheth something upon that of aristotle , that melancholy complexions are usually the wisest , for that temper is the dryest of all the rest ) that a mind not steeped in the humours of carnall and grosse affections , nor drench'd in the waves of a disquiet fancie , but more raysed and soaring to its originally , by divine contemplations , is alwayes endued with the greater wisdome . another knowledge from whence the passions of this facultie are raysed in man , is that light of naturall principles , which the schooles call synteresis ; unto which , the custodie of all practicall truths being committed , they there-hence worke in the conscience motions of ioy , love , peace , feare , horror , despaire , and the like spirituall passions , according as the soule , out of those generall principles , shall gather unto its owne particulars , any either delightfull or disquieting conclusions . sensitive passions , are those motions of prosecution or flight , which are grounded on the fancie , mentorie , and apprehensions of the common sense : which we see in brute beasts ; as , in the feare of hares or sheepe , the fiercenesse of wolves , the anger or slatterie of dogs , and the like : so homer describeth the joy of vlysses his dog , which after his so long absence , remembred him at his returne . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . for wanton joy to see his master neare , he wav'd his flattering tayle , and toss'd each eare . now these motions in brute creatures , if we will beleeve seneca , are not affections , but certaine characters and impressions ad similitudinem passionum ▪ like unto passions in men ▪ which he calleth impetus , the risings , forces , and impulsions of nature , upon the view of such objects as are apt to strike any impressions upon it . i come therefore to those middle passions , which i call'd rationall ; not formally , as if they were in themselves acts of reason , or barely immateriall motions of the soule ; but by way of participation and dependance , by reason of their immediate subordination in man unto the government of the will and vnderstanding , and not barely of the fancie , as in other creatures . and for calling passion thus govern'd , reasonable , i have the warrant of aristotle : who , though the sensitive appetite in man be of it selfe unreasonable , ( and therefore by him contradivided to the rationall powers of the soule ) yet by reason of that obedience which it oweth to the dictates of the vnderstanding , whereunto nature hath ordain'd it to be subject and conformable ( though corruption have much slackned and unknit that bond ) hee justly affirmeth it to be in some sort a reasonable facultie , not intrinsecally in it selfe , but by way of participation and influence from reason . now passion thus considered , is divided according to the severall references it hath unto its object ; which is principally , the good ; and secondarily , the evill of things ; and either considered after a sundry manner : for they may be taken either barely and alone , or under the consideration of some difficultie and danger accompanying them . and both these againe are to be determin'd with some particular condition of union or distance to the subject ; for all objects offend or delight the facultie , in vertue of their union thereunto ; and therefore , according as things are united or distant , so doe they occasion passions of a different nature in the mind . the object then may be considered simply in its owne nature , as it precisely abstracteth from all other circumstances , including onely the naturall conveniencie or disconveniencie which it beareth to the facultie : and so the passions are , in respect of good , love ; in respect of evill , hatred ▪ which are the two radicall , fundamentall , and most transcendent passions of all the rest ; and therefore well called pondera and impetus animi , the weight and force , and ( as i may so speake ) the first springings and out goings of the soule . secondly , the object may be considered , as absent from the subject , in regard of reall union ( though never without that which the schooles call vnio objectiva , union of apprehension in the vnderstanding ) without which there can be no passion : and the object thus considered , worketh , if it be good , desire ; if evill , ●…light , and abomination . thirdly , it may be considered as present , by a reall contract or union with the facultie ; and so it worketh , if good , delight , and pleasure ; if evill , griefe and sorrow . againe , as the object beareth with it the circumstances of difficultie and danger , it may be considered , either as exceeding the naturall strength of the power ; which implyeth , in respect of good , an impossibilitie to be attained , and so it worketh despaire ; and in respect of evill , an improbabilitie of being avoided , and so it worketh feare : or secondly , as not exceeding the strength of the power , or at least , those aides which it calleth in ; in which regard , good is presented as attainable , and so it worketh hope ; and evill is presented , either as avoidable , if it be future , and it worketh boldnesse to breake through it ; or as requitable , if it be past , and so it worketh anger , to revenge it . thus have wee the nature and distribution of those severall passions which wee are to enquire after ; of all which , or at least , those which are most naturall , and least coincident with one another , i shall in the proceeding of my discourse , observe some things , wherein they conduce to the honour and prejudice of mans nature : but first , i shall speake something of the generalitie of passions ; and what dignities are therein most notable , and the most notable defects . chap. vi. of humane passions in generall : their use , naturall , morall , civill : their subordination unto , or rebellion against right reason . now passions may be the subject of a three-fold discourse ; naturall , morall , and civill . in their naturall consideration , we should observe in them , their essentiall properties , their ebbes and flowes , their springings and decayes , the manner of their severall impressions , the physicall effects which are wrought by them , and the like . in their morall consideration , we might likewise search , how the indifferencie of them is altered into good or evill , by vertue of the dominion of right reason , or of the violence of their owne motions ; what their ministry is in vertuous , and what their power and independance in irregular actions ; how they are raysed , suppressed , slackned , and govern'd , according to the particular nature of those things , which require their motion . in their civill respects , we should also observe how they may be severally wrought upon and impressed ; and how , and on what occasions , it is fit to gather and fortifie , or to slack and remit them ; how to discover , or suppresse , or nourish , o●… alter , or mix them , as may be most advantagious ; what use may be made of each mans particular age , nature , p●…opension ; how to advance and promote our just ends , upon the observation of the character and dispositions of these , whom we are to deale withall . and this civill use of passion , is copiously handled in a learned and excellent discourse of aristotle , in the second booke of his rhetoricks ; unto which profession , in this respect , it properly belongeth : because in matter of action , and of i●…dicature , affection in some sort is an auditor , or iudge , as he speakes . but it seemeth strange , that a man of so vast sufficiencie and judgement ; and who had , as we may well conjecture , an ambition to knit every science into an entire body , which in other mens labours lay broken and seattered ; should yet in his bookes de animâ over-passe the discoverie of their nature , essence , operatio●… a●…d properties ; and in his bookes of morall philosophie , should not remember to acquaint us with the indifferencie , irregularitie , subordination ▪ rebellion , conspiracie , discords , causes , effects ; consequences of each particular of them , being circumstances of obvious and dayly use in our life , and of necessarie and singular benefit , to give light unto the government of right reason . touching passions in order unto civill or iudiciarie affaires , i shal not make any observation ; either of the other , i shall in part touch upon , though not distinctly and asunder , but in a briefe and confused collection of some few particulars . the order which i shall observe , in setting downe the honour and corruption of them in generall ( which method shall in part be kept in their particulars ) shall be this ; first , according to the antecedents of their motion and acts ; secondly , according to the acts themselves ; and thirdly , according to the consequents of them . first , touching the antecedents to the act of passion , they are either the outward motives thereunto , as namely , the objects , unto which it is carryed ; and the causes , whereby it is produced : or the inward root and principles of the act , whereby it is wrought and governed . for the two former , passion is then sayd commendable , when it is direct and naturall . and the corruption is , when it is carryed to an undue object , or proceedeth from an indirect cause : but these are more observable in the particulars , and therefore thither i referre their distinct handling . for the third , the dignitie of passion chiefely consists in a consonancie and obedience to the prescription of reason : for there is in mans faculties a naturall subordination , whereby the actions of the inferior receive their motion and direction from the influence of the higher . now appetite was in beasts onely made to be governed by a sensitive knowledge : but in man , sense ought not t●… have any commanding or moving power , but onely instrumentall , ministeriall , and conveying , in respect of the object . the action of sense , was no●… from the first institution , ordain'd to touch the affection , but to present it selfe primarily to the vnderstanding ; upon whose determination and conduct , the passions were to depend , to submit all their inclinations thereunto , and to be its ministers , in the execution of all such duties , as it should deeme any way expedient for the benefit of mans nature : so that herein consists a great part of mans infelicitie , by the fall ; that albeit his vnderstanding it selfe be blinded , and therefore not able to reach forth any perfect good to the inferiour parts ; yet that small portion of light , which it yet retaineth for the government of our actions , is become uneffectuall , as being able onely to convince , but not to reforme . the corruption then of passion in this respect , is the independance thereof upon its true principle : when it stayeth not to looke for , but anticipates and prevents the discourses of reason ; relying onely on the judgement of sense , wherewith it retaines an undue correspondence . so that herein is mainly verified that complaint of the prophet ; man , being in honour , hath no understanding , and is become as the * beasts that perish . for , as in the body , ( to use the similitude of aristotle ) if any parts thereof be out of joint , it cannot yeeld obedience unto the government of the motive facultie ; but when it would carry it one way , it falls another : so it is in the mind of man , when that naturall continuitie and vnion of faculties , whereby one was made in operation dependant on another , is once dissolved ; when affections are dis-joynted from reason , and cast off the reines whereby they should be guided , there cannot be that sweet harmonie in the motion thereof , which is required to the weale of mans nature . it is prodigious to see an instrument ( such as all appetite should be ) to be the first and selfe-mover in its owne actions ; whence cannot in the mind of man but follow great danger : it being all one , as if a waggoner should commit himselfe to the wild and unswayed fancie of his horses ; or , as if a blind man , who hath not the power of directing his owne feet , should be permitted to run headlong , without wit or moderation , having no guide to direct him . for as fire ( though it be of all other creatures , one of the most comfortable and usefull , while it abides in the place ordained for it ; ) yet , when it once exceeds those limits , and gets to the house-top , it is most mercilesse and over-running : so passion ( though of excellent service in man , for the heating and enlivening of vertue , for adding spirit and edge to all good undertakings , and blessing them with an happier issue , than they could alone have attained unto ) yet if once they flye out beyond their bounds , and become subject onely to their owne lawes , and encroach upon reasons right , there is nothing more tumultuous and tyrannicall . as bias said of the tongue , that it was the best and the worst part of the sacrifice , so may we of the affections ; nec meliores unquam servos nec dominos sent it natura ●…eteriores ; they are the best servants , but the worst masters , which our nature can have . like the winds , which being moderate , carry the ship ; but drowne it , being tempestuous . and it is true as well in mans little common-wealth , as in greater states , that there are no more pestilent and pernicious disturbers of the publique good , than those who are best qualified for service and imployment ; if once they grow turbulent and mutinous , neglecting the common end , for their owne private respects , and desirous to rayse themselves upon publique ruines . and indeed it is universally true , things most usefull and excellent in their regularitie , are most dangerous in their abuse . chap. vii . of the exercise of passion : of stoicall apathie : of permanencie , defect , excesse , with the cure thereof . the next consideration of passions , was according to the exercise of their act : which we may consider , either according to the generall substance , or according to some particular accidents , in the manner of its being . for the first , it is altogether good , as being nothing else but naturall motion , ordained for the perfection or conservation of the creature . for , notwithstanding naturall motion may haply argue some kind of imperfection in the state of the thing moving ; as supposing it some way deprived of that , wherein it should rest it selfe ( which makes aristotle conclude , that the noblest act of the vnderstanding , knowledge and cleare vision , is rather the * rest , than the motion of that facultie ) yet i say , it alwayes implyeth more naturall perfection in those things whereunto it belongeth : for as fire , the perfectest of elements ; and heaven , the perfectest of bodies ; so the soule of man , the perfectest of formes , hath the most vehement motion . and in this consideration ( so it be alwayes motion naturall , governed and dependant on right reason ) i find not any corruption , though i find an error and abuse ; that i meane , which maketh passion in generall to be aegritudo animi , a sicknesse and perturbation , and would therefore reduce the mind to a senselesse apathie , condemning all life of passion , as waves , which serve onely to tosse and trouble reason . an opinion , which , while it goeth about to give unto man an absolute government over himselfe , leaveth scarce any thing in him , which he may command and governe . for , although there be in the will over the body an imperium ; yet in rigour , this is not so much to be tearmed command , as imployment ; the body being rather the instrument , than the servant of the soule , and the power which the will hath over it , is not so much the command of a master over his workmen , as of the workman over his tooles : the chiefe subjects to the will , are the affections , in the right governing whereof , is manifested its greatest power . the strength of every thing , is exercised by opposition : we see not the violence of a river , till it meet with a bridge ; and the force of the wind sheweth it selfe most , when it is most resisted : so the power of the will is most seene , in repairing the breaches , and setling the mutinies , wherewith untamed affections disquiet the peace of mans nature ; since excesse and disorder in things otherwise of so great use , requireth amendment , not extirpation ; and we make straight a crooked thing , we doe not breake it . and therefore , as he in tacitus spake well to otho , when he was about to kill himselfe , majore animo t●…lerari adversaquam relinqui ; that it was more valour to beare , than put off afflictions with courage : so there is more honour , in the having affections subdued , than in having none at all ; the businesse of a wise man , is not to be without them , but to be above them . and therefore our * saviour himselfe sometimes loved , sometimes rejoyced , sometimes wept , sometimes desired , sometimes mourned and grieved ; but these were not passions that violently and immoderately troubled him ; but he , as he saw fit , did with them trouble himselfe . his reason excited , directed , moderated , repressed them , according to the rule of perfect , cleare , and undisturbed judgement . in which respect , the passions of christ are by divines called rather propassions , that is to say , beginnings of passions , than passions themselves ; in as much as they never proceeded beyond their due measure , nor transported the mind to undecencie or excesse ; but had both their rising and originall from reason , and also their measure , bounds , continuance limited by reason . the passions of sinfull men are many times like the tossings of the sea , which bringeth up mire and durt ; but the passions of christ were like the shaking of pure water in a cleane vessell , which though it be thereby troubled , yet is it not fouled at all . the stoicks themselves confessed , that wise men might be affected with a sudden perturbations of feare or sorrow , but did not like weak men yeeld unto them , nor sinke under them ; but were still unshaken in their resolutions and judgements , like aeneas in virgil : mens immotaman●…t , lacryma volvuntur inanes . he wept indeed , but in his stable mind you could no shakings or distempers find . b and therefore indeed , this controversie betweene the peripateticks and stoicks , was rather a strife of words , than a difference of iudgements , because they did not agree in the subject of the question ; the one , making passions to be naturall ; the other , c praeternaturall , and disorderly motions . for the peripateticks confessed , that wise men ought to be fix'd & immovable in their vertuous resolutions , and not to be at all by hopes or feares a deterred or diverted from them : but as a dye , to be b foure-square ; and which way ever they be cast , to fall upon a sure & firme bottome . which is the same with that severe and unmovable constancie of mind in vertue , in defence whereof the stoicks banished affections from wise men : not intending thereby to make men like c caeneus in the poet , such as could not be violated with any sorce , ( for they acknowledge subjection to the first motions of passion ) but onely to shew , that they wisdome of vertue should so compose & consolidate the mind , and settle it in such stabilitie , that it should not all be bended from the right , by any sensitive perturbations or impulsions . as they then who pull down houses adjoyning unto temples , doe yet suffer that part of them to stand still , which are continued to the temple : so in the demolishing of inordinate passions , we must take heed , that we offer not violence to so much of them , as is contiguous unto right reason ; whereunto so long as they are conformable , they are the most vigorous instruments , both for the expression , and improvement , and derivation of vertue on others , of any in mans nature . now concerning the accidents or manner of these acts which are from passion , it may be considered either in regard of the quantitie & extension , or of the qualitie & intention of the act. and both these may be considered two manner of wayes : for the quantitie of passions , we may consider that , as the quantitie of bodies , which is either continued or severed ; by quantitie continued , i understand the manner of a passions permanencie and durance ▪ by severed , i meane the manner of its multiplicitie and reiteration ; from both which , it hath the denomination of good or bad , as the object whereunto it is carryed , hath a greater or lesse relation to the facultie . for some objects are simply , and without any limitation , convenient or noxious ; and towards these , may be allowed both a more durable and a more multiplyed passion : others are good or evill only , with some circumstances of time , place , person , occasion , or the like ; which therfore require both fewer and lesse habituall motions . the same maybe said of the qualitie of them ; wherein they are sometimes too remisse , sometimes againe too excessive and exorbitant , according to varietie of conditions . concerning all these , i shall observe this one generall rule ; the permanencie or vanishing , the multiplicitie or rarenesse , the excesse or defect of any passion , is to be grounded on and regulated by the nature only of its object , as it beares reference to such or such a person ; but never by the private humour , prejudice , complexion , habit , custome , or other like qualifications of the mind it selfe . to see a man of a soft and gentle nature over-passe some small indignitie , without notice or feeling ; or to see a man of an hot and eager temper transported with an extreamer and more during passion , upon the sense of some greater injurie , more notably touching him in his honestie or good name ; is not in either of these , any great matter of commendation : because , though the nature of the object did in both warrant the qualitie of the passion ; yet in those persons they both proceeded out of humour and complexion , and not out of serious consideration of the injuries themselves , by which onely the passion is to be regulated . of these two extreames , the defect is not so commonly seene , as that which is in the excesse : and therefore we wil here a little observe , what course may be taken for the allaying of this vehemencie of our affections , whereby they disturbe the quiet , and darken the serenitie of mans mind . and this is done , either by opposing contrary passions to contrary ; which is aristotles rule , who adviseth , in the bringing of passions from an extreame to a mediocritie , to incline & bend them towards the other extreame , as husbandmen use to doe those trees which are crooked ; or as dim and weak eyes doe see the light best , when it is broken in a shadow : or else it is done , by scattering and distracting of them ; and that not onely by the power of reason , but sometimes also by a cautelous admixture of passions amongst themselves , thereby interrupting their free current : for , as usually the affections of the mind are bred one of another , ( as the powder in the pan of a gun will quickly set on fire that in the barrell ) as greefe by anger , ( circumspexit 〈◊〉 cum 〈◊〉 â condolescens , he looked on them with anger , being grieved ) and feare by love ; res est , solliciti , plena timori●… , amor : the things to which our heart love beares , are objects of our carefull feares . and desire by feare ; as in him of whom tacitus speakes , ●…ingebat & m●…m , quò mag is concupisceret ▪ that to justifie his desires , he pretended his feares : so likewise are some passions stopt , or at least bridled & moderated by others ; amor soràs mittit timorem , perfect love casteth out feare . it ●…aring in this , as plutarch hath noted in the hunting of beasts , that they are then easiest taken , when they who hunt them , put on the skins of beasts . as we see , the light and heat of the sun shining upon fire , is apt to discourage it , & to put it out . and this was that which made saul , when he was possessed with those strong sits of melancholy , working in him furie , griefe , and horror , to have recourse unto such a remedie , as is most forcible for the producing of other passions of a lighter nature ; and so by consequence , for expelling those . thus , as we see in the body militarie , ( as tacitus hath observed ) vnus tumultus est alterius remedium , that one tumult is the cure of another ; and in the body naturall , some diseases are expelled by others : so likewise in the mind , passions , as they mutually generate , so they mutually weaken each other . it often falleth out , that the voluntarie admission of one losse , is the prevention of a greater : as when a merchant casteth out his ware , to prevent a shipwrack ; and in a publike fire , men pull down some houses untoucht , to prevent the spreading of the flame : thus is it in the passions of the mind ; when any of them are excessive , the way to remit them , is by admitting of some further perturbation from others , and so distracting the forces of the former : whether the passions we admit , be contrarie ; as when a dead palsie is cured with a burning feaver , and souldiers suppresse the feare of death , by the shame of basenesse ; — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . o fearefull grecians , in your minds recount , to what great shame this basenesse will amount : and the hatred of their generall , by the love of their countrey ; as vlysses perswaded achilles : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though agamemnon and his gifts you hate , yet looke with pittie on the dolefull state of all the other grecians in the campe , who on your name will divine honour stampe , when you this glory shall to them afford , to save them from the rage of hectors sword. or whether they be passions of a different , but not of a repugnant nature ; and then the effect is wrought , by revoking some of the spirits , which were otherwise all imployed in the service of one passion , to attend on them ; and by that meanes also , by diverting the intention of the mind from one deep channell into many crosse and broken streames ; as men are wont to a stop one flux of bloud , by making of another ; and b to use frictions to the feet , to call away and divert the humours which paine the head . which dissipation and scattering of passion , as it is wrought principally by this mutuall confounding of them amongst themselves , so in some particular cases likewise , two other wayes ; namely , by communion in diverse subjects , and extension on diverse objects . for the first , we see in matter of griefe , the mind doth receive ( as it were ) some lightnesse and comfort , when it finds it selfe generative unto others , and produces sympathie in them : for hereby it is ( as it were ) disburthened , and cannot but find that easier , to the sustaining whereof , it hath the assistance of anothers shoulders . and therefore they were good ( though common ) observations : cur●… leves loqu●…ntur , ingentes stupent : and , ille dolet vere , qui sine teste dolet . our tongues can lighter cares repeat , when silence swallowes up the great : he grieves indeed , who on his friend vntestified teares doth spend . that griefe commonly is the most heavie , which hath fewest vents , by which to diffuse it selfe : which , i take it , will be one occasion of the heavinesse of infernall torment ; because there , griefe shall not be any whit transient , to work commiseration in any spectator , but altogether immanent and reflexive upon it selfe . thus likewise we see ( to instance in that other particular branch , of diffusing the passions upon diverse objects ) how the multitude of these , if they be hererogeneall and unsubordinate , doth oftentimes remit a passion : for example , in love ; i take it , that that man who hath a more generall love , hath a lesse vehement love ; and the spreading of affection , is the weakening of it , ( i mean still in things not absolute subordinate ; for , a man may love a wife more with children , than without them , because they are the seales and pledges of that love ) as a river , when it is cut into many lesser streames , runs weaker & shallower . and this , i conceive , is the reason , why salomon , when he commendeth a strong love , giveth it but a single object ▪ there is a friend neerer than a brother ; one , in whom the rayes of this affection , like the sun-beames in a glasse , being more united , might withall be the more servent . i remember not , that i ever read of wonderfull love amongst men , which went beyond couples ; which also aristotle and plutarch have observed . and therefore we see , in that state there is or should be greater affection , wherein is the least communitie : conjugall love , as it is most single , so it is usually the strongest ; and in the issues and blessings thereof , there is scarce any more powerfull epithite to win love , than vnigenitus , an onely sonne . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he lov'd me as one loves the onely sonne of 's old age , borne to great possession . insomuch , that even in god himselfe ( to whom these passions are but by an anthropopathy attributed ) that more generall love of his providence and preservation , ( which is common to all his creatures ) is ( if i may so speake ) of a lower degree , ( though not in respect of any intention or remission in his will , but onely the effects thereof towards the things themselves ) than that more speciall love of adoption , which he extendeth only to those , whom he vouchsafeth to make one in him , who was vnigenitus and dilectus from everlasting . i doe not then ( by the way ) condemne all strong and united passions ; but only i observe how those , which hereby grow exorbitant , & work prejudice to the soule , may by a seasonable distracting of them , be reduced unto a wholsome temper : for as it is noted , that amongst men , those who have bodies most obnoxious to dayly maladies , are commonly more secure from any mortall danger , than those who though free from any generall distempers , doe yet find the surprize of one more violent ; so is it with mens passions : those who have a nature readie , upon sundry occasions to break forth into them , doe commonly finde them lesse virulent and morose , than those who have not their passions so voluble , and readie to spread themselves on divers objects , but exercising their intentions more earnestly upon one . chap. viii . of the effects of passions , how they sharpen vertue : of vitious concupiscence ; of their blinding , diverting , distracting , and precipitating of reason , and of their distempering the body . the last consideration of passions , was according to the consequents of their act , which are the ends and effects thereof , both which i include in one ; because the naturall end of all operative qualities , is the effects which they are appointed by their owne , or a superiour vertue to produce . now , though in the particulars there be severall perfections confer'd both on the operations o●… the will , and of the vnderstanding , from passions ; yet i cannot thinke on any other generall effect which belongeth equally unto them all , but that onely which tully hath observed out of the peripateticks of anger , that they are the sharpners ( and to keepe his phrase ) the whetstone●… of vertue , which make it more operative and fruitfull : for passion stirring up the spirits , and quickening the fancie , hath thereby a direct influence upon the habits and manners of the mind ; which being in this estate constrained to fetch all her motions from imagination , produceth them with the same clearenesse and vigour as they are there represented . and therefore aristotle speaking of these two elements and principles of all passion , pleasure and griese , ( one of which , all others whatsoever partake of ) makes them the rules of all our actions , by which they are all governed , and according to the measure whereof , they retaine their severall portions of goodnesse . thus anger , zeale shame , griese , love , are in their severall order●… the whetstones , whereon true fortitude sharpneth its sword : for men are never more neglect ▪ full and prodigall of their bloud , than when they are throughly pierced with a sense of injuries , or grieved with a losse of their owne , or their countreyes honour : so the poet sayth of mezentius , when aenea●… had slaine lausus his sonne ; — aestuat ingens imo in corde pudor mix●…oque insania luctu , et furiis agitatus amor , & conscia virtus . a noble shame boyl'd in his lowest brest , rage mixt with griefe suffer'd him not to rest ; love and a conscious valour s●…t him on , and kindled furious resolution . so , love and compassion are the inciters of bountie ; hope , the stay and anchor of patience ; keeping the mind , amidst perils and casualties , from floating and sinking ; feare , the sharpener of industrie ; and caution an antidote in all our actions , against violence , rashnesse , and indiscretion : as latinus said unto turnus , when in rage he hastned to a combat with aeneas ; — quantum ipse feroc●… virtute exuper as , tanto me impensius ●…quum est consulere , atque omnes me●…uentem expendere casus . the more undaunted courage doth you move , 't is fit my serious feares shew the more love ; in mature counsels , and in weighing all the various dangers and events may fall . those imputations therefore which tully and seneca , and other stoicall philosophers make against passions , are but light and emptie , when they call them diseases and perturbations of the mind ; which requireth in all its actions both health and serenitie , a strong and a cleare judgement ; both which properties , they say , are impaired by the distempers of passion : for it is absurd to thinke , that all manner of rest is either healthfull or cleare ; or on the other side , all motion diseased and troublesome : for what water more sweet than that of a spring , or what more thick or lothsome , than that which standeth in a puddle , corrupting it selfe . as in the wind o●… seas , ( to which two , passions are commonly compar'd ) a middle temper betweene a quiet calme and a violent tempest , is most serviceable for the passage betweene countreyes ; so the agitations of passion , as long as they serve onely to drive forward , but not to drowne vertue ; as long as they keepe their dependance on reason , and run onely in that channell wherewith they are thereby bounded , are of excellent service , in all the travaile of mans life , and such as without which , the growth , successe , and dispatch of vertue would be much impaired . for the corrupt effects of passion in generall , they are many more , because there may be a multiplicitie as well of evill as of error , when there is but a unitie of goodnesse or of truth . and those effects may be either in respect to themselves , one amongst another , or in reference to the vnderstanding , will , or body . the effects of them amongst themselves , is in their mutuall generating and nourishing of each other ; as feare is wrought by love , and anger by griefe , dol●… excitat iras ; as a lyon when wounded , is most raging . — fixumque latronis impavidus frangit telum , & fremit ore cruento . with bloudie mouth , and an undaunted heart , breaks & teares from his wound the fastned dart . which effect of passions , i have before toucht upon ; neither is it alwayes a corrupt effect , but onely then , when there is in the passion generative some distemper . in which respect of the vnderstanding and will , ( both which i comprise under one name of reason ) i conceive the corruption to be principally these foure ; imposture , or seduction ; alienation , or withdrawing ; distraction , or consounding ; and precipitancie , or a headlong transporting of reason . now concerning these , we are first to remember , that there is in every man a native and originall strugling betweene apperite and reason ; which yet proceedeth from corruption , and the fall of man , not from nature entire , as the papists contend ; who affirme , that the strife and reluctancie betweene sense and vnderstanding , ariseth from physicall and created constitution ; and that therefore , that sweet harmonie which was betweene all the faculties of man , animall and rationall , in his creation , proceeded from the government of a super-naturall grace added thereunto : because it being naturall for sense to desire sensible , and spirit spirituall good things , and things sensitive and spirituall being amongst themselves opposite ; those desites which are carryed unto them , must needs be opposite likewise . an argument as weake , as the opinion which it defends , is dangerous and prejudiciall to the honour of mans creation ; as tending to prove , that the first risings and rebellions of appetite against reason , and all inordinate desires of inferior faculties , till they taint the will , are not formally sinnes , as having been naturall to adam himselfe in innocencie , though by infused and supernaturall grace bridled and suspended . an opinion , which retaineth that odious scandall which they fasten upon us , more justly and truly on their owne heads , touching making god the author of sinne ; in that they affirme , that concupiscence , whereby sense is carried to its object inordinately , that is , without the government and assent of reason , to have been naturall to adam ; which yet saint paul hath so many times called by the expresse name of sinne , in one chapter . and for the argument which they bring , we answer , that naturally , and from the law of creation , there was no formall opposition , but a subordination betweene spirit and sense . and therefore , notwithstanding the operations of appetite are common unto men and beasts ; yet we may not grant , that they have the same manner of being educed and governed in both these . for , as the operations of the vegetative soule , though common to beasts , men , and plants , are yet in either of these severally so restrained , as that they are truly sayd to be the proper and peculiar workes of that specificall forme , unto which they are annexed : so likewise , the sensitive appetite , though generally it be common to men and beasts ; yet in men , it was ordained to proceed naturally from the government of reason , and therefore may properly be called a humane appetite , as being determined , restrained , and made conformable unto mans nature : so that as long as man continued entire and incorrupt , there was a sweet harmonie betweene all his faculties , and such an happie subordination of them each to other , as that every motion of the inferior powers was directed and governed , and therefore might truly and properly be attributed to the superior ; but when once man had tasted of that murthering fruit , which poysoned him and all his posteritie , then began those swellings , rebellions , and unjoynting of faculties , which made him as lame in his nature , as it did dead in grace ; whence passions are become now , in the state of corruption , beastly and sensuall , which were before , by creation , reasonable and humane : for man being in honour was without understanding , and is become as the beasts that perish . but to returne , we are , as i said , to remember , that there is in man , by reason of his generall corruption , such a distemper wrought , as that there is not onely crookednesse in , but dissention also , and fighting between his parts . and though the light of our reason be by mans fall much dimmed and decayed , yet the remainders thereof are so adverse to our unruly appetite , as that it laboureth against us , as the philistims against samson , ( or rather indeed as dalilah , for samsons eyes were truly put out , before ever the philistims were upon him ) it laboureth , i say , to deprive us of those reliques of sight , which we yet retaine . and this is that first corrupt effect , which i call imposture , or occaecation , whereby passion reigning in the lower parts , and being impatient altogether of resistance or controule , laboureth to maske reason , and to obliterate those principles and originall truths , whereby their unrulinesse might be restrained , or at least convinced . and hence it is , that every man , when he hath given place to the violence of appetite , laboureth next to incline and prepare his mind for assent , and to get reason on the same side with passion . disobedience is ever cavilling , and contentious ; and he who will not worke the righteousnesse of god , will be sure to dispute against it , and to stumble at it . and therefore the apostles tell us , that repentance , and putting away of lusts , is the onely preparation to acknowledge the truth : for so long as any man resolves to hold fast his sinne , he will ever re●…ct the truth that opposeth it , and bribe reason to say something for it . he made himselfe a lyon , and anon became a boare , a panther , a dragon . so likewise , the vnderstanding being once invaded by passion , is brought to change into diverse shapes , and to judge of things , not according to their naked and naturall truth , but according as it finds them beare in the fancie those impressions of pleasure , which are most agreeable to corrupted nature . and another reason , why we seeke to warrant and to maintaine a passion , when we have given way unto it , is the love of our ease : for every man , though he can be content to delight in the pleasure of a corrupt passion ; yet that part of it , which hath the sting in it , is unpleasant : and therefore there is required the hand of reason , by apologies , pleadings , and blandishments , either to mollifie the passion , that it shall not then pierce , or to harden and arme the subject , that it may not be sensible of it . and , that this deceit and ex●…ation is a proper worke of passion , ( besides our owne dayly experience ) this one argument might sufficiently proove ; namely , the practice of heretiques : who proposing to themselves eyther gaine , or any other carnall and corrupt end ; did thereupon presently ( as the apostle notes ) vent the perverse disputes of their owne corrupt minds , and make all truth an hand-maid and lacquey to their owne lusts ▪ and proportionably thereunto , their custome hath beene , priùs persuadere quàm docere , to creepe upon the affections of men , and get footing there , before ever they would adventure the entertainment of their false doctrines ▪ and as it is sayd of god , that hee first accepted abel , and then his sacrifice ; so doe they labour first , to worke an approbation of their persons in the hearts of men ; whence in the second place , their perverse conceits doe finde the easier accesse to their vnderstandings . for , when silly and unstable mindes shall once be brought to such a prejudice , as to have the persons of men in admiration ; when they shall see an impostor come unto them , as a man that had wholly renounced the world ; like zopyrus or synon , clothed and deformed with seeming povertie and repentance ; drawing in and out his breath with no other motions , than sighes ; pretending to bring nothing but the plentifull promises of salvation , teares in his eyes , oyle and honey in his mouth , and the most exquisite picture of true holynesse , which it is possible for the art or hypocrisie of mans invention to dr●…w out : how can the vnderstanding of weake and simple people choose ( especially being before framed unto beleefe , by those two credulous qualities , of ignorance and feare ) but be made inclinable to receive , not onely willingly , but with greedinesse also , whatsoever poysonous doctrine , under pretence of wholesome and saving physique , such a subtill impostor shall administer unto them ? such a great force there is in voluntarie humilitie , neglecting of the body , and other the like pretended pious frauds , to insinuate and take possession of weake and credulous natures ; with whom haply , more reall , serious , and spirituall arguments , comming with lesse pompe and ostentation , would not prevaile . — captique dolis , lacrymisque coactis quos neque tydides nec larissaeus achilles non anni domuere decem , non mille carinae . they are surpriz'd by frauds and forced teares , in whom their greatest foes could work no feares ; whom ten yeres war not won , nor thousand ships , are snar'd and conquer'd by perjurious lips . the second manner of corruption , which passion useth on the vnderstanding and will , was alienating or withdrawing of reason from the serious examination of those pleasures , wherewith it desireth to possesse the mind , without controule ; that when it cannot so farre prevaile , as to blind and seduce reason , getting the allowance and affirmative consent thereof , it may yet at least so farre inveagle it , as to with-hold it from any negative determination , and to keepe off the mind from a serious and impartiall consideration of what appetite desireth ; for feare lest it should be convinced of sinne , and so finde the lesse sweetnesse in it . and this is the reason of that affected and voluntarie ignorance , which saint pet●… speakes of ; whereby minds prepossessed with a love of inordinate courses , doe with-hold and divert reason , and forbeare to examine that truth , which indeed they know ; as fearing , lest thereby they should be deterred from those vices , which they resolve to follow . which is the same , with that excellent metaphore in saint paul ; who sayth ▪ that the wrath of god was revealed from heaven , on all vngodlinesse and vnrighteousnesse of men , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , whic●… hold or detaine the truth in vnrighteousnesse : that is , which imprison and keepe in that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as the apostle interpreteth himselfe , in the next verse ; all those notions of divine truth , touching the omnipotencie and iustice of god , which were by the singer of nature written within them , to deterre them from , or ( if not ) to make them inexcusable , in those unnaturall pollutions wherein they wallowed . thus medea in the poet : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . i know 't is wicked that i goe about , but passion hath put all my reason out . and therefore , that maxime of the stoicall philosopher , out of plato , is false ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that all men are unwillingly deprived of truth ; since , as aristotle hath observed , directly agreeable to the phrase of saint peter , there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , an elected or voluntarie ignorance , which for their securities sake , men nourish themselves in . and that there should be such an alienation of the mind from truth , when the fancie and heart are hot with passion , cannot be any great wonder : for , the soule is of a limited and determined activitie in the body ; insomuch , that it cannot with perspi●…uitie and diligence give attendance unto diverse objects . and therefore , when a passion in its fulnesse , both of a violence and delight , doth take it up , the more cleare and naked brightnesse of truth is suspended and changed : so that , as the sunne and moone , at their rising and setting , seeme farre greater than at other times , by reason of thick vapours , which are then interposed ; so , the mind looking upon things through the mists and troubles of passion , cannot possibly judge of them , in their owne proper and immediate truth , but according to that magnitude or colour , which they are framed into , by prejudice and distemper . but then , thirdly , if reason will neither be deluded nor won over to the patronage of evill , nor diverted from the knowledge and notice of good ; then doth passion strive to confound and distract the apprehensions thereof , that they may not with any firmenesse or efficacie of discourse , interrupt the current of such irregular and head-strong motions . and this is a most inward and proper effect of passion : for , as things presented to the mind , in the nakednesse and simplicitie of their owne truth , doe gaine a more firme assent unto them , and a more fixed intuition on them ; so , on the contrarie side , those things which come mixt and troubled , dividing the intention of the mind between truth and passion , cannot obtaine any setled or satisfactorie resolution from the discourses of reason . and this is the cause of that reluctancie betweene the knowledge and desires of incontinent men , and others of the like nature : for , as aristotle observes of them , they are but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , halfe-evill , as not sinning with that full and plenarie consent of will , but prat●…r electionem , as he speakes ; so i may more truly say of them , that they have but an halfe-knowledge , not any distinct and applicative apprehension of truth , but a confused and broken conceit of things in their generalitie : not much unlike unto nighttalkers , who cannot be sayd to be throughly asleepe , nor perfectly awaked , but to be in a middle kind of inordinate temper betweene both ; or ( as aristotle himselfe gives the similitude ) it is like a stage-player , whose knowledge is expresse and cleare enough , but the things which it is conversant about , are not personall and particular to those men , but belonging unto others , whom they personate : so , the principles of such men are in the generall , good and true ; but they are never brought downe so low , as if they did concerne a mans owne particular weale or woe , nor thorowly weighed , with an assuming , applying , concluding conscience ; but , like the notion of a drunken or sleeping man , are choaked and smothered with the mists of passion . and this third corruption is that , which aristotle , in the particular of incontinencie , calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the weakenesse and disabilitie of reason , to keepe close to her owne principles and resolutions : whereunto exactly agreeth that of the prophet ; how weake is thy heart , seeing thou doest all things , the workes of an imperious whorish woman ? and elsewhere , whoredome and wine are sayd to take away the heart . so hector describes lascivious paris : — — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . thy face hath beautie in 't , but in thy brest there doth no strength nor resolution rest . the last effect ( which i shall but name ) is that which aristotle calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , rashnesse or precipitancie ; which is the most tyrannicall violence which passion useth ; when , in spight of all the dictates of reason , it furiously over-ruleth the will , to determine and allow of any thing , which it pleaseth to put in practise ; and like a torrent , carryeth all before it ; or , as the prophet speakes , rusheth like an horse into the battell : so lust and anger are sometimes , in the scripture , called madnesse ; because it transporteth the soule beyond all bounds of wisdome or counsell , and by the dictates of reason takes occasion to become more outragious , ipsaque praesidia occupat , feedes like wild-fire upon those remedies , which should remove it : as she sayd in the poet ; levis est dolor , qui capere consilium potest , lib●… ire contra . that 's but light griefe , which counsell can abate ; mine swells , and all advice resolves to hate . the corrupt effects which passion worketh in the last place on the body , are divers , according to the particular nature of the passions ; sometimes too sudden and violent , sometimes too heavie oppression of the heart ; the other , sudden perturbation of the spirits . thus old ely dyed , with sudden griefe ; diodorsu , with shame ; sophocles , chilo the lacedemonian , and others , with joy ; nature being not able to beare that great and sudden immutation , which these passions made in the body . the causes and manner of which cogitation , i reserre ( as being inquiries not so directly pertinent to the present purpose ) unto naturall philosophers and physicians . and from the generalitie of passions , i proceed unto the consideration of some particulars , according to the order of their former division : in all which , i shall forbeare this long method of the antecedents , concomitants , and consequents of their acts , ( many particulars whereof , being of the same nature in all passions , will require to be observed onely in one or two , and so proportionally conceived in the rest ) and shall insist principally in those particulars which i handle on the causes and effects of them ; as being considerations , wherein commonly they are most serviceable or prejudiciall to our nature . chap. ix . of the affection of love , of love naturall , of generall communion , of love rationall , the object and generall cause thereof . now the two first and fundamentall passions of all the rest , are love and hatred . concerning the passion of love , we will therein consider first its object , and its causes ; both which being of a like nature , ( for every morall object is a cause , thoug●… not every cause an object ) will fall into one . love then consists in a kind of expansion o●… egresse of the heat and spirits to the object loved , or to that whereby it is drawne and attracted whatsoever therefore hath such an attractive power , is in that respect the object and general●… cause of love. now , as in nature , so in the affections likewise , we may observe from their objects a double attraction : the first , is tha●… naturall or impressed sympathie of things , wher●… by one doth inwardly incline an union with the other , by reason of some secret vertues and occ●… qualities disposing either subject to that 〈◊〉 all friendship , as betweene iron and the loa●… stone : the other , is that common and mo●… discernable attraction which every thing receiv●… from those natures , or places , whereon they 〈◊〉 ordained and directed by the wisedome an●… providence of the first cause , to depend both in respect of the perfection and conservation of their being . for , as god in his temple , the church , so is he in his pallace , ( if i may so call it ) the world , a god of order , disposing every thing in number , weight , and measure , so sweetly , as that all is harmonious , ( from which harmonie , the philosophers have concluded a divine providence ) and so powerfully , as that all things depend on his government , without violence , breach , or variation . and this order and wisdome is seene chiefely in that sweet subordination of things each to other , and happie inclination of all to their particular ends , till all be reduced finally unto him who is the fountaine , whence issue all their streames of their limited being , and the fulnesse of which , all his creatures have received . which the poet , though something too poetically , seemeth to have express'd : principio coelum ac terras camposque liquentes lucentemque globum lunae titaniaque astra spiritus intus al●… , ●…otamque infusa per artus mens agitat molem , & magno se corpore miscet . heaven , earth , and seas , with all those glorious lights , which beautifie the day , and rule the nights , a divine inward vigour , like a soule , diffus'd through ev'ry joint of this great * whole , doth vegetate , and with a constant force guideth each nature through its fixed course . and such is the naturall motion of each thing to its owne sphere and center ; where is both the most proper place of its consisting , and withall , the greatest freedome from sorraine injurie or violence . but we must here withall , take notice of the generall care of the creator ; whereby he hath fastned on all creatures , not onely his private desire to satisfie the demands of their owne nature , but hath also stamp'd upon them a generall charitie and feeling of communion , as they are sociable parts of the vniverse or common body ; wherein cannot possible be admitted ( by reason of that necessarie mutuall connexion between●… the parts thereof ) any confusion or divulsion , without immediate danger to all the members . and therefore god hath inclin'd the nature of these necessarie agents , so to worke of their discords the perfect harmonie of the whole , that i●… by any casualtie it fall out , that the body of nature be like to suffer any rupture , deformitie , o●… any other contumely , though haply occasioned by the uniforme and naturall motions of th●… particulars ; they then must prevent such damag●… and reproach , by a relinquishing and forgetting of their owne natures , and by acquainting themselves with motions , whereunto considered i●… their owne determinate qualities , they have a●… essentiall reluctancie . which propertie and sense of nature in common , the apostle hath excellently set downe in cor. . where he renders this reason of all , that there might be 〈◊〉 schisme in the body : which likewise he divinely applyeth in the mysticall sense , that all the severall gifts of the spirit to the church , should drive to one common end , as they were all derived from one common fountaine ; and should never be used , without that knitting qualitie of love , to which he elsewhere properly ascribeth the building , continuation , and perfecting of the saints . now , as it hath pleased the infinite wisdome of god to guide and moderate , by his owne immediate direction , the motions of necessarie agents , after the manner declared to their particular , or to the generall end , ( which motion may therefore , as i before observed , be called the naturall passion of things ) so hath it given unto man a reasonable soule , to be as it were his vice-gerent in all the motions of mans little world. to apply then these proportions in nature to the affection of love in man , we shall finde first a secret , which i will call naturall ; and next , a manifest , which i call a morall and more discursive attraction . the first of these , is that naturall sympathie wrought betweene the affection and the obj●…ct , in the first meeting of them , without any suspension of the person , ●…ll farther inquirie after the disposition of the object ; which comes immediately from the outward , naturall , and sensitive vertues thereof , whether in shape , feature , beautie , motion , 〈◊〉 , behaviour ; all which comming under the spheare of sense , i include under the name of iudiciarie physiognomie : which is not a bare delight in the outward qualities , but a farther presumption of the iudgement ; concluding thence , a lovely disposition of that soule , which animateth and quickneth those outward graces . and indeed , if it be true which aristotle in his ethicks tels us , that similitude is the ground of love ; and if there be no naturall love stronger than that which is betweene the body and the soule , we may well ground some good presumption of similitude in the qualities of the soule with those lovely impressions of nature which we find in the body , and may by the same reason collect a mutuall discoverie , by which we acknowledge a mutuall sympathie betweene them . and therefore it was no ill counsell ( though not alwayes to be heeded ) cave tibi ab iis quos natura signavit , to take heed of such , who like cain have any marke of notorious deformitie set upon them by nature . and therefore homer speaking of the garrulous , impudent , envious , and reviling qualities of thersites , fits him with a body answerable to such a mind . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most ill-shapen man that to troy came , with eye distorted , and in each foot laine , his shoulders crooked , to his brest shrunke downe , a sharpe wrye head , here and there patcht with downe . but yet herein , though it be injurious for a man out of too much austeritie of mind , to reject the judgement of sense , and to quarrell with this naturall instinct ; yet it is fit , that in this case , considering the deceitfulnesse of things , and what a divers habit , education or hypocrisie hath wrought in many , betweene the out and inside of their natures ; that we should , i say , bring a fearefull judgement , like love of b●…as the philosopher , which may easily , upon good warrant and assurance , alter it selfe : otherwise , when a thing is throughly knowne to be lovely , our hearts may boldly quiet and repose themselves in it . but here likewise we must observe that proportion of nature , that if our affection cannot stand in private towards one particular , without dammage and inconvenience to the publique body , politique or ecclesiasticall , whereof we are members , the generall must ever be esteemed more deare and precious . a scandall to the body , and a schisme from the whole , is more dangerous and unnaturall , than any private divisions : for , if there be a wound or swelling in one part of the body , the parts adjoyning will be content to submit themselves unto paine , for the recoverie of that ; and rather than it shall perish , 〈◊〉 any ●…ble which may conduce to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . and this is the love of fellow-members , amongst themselves . but then , if any part be so farre corrupted , as that it doth more easier derive its contagion upon others , than admit of any succour from them , so that by the continuance thereof in the body , the whole is endangered ; or , if the whole body be readie to perish by famine ; then doth the sense of communitie so swallow up that other more private respect , as that the members will be even cruell amongst themselves , to the cutting and devouring each of other , that thereby the safetie of the whole may be procured . and therefore , the fable of the faction betweene the belly and the members , was wisely applyed by menenius agrippa , in a rebellion amongst the people of rome ; to shew how unnaturall a thing it is , and how pernicious to the parts themselves , to nourish their owne private discontents , when the weale publique is together therewithall endangered . chap. x. of the rule of true love : the love of god and our selves : similitude to these , the cause of love in other things : of love of concupiscence : how love begetteth love ; and how presence with , and absence from the object , doth upon different respects exercise and encrease love. from this generall and fundamentall cause of love , proceed some others , speciall and particular ; whereof , the first and principall is a similitude and resemblance betweene the thing loved , and that which is the naturall rule of love. now , the rule of all love , is by divine truth prescribed to be god , and a mans selfe ; so that , what beareth similitude to these , is the proper and right object of our affection . to speake therefore a word or two of these . the master-wheele , or first mover in all the regular motions of this passion , is the love of god , grounded on the right knowledge of him ; whereby the soule being ravished with the apprehension of his infinite goodnesse , is earnestly drawne and * called out , as it were , to desire an vnion , vision , and participation of his glory and presence ; yeelding up it selfe unto him , ( for by * love a man giveth himselfe to the thing which he loves ) and conforming all its affections and actions to his will. and this love is then regular , when it takes up all the kinds of love , and all the degrees of love. for we love god , amore amicitiae , for the goodnesse and excellencie which is in himselfe , as being most lovely ; and amore desiderii , with a desire of being united unto him , as the fountaine of all our blessednesse ; and amore complacentiae , with a love of joy and delight in him ; when the soule goes to god , like noahs dove to the arke , and with infinite sweetnesse and securitie reposeth it selfe in him ; and lastly , amore benevolentiae , with an endeavour ( so farre as a poore creature can to an infinite creator ; for our good extendeth not unto him ) to bring all praise , service , and honour unto him . and thus we are to love him above all things ; first , appretiativè , setting an higher price upon his glory and command , than upon any other thing besides ; all dung , in comparison . secondly , intensivè , with the greatest force and intention of our spirit , setting no bounds or measure to our love of him : thirdly , adaequatè , as the compleat , perfect , and adaequate object of all our love , in whom it must begin , and in whom it must end . and therefore , the wise-man speaking of the love and feare of god , tells us , that it is totum hominis , the whole of man. other objects are severally fitted , unto severall faculties ; beautie to the eye , musick to the eare , meat to the palate , learning to the mind ; none of these can satisfie the facultie , unto which it belongs not . and even to their proper faculties , they bring vanitie and vexation with them : vanitie , because they are emptie , and doe deceive ; and because they are mortall , and will decay : vexation , in the getting ; for that is with labour ; in the keeping , for that is with feare ; in the multiplying , for that is with care ; in the enjoying , for if we but taste , we are vexed with desiring it ; if we surfet , we are vexed with loathing it . god onely is totum hominis , fitted to all the wants of an immortall soule : fulnesse , to make us perfectly happie ; immortalitie , to make us perpetually happie ; after whom we hunger with desire , and are not griped ; on whom we feast with delight , and are not cloyed . he therefore is to be loved , not with a divided , but a whole heart . to love any creature , either without god , or above god , is cupiditas , lust : ( which is the formale of every sinne , whereby we turne from god to other things ) but to love the creatures under god , in their right order ; and for god , to their right end , ( for he made all things for himselfe ) this is charitas , true and regular love. now , the image and likenesse of god , ( not to speake of that eternall and essentiall character of his fathers brightnesse ) is in his word , and in his workes ; the one , being the manifestation of his will ; and the other , of his power and wisedome . our love to his word , is our search of it ; as being the onely glasse , wherein we see the wonders and deepe things of god : our beleefe of it , all , and onely ; acknowledging in it , the fulnesse of its truth , and of its sufficiencie : and our obedience to it , submitting our selves , with purpose of heart , unto the rule and guidance of it . touching the workes of god , there are two chiefe things , whereunto the affection of man is by the creatures attracted , and wherewith it desires an vnion , namely , the truth and goodnesse of them ; for by these onely , may all the diverse faculties of mans soule be exercised and delighted : the love of both which , is then onely regular , when it is limited , in regard of the quantitie and qualitie of the act ; humble , in the manner of pursuance , without swelling and curiositie : and lastly , subordinate unto that great love of god , whose image we can no further truly love in the creature , than as we are thereby directed to a farther love of him. i come now unto that other rule of love , wherein aristotle hath placed the nature thereof , a mans selfe , or that unitie and proportion which the thing loved beareth unto the partie loving ; which in one place , he calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , equalitie ; in another , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ identitie ; in another , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , similitude ; in another , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , communion ; all relative tearmes , which referre unto the partie loving . the root of every mans love unto himselfe , is that unitie and identitie which he hath with himselfe ; it being naturall to every thing , to take delight in the simplicitie of it owne being : because the more simple and one it is , the more it is like the fountaine of its being ; and therefore hath the more perfection in it . and this love of man unto himselfe , if subordinate unto the love of god , and governed thereby , is debitum natura , a necessarie debt ; and such , as the neglect whereof , is a trespasse against nature . now then , as we love our selves , for the unitie which we have in our selves ; so , wheresoever we find any similitude to our selves , or character of our selves , either in nature or habits , upon that also doe the beames of this affection extend . now , a thing may represent our selves , first , in substance ; as the husband and wife are said to be one flesh , and children are branches and portions of their parents ▪ secondly , in qualities or accidents ; as one man resembleth another in naturall , and one friend another in habituall qualities ; as face answereth to face in water , so the heart of man to man. with respect unto this double similitude , there is a double love ; the one , naturall ; the other , acquired , or habituall : the former is common with men unto other creatures : thus in aelian , plutarch , and others , we reade of the naturall affection of elephants ; which seeing their young fallen into a deepe pit , will leape downe after them , though it be present death ; and of the marvellous cunning and valour which many other birds and beasts use to provide for the safetie of their b●…ood , exposing and offering themselves to danger , that they may be delivered : yea , the pelican ( if wee beleeve the story ) doth feed her young ones , when they have been bitten with serpents , with her owne blood to recover them againe : which embleme iohn the second , king of portugall is said to have chosen , whereby to expresse his love to his subjects : and homer elegantly expresseth the care of a bird seeding her young ones . — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . she brings her young ones what mea●… she can find , when she her selfe with hunger's almost pin'd . and the like affection , another poet hath expressed in the most cruell of all the beasts , the tyger : — — sic aspera tygris foetibus abreptis scythico deserta sub antro accubat , & lepidi lambit vestigia lecti . — the tyger ( which most thirsts for blood ) seeing her selfe rob'd of her tender brood , lies down lamenting in her scythian den , and licks the prints where her lost wholps had lyon . and this kind of piety wee finde reciprocall , returning from the young ones upward ▪ so the young lyons are said to feed and provide for their old ones ; which is also observ'd of eagles , sto●…kes and other creatures . and hence wee read of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , lawes , which receive their demomination from the stork , providing that children should nourish and take care of their parents in their distresse . and for men , so great is the power of naturall affection , that parents desire nothing more , than to be excelled by their children ; even vitious men ( as seneca somewhere speaketh ) desire that their sonnes may be vertuous , and vertuous men that they may bee more worthy and happy than themselves , as hector prayed for his sonne . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . let it be said , here 's a brave sonne indeed , who doth his noble father farre exceed . and aeneas to ascanius . disce puer virtutem ex me , verosque labores , fortunam ex aliis , — vertue and patience learne my sonne of me , but may thy fortunes better patternes see . and therefore unnaturallnesse of affection is reckoned up by the apostle amongst the soulest of sinnes , when like ismael the nature of men groweth wilde and brutish , as the philosopher calleth such men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , men of savage and fierce dispositions . and therefore in the scripture an unnaturall man is called onager homo , a wilde-asse man , gen. . ●… . iob . . but a meeke and tender ▪ spirited man is called ovi●… homo , a sheepe man , or a man of a sociable and calme disposition , ezek . ▪ . and amongst the thebans there was a law made , which appointed a capitall penalty upon those unnaturall men , who should cast out and expose their children unto ruine . and as this kind of love ariseth from propinquitie of nature , so another there is growing out of similitude of manners . all flesh , as syracides speakes , will resort to their like , and every man will keepe company with such , as he is himselfe ; as wee see learned men hold correspondency with those that are learned , and good with those that are good : no man that excelleth in any quality , shall ever want friends ; because every man , that either hath or liketh that quality , will love it in any other man , and him for it . for by the same reason that a man by the study or practice of any good things laboureth to commend himselfe to his owne judgement , and to the love of others ; he is ingaged ( unlesse hee will bee false to his owne grounds ) to love any other whom hee observeth to study and practice the same thing : for how can i expect , that that in mee should reape love from other●… , which in others reapeth nothing but envie from me ? and upon this reason it is , that a man can hardly permit another to love that , which he himselfe hateth ; because we are too apt to make our iudgements or passions the rule of another mans , and to dislik●… that in him , which we doe not allow in our selves : which unruly affection , the poet hath excellently described in achilles , when his friend mediated a reconciliation betweene him and agamemnon : — — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . it is not courteous , that where i hate , you should love , except you 'ld have me hate you too : but take this rule , if you 'l be thought my friend ; the man that offends me , doe you offend . so much naturally are men in love with their owne likenesse , that many times they can be content to have their very deformities imitated : and therefore , the chiefe art of flatterers , is to commend and imitate every thing of him , of whom they would make a prey . it is true , that in some cases , similitude is the cause of envie ; but this is onely then , when first the qualitie wherein men agree , is a litigating and contentious qualitie : in which case , the meeting of such men in one disposition , is but like the meeting of two rough streames , which makes them runne with the more noyse ●… therefore , a wise and a meek-tempered man shall sooner winne and hold the love of an angry man , than he , who is like unto him in that distemper ; because such a man ( though indeed he be conquerour , in regard of his wisdome ) yet by his patience he seemeth to yeeld : and there is nothing which a mans passion loves so much as victory . whereas betweene anger and anger there must needs be fighting of affections , which is the remotest temper from love. secondly , when by accident , the quality , wherein men agree , doth any other way inconvenience them ▪ either in point of credit , usefulnesse ▪ or pro fit . for as the sta●…res , though they agree in light , yet validiorum exortu exilia obscurantur , those that are small suffer losse by the brightnesse of others . so amongst men , agreeing in the same abilities , one many times proveth ●… prejudice and disadvantage unto the other , as the poet said , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the potter's often angry with his mates , one ne●…ghbour ▪ architect the other hates . and therefore as the sunne and moone agree best in their light when they are fa●…hest asunder , so in these arts , which maintaine life or credit , men usually agree best at a distance , because thereby the one doth the lesse dammage or darken the other . now this naturall and habituall love is then regular , when subordinate to that greater , our love of god , and when governed by the dictates of a rightly informed reason , which amongst many others are these three . first , that our love carry its right respect , and no sinister , or by-●…nd with it ; that wee love a friend for himselfe , and not with indirect ends , onely upon our owne benefit : for , as b the philosopher speakes , true love is a benevolent affection , willing good unto another for his owne sake . hominum charitas , saith cicero , gratuita est . true love is free , and without selfe respects : whereas to shrowd our owne private aymes under the name of friendship . non est amicitia sed mercatura , is onely to make a trade and merchandize of one another . secondly , that our love be s●…rene , not mudded with errour , and prejudice : * in the most able men that are , god is pleased to leave some wants and weakenesses , that they may the better know themselves , bee acquainted with divine bounty in what they have , and their necessary use of others in what they want . and therefore it was a seasonable increpation of polydamas to hector . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because thou canst in warre all men out do , wilt thou presume thou canst in counsell to ▪ one breast 's too narrow to containe all arts , god distributes his gifts in severall parts . in this case therefore our care must bee to discerne betweene the abilities and infirmities of men , that our honour and love of the person render not his weakenesses beautifull us , nor worke in us an unhappy diligence in the imitation of them . vix enim dici potest , quantò libentiùs imitamur eos , quibus favemus ; love is very apt to trans port us so farre as to make us imitate the errours of whom we love . like unskillfull painters , who not being able to reach the beauty of the face , expresse onely the wrinkles and blemishes of it . thirdly , that our love keepe in all the kinds thereof its due proportion , both for the nature of them , being towards some a love of reverence , towards others of friendship , towards others of compassion , towards others of counsell and bounty ; as also for their severall degrees of intension , which are to be more or lesse according to the naturall , morall , or divine obligations which wee finde in the persons loved . for though wee must love all men as our selves , yet that inferres not an equality , but a fidelity and sincerity of love ; since even within our selves , there is no man but loves his head and his heart and other vitall parts with a closer affection than those which are but fleshly and integrall , and more easily repayrable . and therefore the apostle limiteth the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the greatest degree of our love upon two objects , those of our owne house , and those of the houshold of faith ; not excluding others , but preferring these . i shall end this particular with naming one species of love more ( for all this hitherto hath been amor amiciti●… , a love of a person for himselfe ) and it is that which the schooles call amor concupiscenti●… , a love of concupiscence , or a circular love , that which begins and ends in a mans selfe , when his affections having gone forth to some object , doth againe returne home , and loves it not directly for any absolute goodnesse which it hath in it selfe , but as it is conducible and beares a relation of convenience to him that loves it . for though all affection of love ( as aristotle observed ) bee circular , in as much as the object first moves the appetite , and then the appetite moves to the object , and so the motion ceaseth where it began ( which is a circle ; ) ( which also by the way shewes us in an embleme the firmenesse and strength which love workes amongst men ; because of all formes and fabriques , those which are circular are the strongest ; as we see in arches , wherein every part doth mutually touch and claspe in that which is next it : ) yet in this love which i here speake of , there is a greater circle ; in that , after all this , there is another regresse from the object to the appetite , applying the goodnesse thereof unto the same , and loving it onely for the commodity and benefit , which the mind is likely to receive from it . another subordinate and lesse principall cause of love , may be love it selfe ; i meane in another man : for as it is naturall , according to aristotle , to praise , so sure it is to love , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ men of loving and good natures : and so he maketh just , beneficient & pleasant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men that are true lovers of their owne friends to be the proper objects of love. and herein is that partly verified , that love is strong as death . for as that grave which buries a dead man , doth likewise burie all his enemies ( it being unnaturall to hate the dead , whom wee cannot hurt : for the utmost harme , that malice can doe , is to kill . and therefore it is noted as a prodigious hatred betweene the two emulous brothers of thebes , aetcocles and polynices ; nec furiis post fata modus slammaeque rebelles seditione rogi . — their furies were not bounded by their fate , ones funeral flame the others flame did hate . ) even so likewise a mans love hath a power to bury his enemies , and to draw unto it selfe the most backward and differing affections ; for being of a transient nature , and carrying forth it selfe into the person beloved , it usually ( according to the condition of other naturall agents ) worketh semblable and alike affections unto it selfe . for besides that , hereby an adversary is convinced of nourishing an injurious and undeserved enmity ; hee is moreover mollified and shamed by his owne witnesse , his conscience telling him that it is odious and inhumane to repay love with hatred . insomuch that upon this inducement , saul the patterne of raging and unreasonable envie , was sometimes brought to relent and accuse himselfe . and this is the occasion ( as i take it ) of that speech of salomon ; if thine enemie hunger , give him bread to eat ; if he thirst , give him water to drinke ; for thou shal●… heape coales of fire upon his head . which , though perhaps , with earthie and base minds , it hath a propertie of hardning and confirming them in their hatred ; yet , with minds ingenuous and noble , it hath a cleane contrarie effect , to melt and purge them . and so the apostle telleth us , that we love god , because he loved us first ; and mary magdalene having had much forgiven her , did therefore love christ much . and therefore the poets counsell is good : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . if for thy love thy selfe would'st loved bee , shew love to those that doe shew love to thee . the next two causes , which i conceive , of love , i will joyne in one ; namely , the absence from , and contrarily , the presence with the thing loved ; both which , in a different respect , doe exercise love. and therefore , first , i like not that speech of aristotle , that though distance of place doe not dissolve the root and habit yet it doth the exercise and acts of love ; except he meant it ( as i suppose he doth ) of the transient acts thereof , whereby each friend doth the office of love and ●…eneficence to another . for , as in naturall bodies there is not onely a compl●…encie or delight in their proper place , when they enjoy it ; but an innate propension and motion thereunto , when they are absent from it ; so in the mind of man ( whose a love in his weight ) there is not onely a love of delight in the fru●…tion , but a love likewise of desire , in the privation of a good ; which , the more it wanteth , the more it fixeth it selfe upon it : b as some things doe naturally attract fire at a distance . thus the poet expresseth the love of dido to aeneas : illum absens absentem anditque videtque . when night had severed them apart , she heard and saw him in her heart . and it is the wonder of love ( as saint chrysostome speaketh ) to collect and knit together in one , things faire separated from each other : wherein stands the mysterie of the communion of the church on earth , both with it selfe , in all the dispersed members of it , and with christ the head ; and that other part of it , which triumpheth in heaven . so that herein , divine love hath the same kind of vertue with divine faith ; that as this is the being and subsisting of things to come , and distant in time ; so that is the vnion and knitting of things absent , and distant in place . but then , much more doth presence to the goodnesse of an object loved , encrease and exercise our love ; because it gives us a more compleat sight of it , and vnion unto it . and therefore saint iohn speakes of a perfection , and saint paul of a perpetuitie of our love unto god , grounded on the fulnesse of the beatificall vision , when we shall be for ever with the lord ; whereas now , seeing onely in a glasse darkely , as we know , so likewise we love but in part onely . and aristotle makes mutuall conversation and societie one of the greatest bonds of love ; because thereby is a more immediate exercise ; and from thence , a greater encrease of the affection . as living * creatures , so affections are nourished , after the same manner as they are produced : now it is necessarie , for the first working of love , that the object have some manner of presence with the affection , either by a knowledge of vision , or of faith. and therefore saint paul sayth , if they had knowne , they would not have crucified the lord of glory ; their ignorance and hatred of him , went both together : simul ut desin●…nt ignorare , cessant & odisse ; as soone , sayth tertullian , as they ceased to be ignorant of christ , they ceased to hate him : and usually , in the phrase of the scripture , knowledge and love are identicall . so then , all love proceeding from knowledge , and all knowledge presupposing some presence of the thing knowne , it appeareth , that the presence of the object begetteth , and therefore , by proportion , it nourisheth this affection . the last cause or inducement to this passion , ( which i will but name ) is an aggregate of diverse beautifull and amiable qualities in the object ; as namely , sympathie , iustice , industrie , temperance , ingenuitie , facilitie , pleasantnesse and innocencie of wit , me●…knesse , yeeldingnesse , patience , sweetnesse of behaviour and disposition , without closenesse , suspition , intermedling , inquisitivenesse , morositie , contempt , dissention ; in all which , men are either injusti or pugnaces , doe either wrong us , or crosse us : which two , the philosopher makes the generall opposites of love : on which i shall forbeare to insist , as also on the circumstances of the act of this passion it selfe , in the quantitie and qualitie thereof , and shall proceed in briefe to the consequents or effects of this passion . chap. xi . of the effects of love , vnion to the object , stay and immoration of the mind upon it , rest in it , zeale , strength , and tendernesse towards it , condescention unto it , liquefaction and languishing for it . the first which i shall observe , is vnion , occasioned both by the love which we have to a thing , for it●… owne sake , and likewise , for the love of our selves , that there may be a greater mutuall interest each in other . where-ever love is , it stirreth up an endeavour , to carry the heart unto the thing which it loveth ▪ where the treasure is , there the heart wil be . hence , none are sayd to love god , but those that are some way united unto him . and therefore , as gods first love to man , was in making man like himselfe ; so his second great love , was in making himselfe like man. hence , we reade so often of that mysticall inhabitation of christ in his church , of that more peculiar vnion and presence with his people , of a spirituall implantation unto him by faith , of those neere relations of filiation and fraternitie , of mutuall interest each in other , i am my beloveds , and my beloved is mine ; importing an inseparable vnion of the church to christ. and this may be the reason of that order in saint pauls solemne benediction , the grace of christ , the love of god , and the communion of the spirit : for , as the grace of christ onely taketh away that enmitie which was betweene sinners and god , and is the onely meanes of our reconciliation unto him ; so the love of god is the onely bond of that communion , which we have with him and his holy spirit . vnion is of diverse sorts . one , such whereby diverse things are made simply one , either by the conversion of one into the other , or by the composition , or constitution of a third out of the things united , as of mixt bodies out of united elements , or of the whole substance ▪ out of the essentiall parts : another , such whereby things united are made one after a sort , either by an accidentall aggregation , as diverse stones make one heape , or by an orderly and artificiall distribution , as diverse materialls make one house . or by either a naturall or morall inclination and sympathy which one thing beareth unto another . and of this sort is that union which ariseth out of love , tending first unto a mutuall similitude and conformity in the same desires ; and next unto a mutuall possession , fruition , and proprietie , whereby the minde loving , longeth to be seised of the thing which it loveth , and cannot endu●…e to bee deprived of it . so moses praied , i beseech thee shew me thy glory ; for the vision of god is the possession of him ; and so david , my soule thirsteth for god , when shall i come and appeare before him ? and this is the foundation of all sorrow , when the soule is dispossessed of that which it loved , and wherein it rested . and this desire of possession is so great that love contenteth it selfe not with the presence , but even then putteth out its endeavours ●…nto a neerer , and more reall union , as if it would become really one with the thing which it loveth ; which is seene in embracings , kisses , in the exiliency and egresse of the spirits , in the expansion of the heart , in the simplicity and natur●…lnesse of all mutuall carriages , as if a present friend were not yet present enough . which kind of expressions of love are thus elegantly described by homer , when eumaeus saw telemachus safely returned home from sea. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . eumaeus all amaz'd sprung to the dore . the pots of wine which his hands mixt before did both fall from them : he ranne on to meet , and with full wellcomes his young master greet . he kist his head , hands , eyes ; and his teares kept time with his kisses , as he kist he wept . the like elegant description wee have of the love of penelope , when vlisses after his returne was perfectly knowne unto her . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 she wept and ran straight on , her hands she spread and claps'd about his neck , and kist his head . love hath in morall and divine things the same effect which fire hath in naturall , to congregate homogeneall , or things of the same kinde , and to separate heterogeneall , or things differing : as we see in the love of god , the deeper that is , the more is the spirituall part of man collected together , and raysed from the earth . and therefore in heaven , where love shall bee perfect , all things shall be harmonious and homogeneal , not in regard of naturall properties , but in a pure and unmixed spiritualnesse of affections in a perfect unity of minds and motions . from the union of love proceeds another secret effect , namely , a resting of the mind in the thing loved . in which respect the philosopher calleth knowledge the rest of the understanding . and this can onely be totall and perfect in the vnion of the soule with god , the chiefest good thereof . whence some have made the threefold appetite in man , concupiscible , rationall and irascible , to have their finall perfection and quiet by a distinct union to the three persons in the trinity : for the concupiscible power is carried ad bonum to good , which they say is the attribute of the holy spirit ; the rationall adverum , to that which is true , which is the attribute of the sonne ; and the irascible ad ard●…um , to power , which is the attribute of the father . but to let that passe for a spiders web ( curious , but thin ) certaine it is that god onely is that end , who can fully accomplish the perfection and terminate the desires of those creatures , whom hee made after a peculiar manner to know and enjoy him . but proportionably , there ariseth from the vnion unto any other object of love , a satiating and quieting of the facultie ; which , in a word , is then onely , in objects of inferiour order and goodnesse , regular , when the object is naturall , and the action limited . disproportion and enormitie are the two corruptions in this particular . a third effect , which i shall observe of love , is stay , and immoration of the mind upon the object loved , and a diverting of it from all others : as we observed in eumaeus , when he saw telemachus , he threw away the businesse which he was about before : and the woman of samaria , being transported with the love of christ , left her pitcher , which she had brought to the well , that she might goe and call others unto his doctrine : and mary left the thoughts of entertaining christ at the table , out of an extraordinarie desire to entertaine him in her heart . and this effect the poet hath excellently expressed in dido ; who having shewed before a marvellous princely wisdome and sedulitie , in fortifying her new kingdome , and viewing the workes her selfe , ( as he had before described ) as soone as she was once transported by the love of aeneas , then all stood still on a sudden . non capta assurgunt turres , non arma juventu●… exercet ; portusvè , aut propugnacula bello tuta parant ; pendent opera interrupta — the towers long since begun , rose up no more , and armes did rust , which ere ▪ while brave youth wore . no ports , no sconces , no defence went on , but all their works hung broken , and halfe done . thus , as plutarch hath observed , the images of things in the fancies of other men are like words written in water , which suddenly vanish ; but the impressions which love makes , ar●… as it were , written with an hot iron , which leaveth fixed and abiding prints in the memory . love and knowledge have mutuall sharpening and causality each on other : for as knowledge doth generate love , so love doth nourish and exercise ! knowledge . the reason whereof is that unseparable union , which is in all things between the truth and good of them : for it being the property of truth to unite and apply goodnesse ( nothing being apprehended as good , unlesse that goodnesse be apprehended as true ) the more appetite enjoyeth of this , the deeper inquiry doth it make , and the more compleat union doth it seeke with that : the heart and the treasure can seldome be severed ; the eagles will alwayes resort to the body ; davids love gave length and perpetuity to his meditation , even all the day . and herein , methinkes , may consist another proportion betweene the strength of love and death ; for as in death nature doth collect and draw in those spirits , which before lay scattered in the outward parts , to guard and arme the heart in its greatest conflict ; uniting all those languishing forces which are left , to testifie the naturall love which each living creature beareth to its owne conservation : so doth love draw and unite those spirits which administer either to the fancie or appetite , to serve onely for the nourishing of that affection , and for gazing upon that treasure whereunto the heart is wholly attracted . which spirits , being of a limited power and influence , doe therefore with the same force , whereby they carry the mind to the consideration of one thing , withdraw it from all other that are heterogeneall ; no determined power of the soule being able to impart a sufficient activity unto diverse independing operations , when the force of it is exhausted by one so strong ; and there being a sympathy , and as it were , a league between the faculties of the soule , all covenanting not to obscure or hinder the predominant impressions of one another . and therefore as in rome when a dictatour was created , all other authority was or that time suspended ; so when any strong love hath taken possession of the soule , it gives a supersedeas and stop unto all other imployments . it is therefore prescribed as a remedy against inordinate love. — — pabula amoris absterrere sibi , atque aliò convertere mentem . to draw away the ●…ewell from this fire , and turne the minde upon some new desire . for love is otiosorum negotium , as diogenes spake , the businesse oftentimes of men that want imployments . another effect of love is iealousie or zeale . whereby is not meant that suspicious , inquisitive , quick-sighted quality of finding out the ●…lemishes , and discovering the imperfections of one another ( for it is the property of true love ●…o thinke none evill ) but onely a provident and solicitous feare , least some or other evill should either disturbe the peace , or violate the purity of what we love : like that of iob towards his sons ; ●…nd of the apostle towards his corinthians , i am jealous over you with a godly jealousie : so pen●… lope in the poet was jealous of the safety of vlisses . in t●… singebam violentos troas ituros , nomine in hectoreo pallida semper eram . how oft my decre vlisses did i see in my sad thoughts proud trojans rush on thee ▪ and when great hectors name but touch'd mine-ears my cheeks drew palenes frō my paler fears . zeale is a compounded affection , or a mixture of love and anger ; so that it ever putteth forth it selfe to remove any thing which is contrary to the thing we love ; as we see in christ , whose zeale or holy anger whipped away the buyers and sellers out of the temple . in which respect it i●… said that the zeale of gods house did consume him . as water when it boyleth ( from which metapho●… the word zeale is borrowed ) doth in the boyling consume , or as the candle wasteth it selfe with burning . in which respect likewise it is said , that much water cannot quench love. it is like lime , the more water you cast upon it , the hotter it growes . and therefore the sinne of laodiee●… which was contrary unto zeale is compared unto luk●…warme water , which doth not boyle , and so cannot worke out the scumme or corruption which is in it . and from hence it is that love makes weake things strong , and turneth cowardice into valou●… and meekenesse into anger , and shame into boldnesse , and will not conceive any thing too hard to undertake . the fearefull he●… , which hath nothing but flight to defend her selfe from the dogge , or the serpent , will venter with courage against the strongest creatures to defend her little chickens ▪ thus zeale and love of god made moses forget his meekenesse ; and his anger was so strong ▪ that it brake the tables o●… the law , and made the people drink the idol which they had made . and this is wi●…lly expressed by seneca , that magnus dolor iratus amor est , a great griefe is nothing else but love displeased , and made angrie . it transporteth nature beyond its bounds or abilities , putteth such a force and vigour into it , as that it will adventure on any difficulties ; as mary magdalen would in the strength of her love undertake to carry away the dead body of christ ( as she conceived of him ) not considering the weight of that , or her owne weakenesse . it hath a constraining vertue in it , and makes a man do that which is beyond his power ; as the corinthians , when they were poore in estate , were yet rich in liberality . it makes a man impatient to be unacquainted with the estate of an absent friend , whom wee therefore suspect not sufficiently guarded from danger , because destitute of the helpe which our presence might afford him . in one word , it makes the wounds and staines of the thing loved to redound to the grief and trouble of him that loveth it . he that is not jealous for the credit , security , and honour of what hee pretendeth affection to , loves nothing but himselfe in those pretenses . another effect of love is condescension to things below us , that wee may please or profit those whom we love . it teacheth a man to deny his owne judgement , and to doe that which a looker on might happily esteeme weaknesse o●… indecencie ; out of a fervent desire to expresse affection to the thing beloved . thus davids great love to the arke of gods presence did transport him to leaping and dancing , and other such familiar expressions of joy ( for which michall out of pride despised him in her heart ) and was contented by that , which she esteemed basenesse , to honour god : herein expressing the love of him unto mankind , who was both his lord and his sonne ; who emptied , and humbled , and denied himselfe for our sakes , not considering his owne worthinesse , but our want ; nor what was honourable for him to doe , but what was necessary for us to be done . quicquid deo indignum , mihi expedit , what ever was unworthy of him , was expedient for us . thus parents out of love to their children doe lispe , and play , and fit their speeches and dalliances to the age and infirmities of their children . therefore themistocles being found playing and riding on a reed with his little boy , desired his friend not to censure him for it , till hee himselfe was a father of children . the last effect which i shall observe of this passion is that which we call liquefaction or laugnor , a melting , as it were , of the heart to receive the more easie impressions from the thing which it loveth , and a decay of the spirits , by reason of that intensive fixing of them thereon , and of the painefull and lingring expectation of the heart to enjoy it . love is of all other the inmost and most viscerall affection . and therefore called by the apostle , bowels of love. and we read of the yearning of iosephs bowels over benjamin his mothers sonne , and of the true mother over her child . incaluerunt viscera , they felt a fervour and agitation of their bowells , which the more vehement it is , doth worke the more sudden and sensible decay and languishing of spirits . so ammon out of wanton and incestuous love is said to grow leane from day to day , and to have been sicke with vexation for his sister thamar . and in spirituall love we find the like expression of the spouse ; stay me with flagons , comfort me with apples , for i am sick of love : wine to exhilerate , apples to refresh those spirits , which were , as it were , melted away , and wasted by an extreame out-let of love. and for this reason the object of our love is said to overcome us , and to burne the heart , as with coales of iumper ; and the like expressions of wounding and burning the poet useth . — est mollis slamma medullas interea & tac●…um vivit sub pectore vulnus . a wellcome soft flame in her bones did rest , and a close wound liv'd in her bleeding breast . now the cause of this languor , which love worketh , is in sensitive objects , an earnest desire to enjoy them ; in spirituall objects , an earnest desire to increase them . in the former , want kindleth love , but fruition worketh wearinesse and satiety : in the other fruition increaseth love , and makes us the more greedy for those things which when we wanted , we did not desire . in earthly things the desire at a distance promiseth much pleasure , but tast and experience disappointeth expectation . in heavenly things , eating and drinking doth renew the appetite , and the greater the experience , the stronger the desire : as the more acquaintance moses had with god , the more he did desire to see his glory . and so much may suffice for the first of the passions , love , which is the fountaine and foundation of all the rest . chap. xii . of the passion of hatred , the fundamentall cause or object thereof evill , how farre forth evills are willed by god may bee declined by men , of gods secret and revealed will. the next in order is hatred : of which the schoole-men make two kinds ; an hatr●…d of abomination or loathing ; which consists in a pure aversion or flight of the appetite from something apprehended as evill , arising from a dissonancy and repugnancy betweene their natures : and an hatred of enmity , which is not a flying , but rather a pursuing hatred , and hath ever some love joyned with it , namely a love of any evill which we desire may befall the person or thing which wee hate . i shall not distinctly handle these asunder , but shall observe the dignities and corruptions of the passion in generall , as it implies a common disconvenience , and naturall vnconformitie between the object and the appetite . the object then of all hatred is evill ; and all evill implying an opposition to good admits of so many severall respects as there are kinds of opposition . and there is first an evill of contraricty , such as is in the qualities of water unto fire , or a wolfe unto a sheepe , occasioned by that destructive efficiency , which one hath upon the other . secondly , an evill of privation , which we hate formally and for it selfe , as implying nothing but a defect and absence of good. thirdly , an evill of contradiction in the not being of any creature , oppos'd to its being . for being and immortality is that which aristotle makes one of the principle objects of love ; annihilation then , or not being is the chiefest evill of things , and that which nature most abhorreth . lastly , an evill of relation ; for as things in their owne simple natures evill , may have in them a relative goodnesse , and so to be desired ; as the killing of beasts for the service , and the death of malefactors for the security of men : so things in their absolute being good may have in them a relative , or comparative evill , and in that sence bee by consequence hated ; as our saviour intimates he that hateth not father and mother , and his owne life for me , is not worthy of me : when they prove snares and temptations to draw us from the love of christ , they are then to bee undervalued in comparison of him . and therefore we find in the law if a mans dearest brother or child , or wife , or friend should entice him from god unto idolatry , he was not to conceale , pitty , or spare him , but his owne hand was to bee first upon him . and thus the poet hath elegantly expressed the behaviour of aeneas toward dido , who being inflamed with love of him , would have kept him from the expedition , unto which by divine guidance he supposed himselfe to be directed . — quanquam lenire dolorem soland●… cupi●… , & dictis avertere curas , ( multag●…ens magnoque animum labefactus amore ) iussa tamen div●…m exequitur . — though he desir'd with solace to appease , and on her pensive soule to breathe some ease , ( himself with mutuall love made saint ) yet still his purposes were fixt t' obey god 's will. so then we see what qualification is required in the object of a just hatred , that it be evill , and some way or other offensive , either by defiling or destroying nature : and the passion is ever then irregular when it declineth from this rule . but here , in as much as it is evident that the being of some evill comes under the will of god ; ( is there any evill in a city , and the lord hath not done 〈◊〉 ) and our will is to bee conformable unto his ; it may seeme that it ought to fall under our will too , and by consequence to bee rather loved than hated by us , since wee pray for the fulfilling of gods will. for resolution of this , wee must first consider , that god doth not love those evils which hee thus willeth , as formally , and precisely considered in themselves . and next wee will observe how farre the will of god is to bee the rule of our will ; whence will arise the cleare apprehension of that truth which is now set downe , that the unalterable object of mans hatred is all manner of evill , not onely that of deformity and sinne , but that also of destruction and misery . first then for the will of god , we may boldly say what himselfe hath sworne , that hee will not the death or destruction of a sinner : and by consequence neither any other evill of his creature , as being a thing infinitely remote from his mercy ; he is not delighted in the ruine , neither doth hee find pleasure or harmony in the groanes of any thing which himselfe created : but hee is said to will those evills as good and just , for the manifestation of his glorious power over all the creatures , and of his glorious iustice on those , who are voluntarily fallen from him . but now because it is left onely to the wisedome of god himselfe to know and ordaine the best meanes for glorifying of himselfe in and by his creatures , we are not here hence to assume any warrant for willing evill unto our selves or others , but then onely when the honour of the creator is therein advanced . and so the apostle did conditionally wish evill unto himselfe , if thereby the glory of gods mercy towards his countrey-men the iewes might be the more advanced . secondly , it is no good argument , god willeth the inflicting of such an evill , therefore it is unlawfull for my will to decline it : for first the will of god , whereby hee determineth to worke this or that evill on particular subjects , is a part of his secret counsell . now the revealed , and not the hidden will of god is the rule of our wills and actions : whence it commeth to passe , that it is made a part of our necessary obedience unto god in our wishes or aversations to goe a crosse way to his unrevealed purpose . peradventure in my sicke bed it is the purpose of god to cast my body into the earth , from whence it was taken ; yet for me herein to second the will of god by an execution thereof upon my selfe , or by a neglect of those ordinary meanes of recovery which hee affords , were to despise his mercy , that i might fulfill his will. peradventure in my flight a sword will overtake mee , yet i have the warrant of my saviours example and precept to turne my backe rather than my conscience in persecution : alwaies reserved , that though i will that , which god willeth , yet my will bee ever subordinated unto his . wee owe submission to the will of gods purpose and counsell , and wee owe conformity to the will of his precept and command ; we must submit to the will , whereby god is pleased to worke himselfe , and wee must conforme to the will , whereby hee is pleased to command us to worke . and therefore secondly , though the will of god were in this case knowne , yet is not our will constrained to a necessary inclination , though it bee to an humble submission and patience in bearing that which the wisedome and purpose of god hath made inevitable ; for as the promises and decrees of good things from god doe not warrant our slacknesse in neglecting , or our profanenesse in turning from them ; so neither doth the certainty and unavoidablenesse of a future evill ( as death intended upon us by god ) put any necessity on our nature to deny it selfe , or to love its owne distresses . of which that we may be the more sure , wee may observe it in him , who as hee was wholly like us in nature , and therefore had the same naturall inclinations and aversations with us ; so was hee of the same infinite essence with his father , and therefore did will the same things with him , yet even in him we may observe ( in regard of that , which the scripture saith , was by the hand and counsell of god before determined ) a seeming reluctancy and withdrawing from the divine decree . he knew it was not his fathers will ; and yet , father , if thou bee willing , l●…t this cup passe from me : he was not ignorant that he was to suffer , and that there was an oporte●… , a necessity upon it , and yet a second and a third time againe , father , if it be possible , let this cup passe from me . consider it as the destruction of his temple , and anguish of nature , which hee could not ( being in all things like unto us ) but love ; and then transeat , let it passe : but consider it as the necessary meanes of procuring pretious blessings for mankind , and of fulfilling the eternall decree of his fathers love , and then , not as i , but as thou wilt . the same may be applied in any manner of humane evills , notwithstanding we are with an armed patience to sustaine them , or with an obedient submission unto divine pleasure to wait for them ; yet in regard of that pressure of nature , which they bring with them ( on which the god of nature hath imprinted a naturall desire of its owne quiet and integrity ) so farre forth all evill , not onely may , but must bee hated by every regular will , upon paine of violating the law of its creation . and indeed in all this there is not any deviation from the will of god , intending that which we abhorre : for as it stands not with the nature of man to hate himselfe , or any good thing of his owne making ; so neither doth it stand with the goodnesse of god to hate his creature , or to delight barely in the misery or afflictions thereof ; but onely in that end of manifesting his glory and righteousnesse , whereunto hee in the dispensation of his wisdome and iustice hath wonderfully directed them . and therefore , as to murmure at the wisedome of god in thus ordering evills unto a good end , were a presumptuous repining ; so on the other side , not to entertaine those naturall desires of a straightned mind after deliverance from those evills , were to be in solomons ▪ phrase too righteous , and out of a purpose to answere the ends of gods wisedome , to crosse the law of his creation . so then it is evident that the object and fundamentall cause of hatred , is all and onely evill : which ( however in respect of the existence of it , it bee in some cases good ; for as it is in the power of god to educe out of confusion order , light out of darkenesse , his owne honour out of mans shame ; so is it his providence likewise to turne unto the great good of many men those things which in themselves doe onely hurt them ) yet i say this notwithstanding , as it worketh the deformity and disquiet of nature , it is against the created law and in-bred love , which each thing beareth to its owne perfection ; and therefore cannot but be necessarily hated . as on the other side , those ordinary and commong goods , which we call , in respect of god , blessings , as health , peace , prosperity , good successe , and the like ; notwithstanding they commonly prove unto men , unfurnished with those habits of wisedome and sobriety , whereby they should bee moderated , occasions of much evill and dangers ; so that their table is become their snare ( as the experience of those latter romane ages proveth , wherein their victories over men hath made them in luxury and vilenesse so prodigious , as if they meant to attempt warre with god. ) notwithstanding i say all this ; yet for as much as these things are such as doe quiet , satisfie , and beare convenience unto mans nature , they are therefore justly with thankefulnesse by our selves received , and out of love desired unto our friends . i now proceed from the object or generall fundamentall cause of hatred , unto some few which are more particular , and which do arise from it . chap. xiii . of the other causes of hatred , secret antipathy , difficulty of procuring a good commanded , injury , base feares , disparity of desires , a fixed iealous fancy . the first which i shall note is a secret and hidden antipathy which is in the natures of some things one against another . as vultures are killed with sweet smells , and horse-flies with oyntments ; the locust will die at the sight of the polypus , and the serpent wil rather flye into the fire , than come neere the boughes of a wild ash : some plants will not grow , nor the blood of some creatures mingle together ; the feathers of the eagle will not mixe with the feathers of other foules . so homer noteth of the lyon , that hee feareth fire , and the elephant nauseates his meat , if a mouse have touched it . a world more of particulars there are which naturalists have observed of this kind : from which naturall antipathy it commeth , that things which never before saw that which is contrary to them , doe yet at the very first sight flye from it , as from an enemy to their nature , nor will they ever be brought by discipline to trust one another . — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lyons with men will ne're make faithfull truce , nor can you any way the wolfe induce to love the lamb : they study with fixt hate , the one the other how to violate . and the like kind of strange hatred wee may sometimes find amongst men ; one mans disposition so much disagreeing from anothers , that though there never passed any injuries or occasions of difference betweene them , yet they cannot but have minds averse from one another ; which the epigrammatist hath wittily expressed . non amo te sabidi , nec possum dicere quare ; hoc tantum possum dicere , non amo te . i love thee not , yet cannot say for what ; this onely i can say , i love thee not . another cause working hatred of a thing in the minds of men , is the difficulty and conceited impossibility of obtaining it , if it bee a good thing which wee either doe or ought to desire , which the casuists call acedia , being a griese of the appetite looking on a difficult good , as if it were evill because difficult ; from whence ariseth a torpor and supine neglect of all the meanes , which might helpe us to it . thus wicked and resolved sinners , conceiving happinesse as unacquirable by them , do grow to the hating of it , to entertaine rancorous affections against those , which perswade them to seeke it , to envie and maligne all such they find carefull to obtaine it ; to proceed unto licentious resolutions of rejecting all hopes of thoughts of it , & to divert their minds towards such more obvious and easie delight , as will be gotten with lesse labour ; thus difficulty rendereth good things hateful ; as israel in the wildernesse despised the pleasant land , because there were sonnes of anak in it . and this is one great cause of the different affections of men towards severall courses of life ; one man being of dull and sluggish apprehensions , hateth learning : another by nature quicke and of noble intellectualls wholly applyeth himselfe unto it , the difficulty perswading the one to despise the goodnesse , and the goodnesse inducing the other to conquer the difficulties of it : so one man looking unto the paine of a vertuous life , contemnes the reward ; and another looking unto the reward , endures the paine . and wee shall usually find it true , that either lazinesse , fearing disappointment , or love being disappointed and meeting with difficulties which it cannot conquer , doth both beget a kind of hatred and dislike of that which did either deterre them from seeking it , or deceive them when they sought it . as shee , who while there was any hope , did sollicite aeneas with her teares and importunities ; when he was quite gone did follow him with her imprecations . there is no malice growes ranker than that which ariseth out of the corruption of love ; as no darkenesse is more formidable , than that of an eclipse , which assaults the very vessels of light ; nor any taste more unsavory than of sweet things when they are corrupted . the more naturall the vnion , the more impossible the re-union . things joyned with glew , being broken asunder may be glewd againe ; but if a mans arme be broken off , it can never be joyned on againe : so those hatreds are most incureable , which arise out of the greatest and most naturall love. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : when love of friends is turn'd to wrath , besure that wrath is deepe , and scarce admits a cure. another very usuall , but most evill cause of hatred , is injury , when a man because hee hath done wrong , doth from thence resolve to hate him . too many examples whereof there are in writings both sacred and prophane : ioseph●… mistresse first wronged him in assaulting his chastity , and then hated him and caused him to be cast into prison . ammon first abused his sister tamar , and then hated her worse than before hee loved her . phadra having solicited hippolitus her husbands sonne unto incest ; being denyed , did after accuse him to his father , and procure his ruine . and aristotle proposeth it as a probleme , why they , who corrupt and violate the chastity of any , doe after hate them ? and gives this reason of it , because they ever after looke on them , as guilty of that shame and sadnesse , which in the sinne they contracted . this cause of hatred seneca and tacitus have both observed as a thing usuall with proud and insolent men , first to hurt then to hate . and the reason is first , because injurie is the way to make a man , who is wronged , an enemy ; & the proper affection , which respecteth an enemy is hatred . againe , he who is wronged , if equall or above him that hath done the wrong , is then feared : and oderunt quos metuunt , it is usuall to hate those whom we feare : if inferiour , yet the memory and sight of him doth upbraid with guilt , & affect with an unwilling & unwelcome review of the sinne , whereby he was wronged ; and pride scornes reproofe , and loves not to be under him in guilt , whom it overtops in power : for innocence doth alwaies give a kind of superiority unto the person that is wronged ; besides , hatred is a kind of apologie for wrong : for if a man can perswade himselfe to hate him whom he hath injured , he will begin to beleeve that hee deserved the injury which was offered unto him ; every man being naturally willing to find the first inducement unto his sinne , rather in another than himselfe . the next cause ( which i shall observe ) is feare , i meane slavish feare : for as love excludeth feare ; so feare begetteth hatred ; and it is ever seene : qui terribiles sunt , timent : they that terrifie others doe feare them , as well knowing that they are themselves hated : for as aristotle speaketh , nemoquem metuit , amat ; no man loves him whom he feares : which is the same with that of saint iohn , love casteth out feare : not a reverend , submissive , awsull feare ; not a cautelous , vigilant and obedient feare ; not a feare of admiration , nor a feare of subjection ; but a feare of slavery and of rebellion , all flashes of horrour , all the tossings and shipwracks of a torne mind , all the tremblings of a tormented spirit ; briefely all evill and hurtfull feare . and this i beleeve is one principall reason of that malice and contempt of godlinesse , which shewes it selfe in the lives of atheisticall and desperately wicked men , which as it ariseth out of the corruption of nature , so is it marveilously enraged by the fearefull expectation of that siery vengeance , which their pale and guilty consciences doe already preoccupate ; for as their conscience dictates , that they deserve to be hated by god ; so their stubbornesse and malice concludes that they will hate him againe ; let us eate and drinke , for toomorrow we shall dye . there may be a double root of this feare outward and inward . the outward is the cruelty and oppression which we suffer from the potent , and thereupon the lesse avoidable malice of the person hated ( as it was the speech of caligula , oderint dum metuant ) and here in our aversation ( if it observe that generall rule of goodnesse in passions , subordination to reason and piety ) is , not onely allowable , but naturall , while it extends it selfe no further than the evil which we wrongfully suffer . for i cannot but think that the spittle and scourges , the thornes and buffets , the reed and knees of those mocking and blasphemous iewes were so many drops of that full cup , which he , who knew no sinne , was so deepely desirous to have passe from him . but then next , the inward root of feare is the guilt and burthen of an uncleane and uncovered conscience , for pollution and weakenesse is naked , must needs be fearefull . and therefore that inference of adam had truth in it , i was afraid , because i was naked : for having disrobed himselfe of originall righteousnesse , hee was thereupon afraid of the curse and summons of an offended justice . now from this feare may arise a double hatred ; an hatred of a mans owne conscience : for an evill man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the philosopher speakes , is not a friend unto himselfe , but flies and labours to runne away from himselfe , and is never in so bad company , as when he is alone , because then he keeps company with his owne conscience . which is the reason why some mens hatred of themselves hath proceeded so far , as to make themselves the instruments of that small measure of annihilation , which they are capable of . wherein notwithstanding they discover , how farre their sury should extend against themselves if they were as omnipotent to effect , as they are ready to desire it : for he that hates a thing , would if he were able , pursue it even unto not being . there is no man but hath a naturall hatred of toads , serpents , vipers , and the like venemous creatures . and yet that man which hates them most , if his conscience be naked and let loose to flye upon him , if that worme that never dies ( unlesse killed with our saviours blood ) begin thorowly to sting and gnaw him , would thinke himselfe a wise merchant , if he could exchange beeings with the worst of these . the worme ▪ and viper of conscience is of all the creatures the most ugly and hatefull . a wicked man , when he doth distinctly know himselfe , doth love every thing , save god , better than himselfe . — diri conscia facti mens habet attonitos & surdo verbere cadit occultum quatiente animo tortore slagellum . the mind being conscious of some dire offence , fils them with feares ; a torturer from thence shaketh , and with redoubled blowes doth urge the unheard lashes of an hidden scourge . nor can i esteeme this a corrupt , though it be a miserable passion ; for as a bad man is to himselfe the worst , so is he by consequence the hatefullest of all creatures . the second hatred , which may arise from that feare which is caused by a secret guilt of minde , is of all others most corrupt and rancorous , namely an hatred of the authors or executioners of iustice ; of the equity and justnesse of whose proceedings , we are from within convinced ; such as is the malice and blasphemy of malefactors against the iudge , and of devils and damned men against god and his righteous judgments , which yet they cannot but acknowledge that they most worthily doe endure : for it is the nature of proud and stubborne creatures ( as was before observed ) odisse quos laserint , first to wrong god , and then to hate him . another particular cause of this passion may be a disparity of affections and desires : for notwithstanding there bee many times hatred where there is similitude ( as those beasts and birds commonly hate one another , which feed upon the same common meat , as the philosopher observeth ) and sundry men hate their owne vices in others , as if they had not the trade of sinne enough to themselves , except they got a monopoly , and might ingrosse it ; yet this ever proceeds from an apprehension of some ensuing inconveniences which are likely to follow there-from , as hath beene formerly noted : so that in that very similitude of natures , there is a disagreement of ends , each one respecting his owne private benefit . now the corruptions herein are to be attended according to the nature of that disparity whereon the passion is grounded ; which sometimes is morall , wherein it is laudable to hate the viti ous courses , in which any man differres from us , or we our selves from the right rule of life ; so that the passion redound not from the quality to the person , nor breake out into an endeavour of his disgrace and ruine , except it bee in such a case , when our owne dignity or safety , which wee are bound more to regard , being assaulted , is in danger to be betrayed , unlesse prevented by such a speedy remedy . sometimes this disparity may be in actions civill , and with respect to society : and then as the opposition , which hatred discovereth , may be principally seene in two things ; opposition of a mans hopes , and of his parts and abilities , by crossing the one , and undervalewing the other : so corruption may easily proceed from two violent and unreasonable grounds , ambition and selfe-love ; the one pursuing its hopes , the other reflecting upon its worth . and to this particular may be reduced , that hatred , whichariseth out of a parity of desire , as amongst competitors for the same dignitie , or corrivalls for the same love , or professours of the same arte , either by reason of covetousnesse , or envy , or ambition , a greedy desire of their owne , or a discontented sight of anothers good . nec quenquam jam ferre potest caservè priorem pompeiusve , parem — thus two great rulers doe each other hate , casar no better brookes , pompey no mate . and these are very unfit affections for society , when private love of men to themselves shall devoure the love which they owe unto their country . more noble was the behaviour of themistocles , and aristides , who when they were ever imployed in the publique service of state , left all their private enmities in the borders of their own country , and did not resume them til they returned , and became private menagaine . the last cause which i shall observe of hatred may bee a setled and permament intuition of the object , a penetrating , jealous , and interpreting fancy : because by this means a redoubled search and review doth generate a kinde of habituall detestation ; it being the nature of evill commonly to shew worse at the second or third view . and that first , because the former act doth worke a prejudice , and thereby the after apprehension comes not naked , but with a fore-stalled resolution of finding evill therein : and next , because from a serious and fastoned search into the object the faculty gaineth a greater acquaintance with it , and by consequence a more vehement dislike of it , the former knowledge being a master and light unto the latter . but light and wandring fancies ( though they may bee more sudden in the apprehensive of evill , and by consequence liable to an oftner anger , yet by reason of the volubility of the minde joyned with an infirmity and unexercise of memory , they are for this cause the lesse subject to deepe and rooted hatred . vnto this head may bee referred that hatred which ariseth from excessive melancholy , which maketh men sullen morose , solitary , averse from all society , and haters of the light , delighting onely like the a shrieke ▪ owle or the bitterne in desolate places , and b monuments of the dead ▪ this is that which is called c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , when men fancy themselves transformed into wolves and dogs , and accordingly hate all humane society . which seemeth to have bin the distemper of d n●…buchadnezar , when hee was ●…hrust out from men , and did eate grasse with the beasts . e timon the athenian was upon this ground branded with the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the man. hater , because he kept company with no man , but onely with alcibiades , whereof he gave this only account , because hee thought that man was borne to doe a great deale of mischiefe . and we read even in the f histories of the church , of men so marvelously averse from all converse or correspondence with men ; that they have for their whole lives long , some of sixty , others of ninety yeares , immured themselves in cels and silence , not affording to looke on the faces of their neerest kindred , when they travelled farre to visit them . so farre can the opinion of the minde , actuated and furthered by the melancholy of the body , transport men even ou●… of humane disposi●…on , which the g philosopher telleth us is naturally a lover of society , and therefore he saith that such men are usually given to contention , the signe and the fruit of hatred . chap. xiiii . of the quality and quantity of hatred , and how in either respects it is to bee regulated . i proceed now unto the consideration of this passion in the quantity and quality of its acts : which must bee observed according to the evill of the object : for if that be unchangeable , there is required a continual permanency of the passion in regard of the disposition of the mind : or if it be importuna●…e and affaulting , there is required a more frequent repetition of the act. the same likewise is to bee said of the quality of it ; for if the evill be of an intense and more invincible nature , our hatred must arme us the more : if more low and remisse , the passion may bee the more negligent . hero then is a fourefould direction of the quantities and qualities of our hatred , and it will hold proportion in the other passions . first the unalterablenesse of the evill , warrants the continuance of our hatred . secondly , the importunity and insinuation of it warrants the reiteration of our hatred . thirdly , and fourthly , the greatnesse and the remission of it requires a proportionable intention and moderation of hatred . we may instance for the three former in sinne , so much the worst of evils , by how much it is a remotion from the best of goods . first then sinne is in its owne formall and abstracted nature , vnchangeable , though not in respect of the subject , in whom it dwelleth ; for a creature now bad , may by the mercy of god bee repaired and restored againe ; but this is not by a changing , but by a forsaking of evill , by a removing of it , not by a new molding it into another frame . sinne then remaineth in its owne nature unchangeable and alwaies evill , and the reason is because it is a transgression of a perpetuall law , and a remotion from an unalterable will : sinne then is to bee hated with a continuall and peremptory hatred . but in other things there is according to the nature of their evils required a conditionall and more flexible dislike , they being evils that have , either some good annexed unto them ; or such as are of a mutable nature . and therefore wee see that in most things the variety of circumstances doth alter the good or evill of them , and so makes the passions thereabout conversant , alterable likewise . otherwise men may naturally deprive themselves of those contents and advantages , which they might receive by reasonable use of such indifferent things as they formerly for inconveniences now removed , did dislike . and in morality likewise much dammage might be inferred , both to private persons and to the publique by nourishing such private enmities and being peremptory in continuing those former differences , which , though happily then entertained upon reasonable grounds , may yet afterwards prove so much the more harmefull , by how much the more danger is to be feared from the distemper of a growne and strong , than of a vanishing and lighter passion . secondly , againe as no evill altogether so unchangeable as sinne , so is there nothing so much to be opposed with a multiplicity and reiteration of our hatred in regard of its importunity and insinuation , that as there is an impudence in the assault , so there may be a proportionable resolution in the withstanding of it : some evils there may be , which require onely a present and not a customary exercise of this passion . present i say when the object is offensive and not customary ; because as the object , so the passion likewise may be unusuall . sinne onely is of all other evils the most urging and active , furnished with an infinite number of st●…atagems and plausible impostures to insinuate into natures ( though best armed against such assaults ; and therefore here onely are necessary such reiterated acts , as may keepe us ever on our guard , that we be not unprepared for a surprize . thirdly , then for the quantity of an evill , because that is not in any thing so intense as in sinne whither wee consider it in its owne nature , as a rebellion against the highest good , or in its effects ; either in regard of the diffusion of it , it being an overspreading pollution , or of the vastnesse of it , both in guilt and punishment : in these respects our hatred of it cannot be too deep or rooted : whereas other evils are not so intense in their nature , nor so diffusive in their extension , nor so destructive in their consequents ; and therefore do not require an unlimited passion , but one governed according to the exigence of circumstances . and here i shall take notice of one or two particulars touching the manner of corruption in this particular . as first when a man shal apply his hatred of prosequution , or ill willing against that evill , which is the proper object onely of aversation : for some things there are onely of conditionall evills , which hurt not by their own absolute being , but by their particular use or presence , which being offensive onely in their application requires a particular forbearance , not any further violence to their natures . secondly , a corruption in regard of intension is either when the passion admits not of any admixtion of love , when yet the object admits of an admixtion of good ; or when the hatred is absolute against onely relative evills . there is not any man betwixt whose naturall faculties and some particular courses or objects , there is not some manner of antipathy and disproportion ( it being the providence of divine dispensation so variously to frame and order mens fancies , as that no man shall have an independance or selfe sufficiency , no●… say unto the other members i have no need of you ; but there should bee such a mutuall ministry and assistance amongst men , as whereby might bee ever upheld those essentiall vertues of humane society , vnity and charity , no mann being able to liue without the aide of others ; nor to upbraid others with his owne service . now in this case , if any man , who either out of the narrownesse and incapacity , or out of the reluctancy and antipathy of his owne mind , is indisposed for some courses of life or study , shall presently fall to a professed vilifying of them , or to an undervalewing of persons , who with a more particular affection delight in them , or to a desire of the not being of them , as things utterly unusefull , because hee sees not what use himselfe can have of them , he doth herein discover as much absurdity in so peremptory a dislike as a blinde man should doe in wishing the sunne put out , not considering that hee himselfe receiveth benefit at the second hand from that very light , the beauty whereof hee hath no immediate acquaintance withall . for as too excessively to doate on the fancie of any particular thing may prove harmefull , as appeareth in the poeticall fable of midas , whose unsatiable desire to have every thing that he touched turned to gold , starved him with hunger ; and so what hee out of too excessive loue made his idoll , became his ruine ; ( as many men need none other enemy to undoe them than their owne desires . ) so on the other side , the extreame hatred of any thing may be equally inconvenient ; as we see intimated in that other fable of the servants , who when they had , out of an extreme malice against the poore cock , at whose early crow , their covetous master every day roused them unto their labour , killed him , and so ( as they thought ) gotten a good aduantage to their lazinesse , were every day by the vigilancy of their master , whose couetousnesse now began to crow earlier than his cock , called from their sleepe sooner than they are before ; till at length they began to wish for that , which the rashnesse and indiscretion of their hatred had made away . and therefore when we goe about any thing out of the dictates of passion , it is a great point of wisedom , first to consider whither we our selves may not afterwards be the first men , who shall wish it undone againe . chap. xv. of the good and evill effects of hatred . cautelousnesse and wisedome to profit by that we hate , with confidence , victory , reformation . hatred is generall against the whole kind , cunning , dissimulation , cruelty , running over to persons innocent , violating religion . envie , rejoycing at evill . crooked suspition . contempt . contumely . i now proceed to the consequents or effects of this passion : and first for the usefull and profitable effects thereof , which may be these . first , a cautelousnesse and fruit full wisedome for our own welfare to prevent danger , and to reape benefit from that , which is at enmitie with us . for we shall observe in many evils that no man is brought within the danger , who ●…s not first drawne into the love of them . all inordinate corruptions then most desperately wound the soule , when they beguile and entangle it . but the greatest use of this caution is to learne how to benefit by the hatred of others , and ●…s learned physitians doe , to make an antidote of poyson . for as many venemous creatures are by arte used to cure the wounds , and repaire the injuries , which themselves had made ( naturall attraction , as it were , calling home that poyson which injurie and violence had misplaced : ) so the malice and venome of an enemy may by wisdome be converted into a medicine , and by managing become a benefit , which was by him intended for an injury . or to use the excellent similitude of plutarch , as healthy and strong beasts doe eate and concoct serpents , whereas weake stomacks do nauseate at delicates : so wise men do exceedingly profit by the hatred of their enemies , whereas fooles are corrupted with the love of their friends ; ond an injury doth one man more good , then a courtesie doth another . as wind and thunder when they trouble the ayre , doe withall purge it ; whereas a long calme doth dispose it to putrifaction : or as the same whetstone that takes away from a weapon , doth likewise sharpen it ; so a wise man can make use of the detraction of an enemy to grow the brighter and the better by it . and therefore when 〈◊〉 advised that carthage should be utterly destroyed , scipio nascica perswaded the contrary upon these reasons , that it was needful for rome to have alwaies some enemies , which by a kind of antipe ristasis might strengthen & keep alive its vertue , which otherwise by security might be in dange●… of languishing and degenerate into luxury . fo●… as the israelites , when there was no smith amongst them did sharpen their instruments with the philistins ; so indeed an enemy doth serve to quicken and put an edge upon those vertues , which by lying unexercised might contract rust and dullnesse , and many times when the reasons of the thing it self will not perswade , the feare of giving advantage to an enemy , or of gratifying him , will over-rule a man , lest hereby he give his soes matter of insultation . hoc ithacus velit & magno mercentur atridae . this makes our foes rejoyce , they would have bought with a great price those crimes we doe for nought . thus as a sink by an house makes all the house the cleaner , because the sordes are cast into that : or as they observe that roses and violets are sweetest , which grow neare unto garlick and other strong sented herbes , because these draw away unto them any fetid or noxious nourishment : so the eye and nearenesse of an enemy serveth by exciting caution and diligence to make a mans life more fruitfull and orderly , then otherwise it would have beene , that we may take away occasion from them that would speake reproachfully . and thus hector sharpely reproving the cowardice of his brother paris ( who had beene the onely cause of the warre and calamity ) when he fled from menelaus , draweth his rebuke from hence , and telleth him that he was , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 &c. to father , city , people , losse and blame ; ioy to his foes , and to himselfe a shame . secondly , hatred worketh confidence and some presumption and good assurance of our owne , or some assisting strength against evils . which ariseth first out of the former : for cau●…lousnesse or furniture against the onset of evil cannot but make the mind more resolute in its owne defence , than if it were left naked without assistance . againe , of all others , this is one of the most confident passions , because it moves not out of sudden perturbations , but is usually seconded and backt with reason , as the philosopher observes ; and ever the more counsell , the more confidence . besides , being a deepe and severe passion , it proportionably calleth out the more strength to execute its purposes . there is no passion , that intendeth so much evil to another , as hatred ; an-ger would onely bring trouble ; but hatred , mischiefe ; anger would onely punish and retaliate , but hatred would destroy ; for as the philosophe●… notes , it seeketh the not being of what it hates . a man may be angry with his friend , but hee hates none but an enemy ; and no man can will so much hurt to his friend , as to his enemy . now the more hurt a passion doth intend , the more strength it must call out to execute that intention ; and ever the more strength the more confidence . thirdly it worketh some manner of victory over the evill hated : for odium semper sequitur 〈◊〉 animi elatione , as scaliger out of aristotle hath observed , it ever ariseth out of pride and height of mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . injury ever comes from some strength , and is a kind of victory . for so farre forth as one is able to hurt another , he is above him . and this effect holds principally true in morall and practick courses ; wherein i think it is a generall rule : hee in some measure loves an evill , who is overcome by it : for conquest in this nature is on the will , which never chooseth an object till it love it . there onely we can have perfect conquest of sinne , where will be a perfect hatred of it . here , in the best , there is but an incompleat restauration of gods image : the body of nature and the body of finne are borne , and must die together . fourthly , it hath a good effect in regard of the evill hated in reasonable creatures , namely the reformation of the person , in whom that evill was . for as countenance and incouragement is the fosterer ; so hatred and contempt serveth sometimes as phisick to purge out an evill . and the reason is because a great part of that goodnesse , which is apprehended to be in sinne , by those that pursue it , is other mens approbation . opinion puts valew upon many uncurrent coynes , which passe rather because they are receiued , than because they are warrantable . and therefore if a man naturally desirous of credit see his courses generally disliked , he can hardly so unnature himselfe , as still to to feed on those vanities , which hee seeth doe prouoke others unto loathing , though i confesse , it is not a perswasions of mens , but of gods hatred of sinne , which doth worke a genuine and thorow resormation . i now proceed to observe those effects , which are corrupt and hurtfull : and here wee may observe , first , the rule of aristotle , whose maxime it is , that hatred is alwaies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against the whole kinde of its object ▪ so then all the actions and effects of this passion are corrupt , which are not generall , but admit of private reservations and indulgences . for since tho nature and extent of the passion is ever considered with reference to its object , there must needs bee irregularity in that affection , when it is conversant about an uniforme nature with a various and differing motion . and this is manifestly true in that , which i made the principall object of a right hatred , sin. in which , though there is no man , which finds not himselfe more obnoxious and open to one kind than another ( it being the long experienced policie of the devill to observe the diverse conditions of mens natures , constitutions , callings , and imployments ; and from them to proportion the quality of his insinuations upon the will ; ) insomuch that a man may here in happily deceive himselfe with an opinion of loathing some evils , with which , either his other occasions suffer him not to take acquaintance , or the difficulty in compassing , disgrace in practising , or other prejudices perswade to a casuall dislike thereof , yet i say it is certaine , that if a mans hatred of sinne be not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an vniversall and transcendent hatred against all sinne , even those which his personall relations make more proper unto him , if hee doth still retaine some privy exceptions , some reserved and covered delights , be his pretences to others , or his perswasions to himselfe what they will , this is rather a personated than a true hatred a meteor of the braine , than an affection of the soule . for as in the good , so in the ill of things ; notwithstanding there seeme to be many contrarieties and dissimilitudes ( as seneca saith ) scelera dissident , that sinnes do disagree ; yet indeed there is in that very contrariety such an agreement against god ( as in herod and pilate against christ ) as admits not of any , in order unto god , but a gathered and united passion . and hence is that of saint iames , hee that offendeth in one is guilty of all ; because in that one hee contemneth that originall authority which forbad all . there are no tearmes of consistence betweene love and hatred divided upon the same uniforme object . it is not the materiall and blind performance of some good worke , or a servile and constrained obedience to the more bright and convicting parts of the law , that can any more argue , either our true love to the precept , or our hatred to the sinne , than a voluntary patience under the hand of a chirurgion can prove , either that we delight in our owne paine , o●… abhorre our owne flesh . it is not gods witnesse within us , but his word without us ; not the tyrannie of conscience , but the goodnesse of the law that doth kindly and genuinely restraine the violence , and stop the eruptions of our defiled nature . or though perhaps feare may prevent the exercise and sproutings , nothing but love can pluck up the root of sinne . a lacedemonian endeavouring to make a dead carcasse stand upright as formerly it had done while it was alive , and not effecting it , concluded that outward meanes would availe little except there were something within to support it . it is certainely so in actions as it is in bodies . feare as an outward prop may helpe a while to keepe them up , but love is the inward forme and life of them , without which they will quickly faint and fall againe . secondly , another evill effect of hatred is a close and cunning dissimulation in suppressing of it , and palliating it with pretences of fairenesse and plausibility , till it have a full advantage to put forth it selfe . for by this meanes is the passion strengthned , and the person , whom it respects , weakned : this by incautelousnesse and credulity ; ( for common charity , when it sees no signes of malice , will not easily suspect it ) that by restraint and suppression ; for any thing the more united , the more weighty it is : and as winde , so passions , the closer it is pent , the more strength it gathereth ▪ plutarch compareth it unto fire raked under ashes , and reserved untill another day , when we have some use of it . which disposition the historian hath often observed in tiberius ( whose principall vertue was dissimulation ) who being offended in the senate with some words spoken by hatevius and scaurus ; the historians observation upon it is this . in hat●…vium statim invectus ; scaurum , cui implacabilius irascebatur , silentio tramisit . the one he rebuked ; but the other whom he more implacably hated , hee passed by with silence . and elsewhere upon occasion , quae in praesens civiliter habuit , sed in animo revolvente ir as , etiamsi impetus affectionis langu●…rat ▪ memoria val●…bat . though hee seemed to take what was spoken courteously , yet hee laid it up in his minde , and though the heate of passion , by being suppressed , did languish , the memory and grudge remained strong still . in which words the historian hath expressed that excellent description of the same quality in homer . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l●…w men with a kings wrath are quite opprest , for though he seeme the same day to digest the ●…eate of 's passion , yet he still reserves close anger in his breast , till fit time serves . whereunto agreeth that of the tragedian , ira quaetegitur , n●… professa perdunt odia vindictae locum . anger that 's hid gives surer blowes . but profest hate doth revenge lose . and therefore hanniball was wont to say that hee was more afraid of fabius when hee did nothing , than of marcellus when he did fight , of the one mans closenesse , than of the others boldnesse ▪ and the reason why of all the passions this o●… hatred can thus smother and suppresse it selfe is , because it doth not affect the heart with troubl●… or sadnesse ( which affection the soule loves no●… long to hold fast ) but with a perverse joy and delight in pondring the contrivances of revenge ( which the philosopher and the poet have place●… among the objects of delight . ) now of all the waies whereby this passion i●… supprest , the most hatefull to god and man i●… when men doe palliare and shrowd their mali●… under pretences of love , and praise men unto ●…ine . like the panther which with his swe●… breath allureth other creatures to come un●… him , and when they are come , devoureth the●… pessimum inimicoru●… genus la●…dantes , of all kind of enemies those are the worst , which as the pr●…phet speakes , doe break●… mens heads with oyle , a●… make a poyson of their owne merits to kill the●… with praises , as achilles spake in the poet. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . that man 's as odious to me as hell gates , who with his mouth speakes faire , with his heart hates . and it was wicked counsell which theog nis gave to his cyrnus , amongst so many sage and morall precepts , like a dead flye in a pot of oyntment . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fawne on thy foe , till he be in thy will , then , without reasons give revenge her fill . it is a quality of all others most distant from noblenesse and ingenuitie of mind , for generous spirits will acknowledg with honour and love the vertues of their enemies ; as fabritius lucinus , when many were competitours for the consulship gave his suffrage to cornelius ruff●…nus , the worthiest of the company , though hee were his bitter enemie : and caesar caused the demollished statues of pompey to be erected againe , not suffe●…ing the honor of so brave a commander ( though his enemie ) to bleed and languish under his eye . whereupon cicero told him that in restoring the statues of pompey ▪ he had fastned and made sure his owne . and publius scipio made none other use of his enmity with tiberius gracchus , than to dispose his daughter unto him in marriage , because at that time when he was sure to judg with least favour and partiality , he found him to bee a vertuous and deseruing man. and the emperour adrian , to shew that he esteemed hatred retained a base and un-princely disposition , as soone as hee came to the empire , he layd aside all his former enmities , in so much as then meeting one , who had beene his capitall enemy , he said unto him , evasisti , thou art now escaped from my displeasure . thirdly , another evill effect of hatred is cruelty ; for it * seeketh ( as i noted out of the philosopher ) the not-being of that which it hates ▪ and therefore among the egyptians , a * fish was the hieroglyphick of hatred , because of all creatures they doe most devoure one another . and thus achilles in the poet expresseth his hatred of hector , when he befought him to bestow upon his dead body an honourable buriall . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i would my mind would give me leave to gnaw thy flesh in morsells and to eate it raw . and the like like expressions we finde of the cruelty of tiberius , a man full of rancour . fastidit vinum , quia jam sitit iste cruore , tam bibit hunc avidè , quàm bibit antè merum . he loaths all wine for blood , & now with mo●… greedy delight drinkes this than that before . hatred contenteth not it selfe with the death of an enemie , but is many times prodigious in the manner of it , and after out-lives that which it hateth , insulting with pride and indignities over the dead bodie which cannot complaine , nor otherwise , but by its owne loath somnesse revenge it selfe . caligula , that monster of men , when hee commanded any to bee slaine , gave this charge with it , it a feri ut se m●…ri sentiat , that hee should perish with such lingring blows , as that he might feele himselfe to dye . and he often commanded aged men to stand by and looke upon the slaughter of their children , and after would force them unto mirth and feasting , for feare of their others which were left alive ; for to have mourned for one , would have forfeited the others . and for indignities offered unto dead bodies , there is nothing , which more frequently occurreth . the philistines cut off the head of saul and sent it in triumph up and downe their country . and the historian notes of otho that he never looked with more insatiable delight upon any spectacle , than the head of piso his enemy . so when the grecians saw the dead body of hector , every man ( as the poet describes it ) did bestow a stab , and a contempt upon it . but above all most hatefull was the cruelty of marc. antonius and his wife fulvia , shewed on the dead body of cicero the glory of the romane eloquence , they cut off his head and his hands , setting them in contempt , where he was wont to deliver those excellent orations ; from whence they tooke it to their table , and fulvia cursing it and spitting upon it , pulled out the tongue ( which all ages have admired ) out of the mouth , and pricked it full of holes with her needle or bodkin ; to shew that malice would ever doe mischiefe to a man in his noblest and highest treasure ▪ as we see in that desperate italian , who having his enemy in his mercy , first made him ( in hope to escape ) to renounce his religion and salvation , and then presently slew him ▪ that as farre , as was in his power , hee might kill his soule , as well as his body . but yet further hatred doth not content it self to be cruell to the person hated , but runneth over from him unto others , that have any relation to him , though never so innocent : as we see in haman , who though onely displeased with the neglect of mordecai , thought scorne to lay hands on him alone , and therefore plotted the ruine of all the iewes . and it is noted by historians , that when sejanus fell , the storme lighted on his family and friends as well as on himself : as is also observed in the punishment of the conspiracy against nero detected by millichus . and themist●…cles ( though innocent ) was like to have suffered in a crimination of treason , onely for being a friend unto pausanias . yea so over flowing is this quality , that it will sometimes strike a friend rather than not reach an enemy . it was a wicked pro●…ession of darius , pereat cum inimico 〈◊〉 , let my friend rather perish with mine enemy , than mine enemy escape by my friend . and hence it is observed of aristides , that he was wont to propose such advices as hee knew did conduce unto publick weale by some other men and not from himselfe , least themistocles out of hatred of his person , should have withstood and impedimented a generall good . but ajax in the poet went yet higher . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so i may slay mine enemy , let the same ruine swallow me . and the principall reasons of this over flowing of hatred are feare and cowardice ; for he , who hateth the father , and sheweth cruelty unto him , doth usually feare the sonne , lest he rise up in his fathers quarrell : and hence is that maxime of cruell policy , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . that man's unwise who doth the father slay , and leaves the sonnes his quarrell to repay . for wee know orestes revenged his fathers quarrell and blood upon aegisthus . and besides cruelty doth usually proceed from cowardice , as amianus marcellinus hath observed , and fearefull men , when they have any advantage to be cruell , doe seldome hold any measure therein , as being ever in doubt , if they leave any fire unquenched , that themselves shall bee burned with it . and therefore wee never read of any emperours , which were more cruell , than those who were most fearefull and effeminate , as tiberius , caligula , nero , commodus , &c. as they say that wounded beasts , when they die , bite hardest ; their feare and despaire making them furious : so there is no wrath or cruelty to that which proceeds from weaknesse , when it hath either jealousie , or advantage , or despaire to set it on . yea , so violent it is , that it hath transported men unto profanesse , and made them violate nature and religion . as wee see in the cruelty of tiberius towards the family of sejanus , who , because it was an unheard and prodigious thing for a little tender virgin to be strangled , gave command that the daughter of that late favourite , should first be defloured , that so shee might bee the fitter to bee slaine . and boniface the eighth pope of that name being , according to the ceremony of that church , on ash-wednesday to sprinkle ashes on the heads of such bishops , as kneeled at his feet , and in some serious manner to mind them of their mortalities ; when prochetus bishop of genua , whom he bitterly hated , tendered himselfe at his fees to receive this ceremony , he threw the ashes in his eyes , with this benediction , a gebelline thou art , and as a gibelline thou shalt die : so powerfull was his malice to profane the rites of his religion ! yea , so farre will hatred proceed in this desperate contempt of god , that , if we may beleeve so prodigious a villany , it hath somtimes turned the very cup of the lord into a cup of poyson : as it is reported of pope victor the third , that he was poysoned in the chalice at the communion . nether have there been wanting examples of desperate men , who have made the most holy parts of religion , vowes , and sacraments , the seales and pledges of their conspiracies in malice : as once catiline and his associates did animate themselves in their bloudy purposes , with drinking the bloud of a slaine childe . now of all hatreds , there are none more furious and unnaturall than those which arise out of contrarieties in religion ; because as a stone , the higher the place is from whence it fals , doth give the more dangerous blow : no wound 's so mortall , as that of a thunder-bolt : so of all other those hatreds which make pretences unto heaven , and which arise from motives of the highest nature , are ever most desperate and mortall . and therefore our saviour tels us , that in this case men would forget all the bonds of naturall obligation ; insomuch that the father would deliver his owne childe , and the children their parents unto death . as we find that the bloudy hatred of cain against abel arose from the different acceptance of their sacrifices . neither is it any wonder if that enmity grow excessive , which hath zeale to kindle it , and pretence of religion to warrant it : for when that which should restraine and set limits to a passion , is made a party to ingage it , and sewell to foment it , no wonder if a passion which hath no bounds from religion , do impose none upon it selfe . and this occasion of mutuall hatred , wee finde observed even in the ridiculous superstitions of egypt , when one towne would kill and eat the flesh of another in zeale to the sheep , or calves , or dragons , which they did severally worship . — summus utrinque inde furor vulgo qùod numina vicinorum , odit uterque locus . this caus'd their rage , this made their great debate : one towne did worship what the next did hate ▪ another dangerous effect of hatred is envy and malignitie at the sight of anothers happines ; and therefore envy is called an evill eye , because all the diseases of the eye make it offended with any thing that is light and shineth ; as vermine doe ever devoure the purest corne , and moaths eat into the finest cloath , and the cantharides blast the sweetest floures . so doth envy ever gnaw that which is most beautifull in another whom it hateth ; and as the vulture , draweth sicknesse from a perfume . for such is the condition of a rankorous nature ; as of a raw and angry wound , which feeles as great paine in the good of a chirurgions , as in the ill offices of an enemies hand , it can equally draw nourishment unto this passion from the good and ill of whom it hates ; yea and commonly greater too from the good than from the ill : for , odiorum 〈◊〉 causa quand●… iniquae : when hatred is built upon a bad foundation , it commonly raiseth it self the higher . and the reason is , because in passions of this nature , the lesse we have from the object , the more we have from our selves , and what is defective to make up our malice in the demerit of him whom wee hate , is supplyed by the rising of our owne stomacke : as we see in the body that thin and empty nourishment will more often swell it than that which is substantiall . and therefore i thinke there are not any examples of more implacable hatred , than those that are by envy grounded on merit . as tacitus observes between the passages of domitian and agricola , that nothing did so much ▪ strengthen the emperours hatred against that worthy man , as the generall report of his honourable behaviour and actions in those military services , wherein hee had been imployed . and the same likewise he intimates in the affections of tiberius and piso towards germanicus . it is wisely therefore observed by the historian , that men of vast and various imployments , have usually the unhappinesse of envy attending them , which therefore they have sometimes declined by retyring and withdrawing themselves from continuall addresses , as a wise mariner , who ( as he spake ) doth aliquantulum remittere clavum 〈◊〉 magnam fluctus vim . and thus we finde the honour which davids merits procured him , which was the foundation of that implacable hatred of saul towards him . for as in naturall motions , that which comes from the faithest extreme , is most swift and violentiso in the motions of the minde , the further off wee fetch the reason of our hatred , the more venomous and implacable it is . and here we may observe the mutuall and interchangable services , which corrupt affections exercise amongst themselves : for as philosophy observes in the generation of those cold meteors which are drawne to the middle region of the aire , they are first by the coldnesse of the place congealed , and afterward doe by the like impressions fortify and intend the same quality in the region : so here hatred first generates envy ; and this againe doth reciprocally increase hatred , and both ioyne in mischiefe . so much the more hurtfull to the soule , wherein they are , than to the enemy whom they respect , by how much they are more neer and inward thereunto : for certainly a malignant humour doth most hurt where it harboureth . from this followeth another evill effect , which i will but name , being of the same nature with envy ; and it is that which philosophers call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a rejoycing at the calamity of him whom wee hate , a quality like that of those who are reported to have * been nourished with poyson . for as in love there is a mutuall partaking of the same loyes and sorrowes ( for where the will and affections are one , the senses are in some sort likewise ) so hatred ever worketh contrarietie of affections : that which worketh griefe unto the one , doth worke ioy unto the other . and therefore thales being asked how a man might bee cheerfull and beare up in afflictions , answered : if hee can see his enemies in worse case than himselfe . the poet hath given us the character of such kinde of men : pectora selle virent , lingua est suff●…sa ve●…eno : risus abest , nisi quem visi fecere dol●…res . their breasts with gall , their tongues with venome flow : they laugh not , till they see men brought to woe . and therefore they are elegantly compared by the philosopher unto cupping glasses , which draw onely the vitious humours of the body unto them , and unto flies that are overcome with the spirits of wine , but nourished with the froth . like those wormes which receive their life from the corruption of the dead . and surely , the prince of devils may well have his name given him from * flies , because hee taketh most pleasure in the ulcers and wounds of men , as flies ever resort unto sores . another corrupt effect of hatred is a sinister and crooked suspition , whereby with an envious and criticall eye we search into the actions and purposes of another ; and according as is the sharpnesse of our owne wits , or the course of our owne behaviour and practices , we attribute unto them such ends as were haply never framed but in the forge of our owne braines : evill men being herein like vultures , which can receive none but a foule sent. it is attributed amongst one of the noble attributes of love , that it thinketh none evill : and certainly , there is not a fouler quality against brotherly love , than that which ( for the satisfying of it selfe in ( but the imaginary evill of him whom it disliketh ) will venture to finde out in every action some close impiety , and pierce into the reserved and hidden passages of the heart : like him in the philosopher , who thought where ever hee went , that hee saw his owne picture walke before him . and there fore we see how agrippina when she would not discover any shew of feare or hatred towards her sonne ner●… , who had at the first plotted her death on the sea ; and that fayling , sent the second time anicaetus the centurion to make sure worke , did in both these practices decline all shew of suspition , and not acknowledge either the engine or the murther to be directed by him . solum insidiar●…m remedium aspiciens , si non intelligerentur . supposing the onely remedies of these plots to bee , if shee seemed not to understand them . for ill meanings doe not love to be found out . as the same historian telleth us of tiberius , acrius accepit recludi quae premeret : hee hated that man who would venture to dive into his thoughts . and certainly there is not any crooked suspition which is not rooted in hatred . for as to thinke the worst of our owne actions , is a signe of hatred to our sinnes ( for i thinke no man loves his sinnes who dares search them : ) so contr●…riwise to have an humour of casting the worst glosses upon the actions of another man , where there is not palpable dissimulation , argues as great a want of love. wee seach for evill in our selves to expell it ; but wee search for evill in another to finde it . there is scarse a more hatefull quality in the eyes of god or man , than that of the herodians , to lye in wait to catch an innocent man , and then to accuse him . another effect which proceedeth from corrupt hatred , is proud and insolent carriage , whereby wee contemne the quality , or undervalue and villifie the merit of a person . for though the apostle hath in this respect of pride and swelling , opposed knowledge unto love : knowledge puffeth up , but charity edifieth ; yet the opposition holdeth not there onely : for there is tumor cordis , as well as tumor cerebri ; as well a stubborne as a learned pride , a pride against the person , as against the weaknesse of our brother , a pride whereby wee will not stoope to a yeelding and reconciliation with him , as whereby wee will not stoop to the capacitie and edification of him ; that is , the swelling of malice , and this of knowledge . and hence it is that hatred ( as aristotle hath excellently observed ) when it is simple and alone ( though that seldome fall out ) is without the admixtion of any griefe . and the reason i take it is , because griefe is either for the evill of another , and so it is ever the effect of love ; or for the evill which lyeth upon our selves , and so is the cause of humilitie ; neither of which are agreeable with hatred , whose property ever it is to conceive in it selfe some worth and excellency , by which it is drawne to a contempt and insolence towards another man. and therefore as it was pride in men and angels , which wrought the first hatred between god and them ; so the most proper and unseparable effect of this hatred ever since is pride . the last corruption of this passion is impatience , contention and fury , as the wise man telleth us , hatred stirreth up strife . and therefore that worthy effect of love , which is contrary to this of hatred , is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . and longanimitas . long suffering to signifie some length , distance , and remotion between a mans minde and his passion . but hatred , being of a fierce nature , is so farre from admitting any peace , or yeelding to conditions of parley , that as hath been observed out of aristotle ) it rests not satisfied with the misery , but desires ( if it bee possible ) the utter overthrow of an enemy . chap. xvi . of the affection of desire . what it is . the severall kindes of it , naturall , rationall , spirituall . intemperate , vnnaturall , morbid desires . the object of them good , pleasant , as possible , as absent either in whole , or in degrees of perfection or continūance . the most generall internall cause vacuity , indigence . other causes , admiration , greatnesse of minde , curiosity . the next passions in order of nature to these two are desire and abomination , which because they differ not much otherwise from love and hatred , than the act from the habit , or then a man sitting from himselfe walking , desire being but the motion , and exercise , as delight is the quiet and repose of our love , i shall therefore the more briefly passe it over . desire is the wing of the soule whereby it moveth , and is carried to the thing which it loveth , as the eagle to the car●…ise in the scripture proves , to feed it selfe upon it , and to be satisfied with it . for as the appetite of the eagle is attended with sharpenesse of fight to discover its prey , with swiftnesse of wing to hasten unto it , and with strength to seize upon it : so according to the proportion of the soule●… love unto its object doth it command and call together both the wisedome and powers of the whole man to direct unto , and to promote the procuring of it . and the very best characters and truest lineaments which can bee drawne of the minds of men , are to be taken from their desires , rather than from their practises . as physitia●… often judge of the diseases of sicke men by their appetites . ill men dare not doe so much evill as they desire , for feare of shame or punishment ▪ good men cannot doe so much good as they desire fo●… want of power and provisions of vertue . besides practises may be over-ruled by ends , but desires are alwaies genuine and naturall , for no man can bee constrained to will that which ●…ee doth not love ; and therefore in the scriptu●… good men have had most confidence in approving themselves unto god by their affections and the inward longings of their soules after him as being the purest and most unfaigned issues of love ▪ and such as have least proximity and danger of infection from forraigne and secular ends . sai●… paul himselfe was much better at willing than 〈◊〉 performing ; and saint peter who failed in his promise of d●…ing , dares appeale to christs ow●… omniscience for the truth of his loving . wha●… ever other defects may attend our actions , this is an inseparable character of a pious soule , that ●… desires to feare gods name , and according to th●… prevalency of that affection , hath its conversation in heaven too . in which regard christ is called the desire of all nations , both because where he is he draweth all the hearts and desires of his people unto him , and also doth by his grace most fully answer and satisfie all the desires that are presented before him : as it is said of one of the romane emperours neminem unquam dimisit tristem , he never sends any discontented out of his presence . the desires of the soule are of three sorts , according to the three degrees of perfection which belong unto man , naturall , rationall , spirituall . naturall desires respect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things of simple necessity to the being , preservation , and integrity of nature , as the desires which things have to their proper nourishment and place ad conservationem individui , for preserving themselves and to propagation , & increase ad conservationem speciei , for preserving of their kind . rationall desires are such as respect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such things as are elegible in themselves , and the proper objects of right reason , such as felic●…y the common end of all rationall appetitions , vertue the way , and externall good things , as health , strength , credit , dignitie , prosperity , the ornaments of humane life . spirituall desires respect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heavenly , and spirituall things , the things of god , things which are above , the knowledge whereof we have not by philosophicall , but by apostolicall discovery , by the spirit of god who ●…ely searcheth the deepe things of god. the cor●…pt desires contrary unto these are either vitious or morbid . vitious are againe of two sorts : first , intemperate and incontinent desires , which erre not in the substance or nature of the thing desired ; but only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as the philosopher speakes in the measure and manner of desiring them . it is lawfull to drinke wine , and a man may erre ( as timothy did ) in an over * rigorous severity to nature , when health or needfull refreshment requireth it : for our flesh is to be subdued to reason , not to infirmities , that it may be a servant to the soule , but not a burden . but if we let wine bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as the heathen called it , to take a freedome against us , like cham to mocke us , and discover our nakednesse , and make us servants unto it . if we doe not only eate hony , but surfet on it ; if wee must have meat like ▪ israel in the wildernesse , not only for our need , but for our lust ; if we eat and drinke so long that we are good for nothing , but either to lye downe and sleep , or to rise up and play , to live to day and to dye tomorrow ▪ if we make our belly the grave of our soule , and the dungeon of our reason , and let our intestina as well morally as naturally farre exceed the length of the whole man besides . this is in the apostles phrase to be lovers of pleasure rather then lovers of god , and it is an intemperate excesse against natural desires which will ever end in pain . it was a witty speech of a●…acharsis the philosopher , that the vine beareth three sorts of grapes : the first of delight : the second of excesse : the third of sorrow . if wee let our delight steale us into excesse , and become a mocker , our excesse will quickly betray us unto sorrow ( as dalilah did sampson to the philistins ) and let us know that after wine hath mocked it can rage too . like the head of the polypus , which is sweet to the palate , but after causeth troublesome sleeps and frightfull dreames . secondly there are brutish and unnaturall desires , which the philosopher calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ferine and inhumane , instancing in those barbarous countries , where they use to eat mens flesh and raw meat ; and in the woman who ●…ipped up women with childe that shee might eat their young ones : vnto which head i refer those which the apostle cals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ vile and dishonorable , affections and passions of lust wherein forsaking the guidance of nature , they dishonored their bodies amongst themselves , and gave themselves over , as s. iude speaketh unto strange flesh ; also incestuous and promiscuous lusts , going with naked and painted bodies , as the antient brit●…aines offering of men and children in sacrifices , eating of the bodies of friends that dyed , burning of the living with the dead , and other like savage and barbarous practices , wherein wee finde how farre naturall corruption improved with ignorance and want of education or religion , can imbrace the manners of men. lastly , there are morbid desires , growing out of some distemper of mind or body , called by the philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as those of children , which eate co●…les or dirt , and the strange and depraved longings of women with child , called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or pi●…a from the bird of that name , because the inconstant and various appetences of nature , so misguided by vitious humours , is well resembled by the strange mixture of white and black feathers in that bird. having considered the severall kinds both of regular and corrupt desires . i shall content my selfe with a very briefe inquiry into the causes , and effects of this passion . the causes moving it are externall ex parte objecti , in the object , or ●…ternall ex parte subjecti in the minde . the object is any thing apprehended sub ratione boni & iucundi , as good and pleasant . for upon those inducements did satan first stirre the desire of eve towards the forbidden fruit . she saw that it was good for food , and pleasant to the eye . now the qualification of these to distinguish the formall reason of their being objects to our desires , from that wherein they are objects of our love , is first that they bee possible : for desire being the motion and indeavour of the soule towards that good which it loveth , and wherein it seeketh to delight , take away the possibility of such delight , and this would bee motus in vac●… , like that of noahs dove that found no place for her feet to rest on . hope is the whetstone , and wheele of industry , if that saile , how ever a man may waste and pine away his thoughts in empty velleities and imaginary wishes , he ca●… ever put forth nor addresse his endeavours towards an impossible good . though an old man may wish himselfe young againe , yet no man was ever so besotted as to endeavour it . and this distinction betweene vanishing wishes and serious desires is of great consequence to be attended in all th●… motions of the soule morall or sacred , in as much as those desires onely which are active and industrious , purposely addressing themselves to the prosecution of that which they apprehend as acquirable , doe commend the soule from whence they issue for vertuous and pious . secondly , the object of the desires quatale is apprehended as absent and distant , in as much as presence worketh delight rather than desire . the things we have , we enjoy , wee doe not covet , wee rest in them we doe not move towards them . yet not alwaies absent quoad t●…m , but quoad gradus , not in the whole , but in the parts and degrees of it : for the presence of a good thing doth in some sort quicken the desires towards the same thing so farre forth as it is capable of improvement and augmentation . as we see in externall riches of the body , none desire them more eagerly than those that possesse them ; and the more vertuous the soule of man is , the more is the heart enlarged in the appetition of a greater measure ▪ as the putting in of some water into a pump , doth draw forth more . no man is so importunate in praying , lord help mine unbeliefe , as hee that can say lord i beleeve . thus even present things may be desired in order to improvement , and further degrees of them : as many times a man hath a better stomacke to his meat after he hath begun to eat , than when he first sate downe unto it . againe , things present may be the object of our desires unto continuance , as hee that delighteth in a good which he hath , desireth the continuance of that delight . and therefore life , even while it is possessed it is desired , because the possession of it doth not cause the appetite to nauseate or surfet upon it . few men there are who desire not old age , not as it is old age , and importeth decay , decrepidnesse , and defects of nature : for a young man doth not desire to bee old now ; but as it implyeth the longer and fuller possession of life : for a man being conscious to himselfe , first of his owne insufficiency to make himselfe happy , from and within himselfe ; and next of the immortality of his nature : as upon the former reason , he is busied in sending abroad his desires ( as the purveyors and caterers of the soule ) to bring in such things as may promote perfection : so those very desires having succeeded , doe farther endeavour the satisfaction of nature , by moving towards the perpetuity of what they have procured . it was a fordid and brutish wish of philoenus in the philosopher , who wished that he had the throat of a crane or vulture that the pleasure of his taste might last the longer ( it being the wisedome of nature , intending the chiefe perfections of man to his soule , to make his bodily pleasures the shorter . ) but surely the soule of man having a reach as farre as immortality , may iustly desire as well the perpetuity as the presence of those good things wherein standeth her proper perfection . and therefore it was excellent counsell of antisthenes the philosopher , that a man should lay up such provisions , as in a shipwracke might swimme out with him such treasure as will passe and be currant in another world , and will follow us thither , which as the apostle speaks , is to lay up a good foundation against the time to come the internall causes moving desire , in regard of the subject or minde of man , may be different according to the different kinds of desires spoken of before . the most generall which respecteth them all is a vacuity , indigence , and selfe-insufficiency of the soule : for having not within it selfe enough either to preserve it or to content it , it is forced to goe out of it selfe for supplies ; for wheresoever god hath implanted sensitive and rationall affections , he hath bin pleased to carry them from themselves , and to direct them abroad for their satisfaction : by that means preserving the soule in humility , and leading it as by degrees up unto himselfe . every creature though it have its life in its own possession ; yet the preservation of it , it fetcheth from some things without . the excellentest creatures are beholding to the meaner , both for their nourishment , and for their knowledge . and therfore of all graces , god hath chosen faith & repentance , as the chief means of carrying us to him , because these two do most carry us out of our selves , and most acquaint us with our insufficiencies , repentance teaching a man to abhorre himself , & faith to deny himself . now because emptinesse is the cause of appetence , we shall hereupon finde , that the fullest and most contented men , are ever freest from vaste desires . the more the minde of any man is in weight , the more it is in rest too . as they say that in rivers , ships goe slower in the winter , but withall they carry the greater burdens : so many times men of lesse urgent and importunate appetitions , and motions of mind , are more furnished and better ballanced within . in iothams parable the bramble was more ambitious than the vine , or the olive . and the vine we see which is of all other arbor desiderii , the tree of desire , is weakest and cannot stand without another to support it . therefore wee shall finde that mens desires are strongest when their constitutions are weakest , and their condition lowest ; as wee see in servants that labour , women that breed , and sick men that long , whose whole life in that time is but a change and miscellany of desires . thus we see little children will reach at every thing which is before them , being wholly destitute of internall furniture . vacuity is ever sucking and attractive , and will make even dull and heavie things rise upward . eager and greedy , various and swarming appetitions are usually the signes either of a childish or a sicke temper of minde ; as the naturallists observe that the least creatures are the greatest breeders , a mouse bringeth more young ones than an elephant . onely here wee must distinguish both of contentment and of desires . there may bee a double contentment , the one arising out of sluggishnesse and narrownesse of minde ; when men out of an unwillingnesse to put themselves to the paines of gaining more , rest satisfied with what they have , and had rather have a poore quiet , than a treasure with labour . as they say of the fig-tree , though it be least beautifull of other trees ( for it alone beareth no flowers ) yet withall it is free from thunder . and as the historian said of some men that they are solà socordià innocentes . doe men no hurt only because it would cost them paines to doe it : so may wee of these , that they are beholding to their torpid and sluggish constitution , for the contentment which they professe to have . and this doth not regulate inordinate desires , but onely lay them asleepe , as even an hungry man when he sleepeth , hath his hunger sleepe with him . another contentment there is arising out of wisedome and practicall learning ( as the apostle tells us , that it is a matter of learning to bee contented ) when the heart being established and made steady with grace , and solid materials within , as a ship with ballast ▪ is the lesse tossed with lower affections , as saul cared not for his asses when he heard of a kingdome . — grata post munus arista contingunt homines veteris fastidia quercus . when men had once discover'd better corne , they loath'd their mast & oaken bread did scorn and this kinde of contentment doth not stupisie loose desires , but change them , as the cats vnum magnum was more worth to her than all the variety of shifts which the foxe did boast of , and one sunne doth more comfort us in the day than many thousand starres in the night . againe , desires are either of things excellent , as the vertuous and spirituall desires of the soule whereby men move towards god ; and these doe neither load the heart , nor cloy it , but much rather open and enlarge it for more . no man was so well acquainted with god as moses , who yet was the more importunate to know him better , i beseech thee shew me thy glory , nor any man more acquainted with christ than saint paul , who yet desired to be dissolved and to be with christ neerer . other desires are of middle things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the philosopher calls them ; such as wealth , profit , victory , honour , which are not good in themselves , but as they are managed . and these desires though not extinguished , yet are very much asswaged , and moderated by the weight and wisedome , of solid contentment . he was the wisest man then alive , and who knew all the quintessence , and what ever was desireable in the creature , who said da mihi panem statutim●… give me the bread of my allowance ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so much as the quality of my place and state requireth , which is that which our saviour limiteth our desires unto , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our portion and dimensum , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in saint iames , dayly food , and was pleased to answer that wise king in that his request , and to give us a record and catalogue of his daily bread . another cause of desire may bee admiration ; a strange thing though monstrous and deformed calleth the eyes of every man unto it . rarity is a marveilous lenocinium , and inticer of desire , ●… . stiv●… nives , hybern●… rosae as the panegyrist spake , snow in the summer and roses in winter ; the birds of this countrey , and the roots of anothor ; dai●…ties hardly procured without the shipwracks of men , to feed the gluttony rather of the eye than of the belly ; these are the delights of the curiosities of men . the same fruits when they are worse but rarer , have a farre greater value set upon them , then when expos'd by their commones unto every mans purchase and it was a wise complaint of old cato ; that it went ill with the city when a fish was sold for more then an oxe . we see desires doe not put forth themselves more freely in any then in children , i thinke the chiefe reason of it is the same which the philosopher giveth of their memories , because every thing to them is new and strange ▪ for st●…ange things as they make stronger impressions upon the retentive , so they doe upon the appeti●…ive saculties . and therefore we find herod who cared nothing at all ●…or the doctrine of christ , because it was holy and divine , had yet a great desire to have seene his miracles , because they were wonderfull . and men have travelled farre to see those persons and things , the fame whereof they have before admired , strange learning , strange birds and beasts , strange floures and roots , strange fashions ; yea , strange sinnes too ( which is the curiositie and corruption of nature ) are marvellous attractive , and beget emulation amongst men. nero gave rewards to the inventors of strange lusts. even solomons ships , besides substantiall treasure , did bring home apes and peacockes . athens which was the eye , the floure , and epitome of greece ( to shew that this curiosity is the disease as well of wits , as of childehood ) spent all their time and study in inquiring after new things . and for this cause it is ( as i conceive ) that wise men have made lawes to interdict the transporting of their countrey fruits into other places , lest the sight of them should kindle in strangers a desire to bee masters of the countries where they grew , as we see the grapes and figges of canaan were used as incentives unto the expedition of israel●… and hence plutarch telleth us that the word sycophant is derived to note originally such as detected those who surreptitiously transported figge●… into other countries . as on the other side wee read that the athenians set up a pillar ▪ wherein they published him to bee an enemy of the city , who should bring gold out of media , as an instrument to corrupt them ▪ and the romane governour commanded hi●… souldiers that they should not carry any gold or silver into the field with them , lest there ▪ by they should bee looked on by the adv●…rsary , as the persians by alexander , rather as a prey than a foe . a third cause which i shall touch on of exciting desires , is height and greatnesse of minde ▪ which cannot well set bounds of measure unto it selfe , as seneca said in another sense , magnitud●… non habet certum modum . great minds have great ends , and those can never be advanced but with vast and various desires . a great ship will not be carried with the sayle of a lyter . nor can an eagle fly with the wings of a sparrow . alexander was not so great in his victories as in his desires , whom one world could not satisfie : nor pompey in his triumphs , as in his ambition , to whom it was not enough to be great , except he might be the greatest . another cause of desires may be curiositie , which is nothing else but a desire of prying into , and listning after the businesses of other men , which is ▪ called by solomon , ambulatio anim●… : the walking up and downe of the soule , as he elsewhere telleth us , that the eyes of a foole are in the ends of the earth : such a man being like the witches which plutarch speaks of , that weare eyes when they went abroad , but put them in a box when they came home ●… or like the falckoners hawkes that are hooded in the house , and never suffered to use their eyes but to the hurt of other birds : like a man in a dungeon , that sees nothing where hee is ; but can see a great deale of light abroad at a little passage . so these kind of men have vast desires of forreine knowledge , but wonderfully shun the acquaintance of themselves . as they say of a swine , that hee looks every way but upward : so we may of pragma tists , that their eyes looke alwaies save onely inward . whereas the minds of prudent men are like the windowes of solomons temple , broader inward than outward . as the pillar that went before israel in the sea , whose light side was towards israel , but the darke towards pharaoh : or as the sunne in an eclipse , whose light is perfect inwards , though towards us it bee darkened . a wise mans eyes are in his head , whereas a foole hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is in the proverbs , his minde in his heeles only to wander and g●…d abroad . chap. xvii . of other causes of desire , infirmity , temerity , mutability of minde , knowledge , repentance , hope . of the effects of it in generall , labour , languor . in speciall , of rationall desires , bounty , griefe , wearinesse , indignation against that which withstands it . of vitious desires , deception , ingratitude , envy , greedinesse , basenesse of resolution . other causes of desires are infirmity , rashnesse , and mutability of mind , which three i put in one , as having a neer relation and dependance within themselves . for commonly impotent appetions as those of children , of sick , of incontinent persons , are both temerarious in ●…recipitating the minde , and anticipating the ●…ictates of reason which should regulate or re●…raine them : as also mutable and wandring like ●…e bee from one floure unto another ; infirmity 〈◊〉 suffering a man to hold fast his decrees , and ●…rity not suffering him to resolve on any ; and ●…stly ▪ mutabilitie making him weary of those ●…ings which weaknesse and rashnesse had unadvisedly transported him unto . omnium imperitorum animus in lubric●… est : weake minds have ever wavering and unfixed resolutions . like fickle and nauseating stomacks , which long for many things and can eat none . like sicke bodies , qu●… mutationi ●…us ut remedys utuntur , as seneca speakes , which tosse from side to side , and thinke by changing of their place they can leave their paine behind them . like achilles in the poet : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now he leans on his side , now supine lyes , then grov'leth on his face , and strait doth rise . this sicknesse and inconstancy of desires is thus elegantly described by the old poet l●…cretius : — vt nunc plerumque videmus , quid sibi quisque velit nescire & quarere semper . commutare locum , quasi onus deponere possit . exit sape foras magnis ex adibus ille , esse domi quam pertasum est subit●… , rever●… . currit agens mann●…s advillam praci●…itanter auxilium tectis quasi ferre ardentibus instet . oscitat extemplo tetigit cum limina villae , aut abit in somnum gravis , atque oblivia quarit : aut etiam properans vrbem petit , atque●…evisit ▪ hoc se quisque modo fugit . at , quod scilicet ut 〈◊〉 ▪ effugere haud potis est , ingratis haret & ange●… . we see how troubled mortals still enquire , yet nee're can find what 't is which they desire . one changeth place , as if he could unload and leave his weights behind him . runs abroad , weary of a great palace ; strait turnes back , and hath not found the thing which he did lack . wearied both here & there , he mounts his steed , and runs to th' neighbor town with swister speed than if he went to quench a fire . being set , he gapes and sleeps , and studies to forget why he came thither , haply turne his raine , and to the city po●…teth backe againe . thus guilty man doth study how to shunne , and scape himselfe , but nee're can get it done . he bears the thing he flyes . what he would leave vnwelcome selfe unto it selfe doth cleave , and cleaving doth torment . — the more simple , one , and perfect nature is ( as the philosopher divinely noteth ) the more it delighteth in one and the same uniforme operation . mutability is not pleasant in it selfe ; but ●…he delight of it ariseth out of the pr●…vitie and ●…efect of nature . i might here insist on other more obvious causes of desire : as , knowledge and experience of the goodnesse of that which wee desire : as the apostle also ●…elleth us , that experience worketh hope : and ●…e use to say , ignoti n●…lla cupido . a man cannot ●…esire that of which he hath no apprehension . ●…nowledge is appetites taster . 〈◊〉 and repentance for the evils wee feele , the contrary whereunto we are the more induced to desire . we never desire health so eagerly as when sicknesse teacheth us to value it : for as in colours , so in actions or affections , contraries doe set sorth and sharpe●… one another . and as labour naturall makes a man earnestly desire the shadow , as iob speak●… so sorrow which is labour mentall , doth make a man earnestly . thirst after that which can remove the thing which 〈◊〉 that sonow . the apostle telleth us , that desire and zeale are the fruits of godly sorrow . david never panted so earnestly after gods favour and presence , as when he felt what a griefe it was to be without it●… for in this case there is an apprehension of 〈◊〉 double goodnesse in the thing we desire , both as perfective unto nature indigent , and as medicinall unto naturewronged . lastly hope of speeding in our desires : for the stronger any mans perswasions are , the more cheerfull and vigorous will bee his endeavours to succeed . but i shall content my selfe with the intimation of these things . and in the next , very briefly to runne over some effects and consequents of this affection : which are , in regard of desires at large , labour and paines : for they are onely velleities and not volitions : halfe and broken wishes , not whole desires , which are not industrious ; but 〈◊〉 away in sluggish and empty speculations . a th●… fisherman that will take the fish , must be contented to be dashed with the water . b and he that will expect to have his desires answered , must put as well his hands as his prayers unto them : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who takes god in his mouth , but takes no paine , by devout sloath shall never gather gaine . it was the just reproose of him in the poet who was upbraided with comming to the feasts , but withdrew himselfe from the labour of other men. nature hath often made the roots of those plants bitter , whose fruits are sweet , to reach us that delight is the fruit of labour . and therefore the philosopher telleth us , that desire is usually accompanied with sorrow . againe , desires doe commonly worke a lang●…or and sainting towards the thing desired , if they be either strong or hasty : for † hope deferred maketh the heart sicke . as ahabs eager desire of naboths vineyard , cast him upon his bed . and david expresseth his longings towards gods law , by the breaking and fainting of his soule . cum expectatio longior est consenescit animus , & debilitatur mens . : delaied expectation weakneth and withereth the mindes of men. and therefore the apostle expresseth strength of desire by groaning , which is the language of sicknesse . in regard of reasonable and spirituall desires . the effects of this affection are : large . heartednesse and liberality . that which a man earnestly desireth he will give much for , and bestow much upon . as when christ became the desire of all nations , they did dedicate all their desirable things unto him , as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and trophies of his mercifull triumph over them . one man adornes the gospell with his power , another with his wit , another with his wealth , another with his wisedome . those abilities of nature , art , or industry , which were before the armour of sinne , are then become the spoyles of christ. antonius out of the strength of his desires towards cleop●…ra , bestowed many countries upon her . griese for any losse or hazard of the thing desired . as the sea-mans needle which is jogged and troubled , never leaves moving till it finde the north point againe . flagrantia sunt animorum desideria cum solatia perdiderun●… , as the orator spake . desires burne hottest when they are in danger of disappointment . wearinesse and indignation against any thing which standeth between desire and the fruition of that which is desired . vehementior per me●…us & pericula exibit : that which resisteth increaseth it . as a river goes with more strength where it is hindred and withstood . the church did venture blowes when she sought her love , and like the palme tree rose up above her pressures : plures efficimur quóties metimur a vobis , as tertullian speakes to the heathen . the more you mow us downe , the thicker wee grow ; the more we suffer for him , the more we love and desire him . saint paul careth not for a dissolution ▪ that he may goe to christ , as a stone is contented to be broken in pieces , that it may move to its place . thirdly , for corrupt and v●…tious desires ; their effects are first , deception , and haling of reason as it were captive from determining , advising , or duly weighing the pravity and obliquity of them . so that the things which a man knowes in thesi , and at large , in hypothesi ; and as to his owne parti cular interest or inconvenience he doth not at all attend . he can say them , he cannot apply them . as he who acteth a part on a stage , knowes the things which he speaks , but is not a whit affected with them . and the philosopher giveth the reason of it , the very same with s. iames , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that reason which overcomes lust must bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , reason ingrafted ; or to use the phrase of another apostle , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , immixed and contempered with the soule , and not onely extrinsically irradiating it . and these kinde of men are elegantly called by iulius pollux , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men willingly slavish , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subdued and brought under by their owne affections . as pl●…tarch saith of agiselaus , that he was ruled by lysander his servant , he having only the name , but the other the execution of his power . this slavery of mens minds under the tyranny of lustfull desires is thus described by the satyrist . mane piger stertis ? surge , inquit avaritia , eja surge ▪ negas ? instat , surge inquit , non queo surge . ecquid agam rogitas ? en saperdam adv●…ho ponto , castoreum , stupas , h●…benum , thus , lubrica co●… . what sluggard snore so long ? saies lust , up rise , awake , get out . darst thou say nay ? it cries the same againe , up , rise ; i cannot . no ? rise though you cannot , when i le have it so . what must i doe ? what doe ? up , wipe your eies see , here 's a goodly ship of merchandise ; shell ▪ fish , castoreum , flax , black indian woods , frankinsence , wines of coos and other goods . thus sordidly doe vaine men sell themselves , and as it were render up their reason into the hands of vitious and greedy affections , giving leave to their soules to suffer a ship wrack in that vessell which bringeth goods into their cellars , and traffiquing their own judgment in exchange for a ship of wares . secondly , these kinde of desires make men ungratefull and forgetfull of any kindnesse which hath already been done them . memoria minimum tribuit , quisquis spei plurimum . as in bucket●… at a well , the longer the line of the one is which moves downward , the shorter is the line of the other which riseth upward ; so the larger our desires are towards the future , the narrower our memories are of things past . and usually mens valuations of things are more in the performance , then when they are performed . and the reason , is because as nature hath set our eies forward , and not behinde us : so the appetites of men , for which the eyes are the principall factors , looke naturally before them , not to what they have , but to what they hope . the eye whereby we looke backeward into our lives is the eye of repentance , we there either see our selves bad , or little . and a man is an unwelcome object unto himselfe in both these relations . but the eye whereby we looke forward , is an eye of hope , and desire , and by that we are represented to our selves better and greater then we are already . iron moves not upward except the loadstone be very neere it ; but it mooveth downward , though the center be never so remote . so much stronger are the motions of desire , then those of acknowledgement and retribution . besides the apprehensions of goodnesse in a thing are much other in the desire then in the review : as usually the sunne and the moone looke bigger at their rising , then when they are come over our heads . desire lookes on nothing in them but that which pleaseth , review findes that in them which displeaseth . when we desire wine we thinke onely on the sweetnesse , when we review it , we remember the headach . besides what we desire is apprehended as the matter of our life , what is past , men apprehend as in the hand of death . quickquid retro est mors tenet . as ●…n our life , so in our delights , so much of them ●…s dead as is over and gone . we love our food when it is meate , we loathe it when it is excrement . when it goes into us we desire it , when it passeth through us we despise it . and the secret worke of concoction , ( which is as it were the review of ou●… meat ) doth distinguish that in them which the first appetite tooke in ●… lumpe , and together . and in truth in all secular and sublunary desires we shall ever finde that they are like the apples of sodome , qu●… contacta cin●…rescunt , which have ashes hidden within their beauty , and doath l●…king under them . all the matter of ou●… secular or sensitive desires are just like the meates we ●…ate , which goe much more into excrement , then into nonrishment and substance . like the cyptus tree which they say is very faire , but beares no fruit . like the egyptian temples which are beautifull in frontispicio , b●… ridiculous in penetrali . and if we looke well on them , we shall finde , that as they are mortall themselves , so they come to us through mortality . it was a bold , but true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of seneca . 〈◊〉 vivinous . we live by the deaths of other things . our fullest tables furnished with death nothing but feretra , the biers of birds and 〈◊〉 ▪ our richest garments the bowels and skinnes ●… other creatures , which worke out their owne 〈◊〉 to preserve ours . silke is a grave to the 〈◊〉 that weaves it , before it is a garment for us . o●… offices and honours seldome come to us but b●… the mortality of those that prepossessed them ▪ and our mortality makes them the ●…itter obje●… of other mens desires . these desires as they are forgetfull , so they are envious , and looke with an evill eye upon others competion , accounting their successe our owne dammage . if a man should draw the genealogie of all the injuries and emulations of the world , we should finde the roote of that great tree to be nothing but lust . it was desire and inordinate appetite by which the devill perswaded our first parents to picke a quarrell with their maker . whence come warres and fightings , saith saint iames , but from lusts which warre in your members ? when a man hath warre within , no wonder ▪ if he have no peace without . he that cannot agree with himselfe , will disagree with all the world besides . the sea tosseth every thing which comes into it , not because it is wronged , but because it is unquiet . and a lustfull man will contend with every innocent man that prospers , not because this man doth him injury , but because he grudgeth this mans prosperity . as the sea representeth every strait thing that is put into it crooked , so lust every harmelesse thing perverse , and as seneca speakes , hath odium sine inimico , hatred without an enemie . greedy desires are like a swollen and envious spleene , which sucks away substance from all the rest of the body . these desires are hidropticall , and like a * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the stomacke which is not quenched , but enraged with that which feeds it . vnnaturall desires being herein very like unto naturall ●…ions , the further they proceed , the stronger and swifter they are . like wind in a bladder they never fill the heart , but enlarge it . the grecians began their drinkings in little cups , but proceeded unto flagons : and many times those appetitions which begin in modesty goe on unto impudence , and the more our lives hastens to leave the world , the more our lust hastens to possesse it . as it is noted of the parthians , that the more they drinke , the more they thirst . and , which is a marvellous illogicall stupidity , the more continuall experience men have of the vanity of the world , the more greedy experiments they make to finde out solidity in it . like your melancholy searchers after the philosophes stone , that never dote so much upon their project as then when it hath deluded them , and never flatter themselves with stronger hopes to be enriched by their art , then when it hath brought them unto beggary . lastly , from hence it comes to passe that these kindes of desires are base , and diject the minde unto ●…ordid and ignoble resolutions . for 〈◊〉 nihil satis , nihil ●…urpe . he that hath never enough will count nothing base whereby he may ge●… more . as the historian saith of otho , that he di●… adorare vulgus , jacere oscula , & omnia serviliter 〈◊〉 imperio . adore the people , dispence and scatte●… abroad his curtesies , crouch unto any servil●… expressions , to advance his ambitious designes like antaus in the poets , fall to the earth , 〈◊〉 hee may grow the stronger by it . as 〈◊〉 and pisistratus who wounded , mangled , deformed themselves , that they might thereby insinuate , and gaine their ends . as the scripture noteth of absolom , and the historian of iulian , that out of affectation of popularity , they stouped and delighted to converse with the lowest of the people . which cunning humility , or rather sordidnesse of ambition , me●…elous in the tragedian , hath thus elegantly objected in a contentious debate unto agame●…non . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . you know how you the rule o're grecians got , in shew declining what in truth you sough●… : how low , how plausible you apprehended the hands of meanest men : how then you bended to all you met : how your gates open flew , and spake large welcome to the pop'lar crew : what sweetned words you gave even unto those who did decline , and hate to see you gloze . ho●… thus with serpentine and guilefull arts you screw'd and wound your selfe into the hearts o'th'vulgar : and thus bought the power , which now makes you forget how then you us'd to bow . chap. xviii . rules touching our desires . desires of lower objects must not be either hastie , or unbounded ; such are unnaturall , turbid , unfruitfull , unthankfull : desires of heavenly objects fixed , permanent , industrious : connexion of vertues , sluggish desires . vnto the things already delivered touching this affection , i shall here add two or three rules pertaining to the morall use , and managing of it . and they are , first , concerning objects of an inferiour and transitory nature , that our desires be neither hastie and precipitate , nor vaste , and unlimited . and in matters more high and noble , that they be not either wavering and interrupted desires , or lazie and negligent desires . for the first of these , we have a rule in solomon , concerning riches , which will hold in all other objects of an immoderate desire : he that maketh haste to be rich , shall not be without sinne ; i may add , not without cares neither : for we know the nature of all earthly things , they have something of the serpent in them , to deceive . the way of riches and profit , is a thorny way ; the way of honour and ambition , a slippery and giddy way ; the way of carnall pleasures , a deep and a fowle way , the way of learning it selfe ( the noblest of all sublunary things ) an involved and intricate way . and certainely he had need have better eyes then a blinde passion , who in so ill ground will make good haste and good speed together . in labyrintho properantes ipsa velocitas implicat . he is the likeliest man to get first out of a maze , who runnes fastest . an over nimble desire is like the stomacke of a sicke man newly recovered , more greedy , then strong , and fuller of appetit●… then digestion . whence arise immature and unconcocted counsels , blinde and ungoverned resolutions : like those monstrous people , which plinie speakes of , whose feet goe backeward , and behinde their eyes . for when the minde of man is once possessed with conceit of contentment to be found in worldly glories , when the insinuations and sweet inchantments of honour , profit , pleasure , power , and satans hac omnia , hath once crept upon the affection , and lulled reason asleep ; it is then sufficient that we know the end , which we desire ; we have not the patience to inquire after the right way unto it : because it is the suspition of our greedy desires , that the true means are commonly the most tedious , and that honesty for the most part goes the fa●…thest way about . and hence withall it usually commeth to passe that these hasty and preproperous appetitions do hinder ends , and intercept advantages which slownesse with maturity might have made use of . as the romane souldiers by their greedinesse on their prey , missed of taking mithridates , who otherwise could not have escaped them . and therefore it was wise counsell of nest●…r in the poet. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let none goe lingring after spoyle , and stay to load himselfe with a too hasty prey . but first let 's kill : w' are sure after such fight ▪ carcasses being risled cannot bite . the next rule to keepe this passion in order with reference unto inferiour objects is , that it be not an infinite and unlimited desire . appetite should answere our power to procure , and our strength to beare and to digest . wee should not goe about to swallow a camell , when a g●…at doth make us straine , immoderate desires can neither be satisfied , nor concocted . and this unboundednesse of desires we are to take heed off ▪ for these reasons . first , for the unnaturalnesse of it : for all unnaturall and unnecessary desires are infinite , as the philosopher hath observed ▪ as he that is out of his way may wander infinitely . an unlimited desire is onely there requisite , where the object thereof is infinite , and ordained to perfect mans nature ; but not where it is onely a means appointed for his benefit and comfort . wherein he ought therefore then to enjoy his contentment , when it is sufficient not to fill his minde which is immortall ; and therefore not able to bee replenished with any perishing happinesse ) nor to outreach the vastnesse of his opinion , which which being erronious is likewise infinite ( for omnis error immensus , as seneca speaks ▪ but then only when it affords such conveniences , as wherewithall the seasonable and vertuous imploiments of nature may with content be exercised . it is then a corrupt desire which proceeds not from our want , but from our vice. as that is not a naturall thirst , but a disease and distemper of the body , which can never be satisfied . now the miseries of unnaturall desires are first , that they corrupt and expell those which are naturall : as multitudes of strangers in a city doe eat out the natives ; thus in luxurious men , strange love doth extinguish that which is conjugall . secondly , they ever bring vexation to the minde with them . as immoderate laughter , so immoderate lusts are never without paine and convulsions of nature . morbid desires of the mind are like an itch or vicer in the body , which is with the same nayles both angered and delighted , and hath no pleasure but with vexation . thirdly , they are ever attended with repentance , both because in promises they disappoint , and in performances they deceive ; and when they make offers of pleasure , do expire in pains ; as those delicates which are sweet in the mouth , are many times heavy in the stomacke ; and after they have pleased the palat doe torment the bowels . the minde surfets on nothing sooner than on unnaturall desires . fourthly , for this reason they are ever changing and making new experiments ; as weake and wanton stomacks which are presently cloy'd with an uniforme dyet , and must have not onely a painefull but a witty cooke , whose inventions may be able with new varieties to gratifie and humour the nicenesse of their appetite . as nero had an officer who was called elegantiae arbiter , the inventor of new lusts for him . lastly , unlimited desires are for the most part envious and malignant : for he who desires every thing , cannot chuse but repine to see another have that which himselfe wanteth . and therefore dionysius the tyrant did punish philoxenus the musitian , because he could sing , and plato the philosopher , because he could dispute better than himselfe . in which respect hee did wisely , who was contented not to be esteemed a better orator than he who could command thirty legions . secondly , unbounded desires doe worke anxiety and perturbation of minde ; and by that means disappoint nature of that proper end which this passion was ordained unto ; namely , to be a means of obtaining some further good ; whereas those desires which are in their executions turbid , or in their continuance permanent , are no more likely to lead unto some farther end , than either a misty and darke , or a winding and circular way is to bring a man at last unto his journeyes end ; whereof the one is dangerous , the other vaine . and together with this they doe distract our noble cares , and quite avert our thoughts from more high and holy desires . martha her many things , and maries one thing will very hardly consist together . lastly , there is one corruption more in these unlimited desires , they make a man unthankfull for former benefits : as first , because caduca memoria f●…turo imminentium . it is a strong presumption that he seldome looks backe upon what is past , who is earnest in pursuing some thing to come . it is s. pauls profession and argument in a matter of greater consequence , i forget those things which are behind , and reach forth unto those things which are before . and secondly , though a man should looke backe ; yet the thoughts of such a benefit would be but sleight and vanishing , because the mind finding present content in the liberty of a roving desire , is marvellous unwilling to give permanent entertainment unto thoughts of another nature , which likewise ( were they entertained ) would be rather thoughts of murmuring than of thankful ▪ fulnesse : every such man being willing rather to conceive the benefit small , than to acknowledge the vice and vastnesse of his owne desires . the next rule which i observed for the government of these passions , do respect those higher and more glorious objects of mans felicity : and herein , our desires are not to be wavering and in constant , but resolute and full of quicknesse and perseverance : first , because though we be poore and shallow vessels ; yet so narrow and almost shut ▪ up are those passages , by which wee should give admittance unto the matter of our true happines ▪ yea so full are we already of contrary qualities , as that our greatest vehemency wil not be enough , either to empty our selves of the one , or to fill our selves with the other . and therefore the true desires of this nature are in the scripture set forth by the most patheticall and strong similitudes of hunger and thirst ; and those not common neither ; but by the pant●…ng of a tyred ▪ hart after the rivers of water , and the gaping of the dry ground after a seasonable showre . secondly , overy desirable object the higher it goes , is ever the more united within it selfe , and drives the faster unto an unity : it is the property of errours to be at variance ; whereas truth is one , and all the parts thereof doe mutually strengthen and give light unto each other : so likewise in things good ▪ the more noble , the more knit they are ▪ scelera disi●…dent : it is for sinnes to be at variance amongst themselves . and those lower goods of riches , pleasure , nobility , beauty , though they are not incomparable ; yet they have no naturall connexion to each other ; & have therfore the lesse power to draw a consla●… and continued desire . but for nobler and immateriall goods wee see how the philosopher hath observed a connextion betweene all his morall vertues , whereby a man that hath one , is naturally drawne to a desire of all the rest : for the minde being once acquainted with the sweetnes of one , doth not onely apprehend the same sweetnesse in the others , but besides findeth it selfe not sufficiently possest of that which it hath , unlesse it bee thereby drawne to procure the rest : all whose properties it is by an excellent mutuall service to give light and lustre , strength and validity , and in some sort greater vnity unto each other . and lastly for the highest and divinest good ; the truth of religion , that is in it selfe most of all other one , as being a beame of that light and revelation of that will , which is vnity it selfe . and therefore though we distinguish the creed into twelve articles , yet saint paul calleth them all but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one faith , as having but one lord for the object and end of them . now then where the parts of good are so united , as that the one draweth on the other , there is manifestly required united desire to carry the soule thereunto . ii. the last rule which i observed was that our desires ought not to bee faint and sluggish , but industrious and painefull , both for the arming us to avoid and withstand all oppositions and difficulties , which we are every where likely to meet withall in the pursuit of our happinesse ; and also for the wise and discreet applying of the severall furtherances requisite thereunto . and indeed that is no true , which is not an operative desire : a velleity it may be , but a will it is not . for what ever a man will have , hee will seek in the use of such meanes , as are proper to procure it . children may wish for mountaines of gold , and balaam may wish for an happy death , and an a theist may wish for a soule as earthly in substance as in affection ; but these are all the ejaculations rather of a speculative fancie , than of an industrious affection . true desires as they are right in regard of their object , so are they laborious in respect of their motion . and therefore those which are idle and impatient of any paines , which stand like the carman in the fable , crying to hercules when his wuine fluck in the mud to helpe it out , without stretching out his owne hands to touch it , are first unnaturall desires , it being the formall property of this passion to put the soule upon some motion or other . and therefore wee see wheresoever nature hath given it , she hath given likewise some manner of motion or other to serve it . and secondly they are by consequence undutifull and disobedient desires , in that they submit not themselves unto that law , which requireth that wee manifest the life and strength of our love by the quicknesse and operation of it in our desires . and lastly , such desires are unusefull and fruitlesse : for how can an object ▪ which standeth in a fixed distance from the nature , which it should perfect , be procured by idle and standing affections ? the desires of the sluggard ( saith salomon ) slay him , because his hands refuse to labour . these affections must have life in them , which bring life after them : dead desires are deadly desires . chap. xix . of the affection of ●…y delight . the severall objects thereof , corporall , morall , intellectuall , divine . the next passions in order belonging to the concupiscible faculty , are those two , which are wrought by the presence of , and vnion to an object ; and that is , when either wee by our desires have reached the object , which worketh ioy and delight : or when in our flight the object hath overtaken us , which worketh griefe and sorrow . and these two do beare the most inward relation unto and influence upon all our actions . whereupon aristotle in his ethicks hath made them the foundation of our vertues , and rules of our working . and the reason is naturall , because the end of our motion is to attaine rest , and avoid perturbation . now delight is nothing else but the sabbath of our thoughts , and that sweet tranquility of mind , which we receive from the presence and fruition of that good , wherunto our desires have carried us . and therefore the philosopher in one place call it a motion of the soule with a sensible and felt instauration of nature , yet elsewhere hee as truly telleth us that it standeth rather in * rest than motion ; as on the other side griefe is the streightning and anguish of our minds wrought out of the sense and burden of some present evill oppressing our nature . now these passions are diverse , according to the diversity of the objects : which are either sensitive and bodily ; and then delight is called voluptas pleasure , being a medicine and supply against bodily indigence and defects : or intellectuall and divine , and then it is called gaudium ioy , being a sweet and delightfull tranquillity of minde , resting in the fruition and possession of a good . so also is the other passion of sadnesse considered ; which in respect of the body is called a sense of paine ; in respect of the soule , a sense of griefe . first then for the object of our delight ; it is onely that which can yeeld some manner of satisfaction unto our nature , not as it is a corrupt and erring , but as it is an empty and perfectible nature . whatsoever then is either medicinall for the repairing , or naturall for the conserving , or any way helpefull for the advancing of a creature , is the onely true and allowable object of its delight . other pleasures which eat out and undermine nature , as water which by little & little insensibly consumeth the bank against which it beateth , or as * ●…vie which seemeth to adorn the tree unto which it cleaveth , but indeed sucketh out and stealeth away the sap therof , may haply yield some measure of vanishing content to mindes , which tast every thing with a corrupted palate ; but certainely such sophisticall premises can never inferre in the conclusion any other than a perfunctory and tottering content . and therefore seneca is bold to find an impropriety in virgils epithite , mala gaudia , ioyes which issue from a polluted fountaine ; as not having in them that inseparable attribute of absolute delight ; which is to be unvariable . for how can a mind ( unlesse blinded with its owne impostures , and intangled in the errours of a mis led affection ) receive any nourishing and solid content in that , which is in it selfe vanishing , and unto its subject destructive ? whatsoever then may bee delighted in , must have some one of the forenamed conditions , tending either to the restitution of decayed nature , to the preservation of entire nature , or to the perfection of empty nature . and to the former and ●…mperfecter sort of t●…ese , aristotle referreth all ●…orporeall and sensitive pleasures ( unto which he ●…herefore granteth a secondary and accidentall goodnesse ) which hee calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the medi●…ines of an indigent nature ; whereby the defects ●…hereof are made up , and it selfe disburdened of ●…hose cares , which for the most part use to follow ●…he want of them . herein then i observe a double corruption ; an ●…nnaturall and unlimited delight . vnnaturall , i ●…eane those accursed pleasures , which were exer●…ised by men given over to vile affections and 〈◊〉 in the pursuing of lusts , whose very names abhorre the light . vnlimited delights are those , which exceed the bounds of nature , and the prime institution of lawfull and indifferent things . for such is the condition of those , that if they repaire not , and strengthen nature , * they weaken and disinable it ; as in the body luxury breeds diseases , and in the mind curiosity breeds errours . other objects there are of a wider nature than those , which concerne the body ; and they are both the morall and contemplative actions of the mind ; to both which aristotle hath attributed principally this passion ; but more specially to the latter , whose object is more pure and whose acts lesse laborious , as residing in that part of the soule , which is most elevate from sense : and therefore most of all capable of the purest simplest and unmixed delights . now every thing is the more free , cleare , independant ; spirituall , by how much it is the more unmixed . and these are the choisest perfections , whereby the soule may be filled with joy . it is true indeed , that oftentimes the contemplations of the mind have annexed unto them both griefe and anxiety ; but this is never naturall to the act of knowledg , which is alwaies in its owne vertue an impression of pleasure : but it ariseth either out of the sublimity of the object , which dazleth the power ; or out of the weaknesse and doubtings of the vnderstanding , which hath not a cleare light thereof ; or out of the admixtion and sleeping them in the humours of the affections , whereby men minister unto themselves desperate thoughts or weake feares , or guilty griefes , or unlimited desires , according as is the property of the object joyned with their own private distempers : thus we see the intuition of divine truth in minds of defiled affections , worketh not that sweet effect which is naturall unto it , to produce , but doubtings , terrours and disquietings of conscience ; it being the propertie of the workes of darknesse to be afraid of the word of light. but of all these former objects of mans delight ( because they are amongst salomons catalogue of things under the sunne ) none are here without vexation and vanities : for to let passe the lightning of an idle mirth , which indeed is madnesse and not ioy. for seneca telleth us that true ioy is a serious and severe thing : and not to meddle with riches and other secular delights , which have wings to fly from us and thornes to prick us , even that highest naturall delight of the mind , knowledge , and the heavenly eloquence of the tongues of angels ( which a man would think were above the sunne , and therfore not obnoxious to salomons vanity ) would be in man , without the right corrective thereof , but a tinkling noise , yeelding rather a windy pleasure than a true delight . the properties whereof is not to puffe up , but to replenish . and therefore it is the prayer of saint paul , the god of peace fill you with all ioy. true heavenly ioy is a filling , a satiating ioy : a ioy unspeakeable , with saint peter ; a peace past understanding , with saint paul. nor doth this property of overflowing and swallowing the mind add any degrees of offence or anxiety therunto : for it is not the weaknesse of the soule , as it is of the body to receive hurt from the excellency of that which it delighteth in , nor doth the mind desire to subdue or conquer , but onely to be united with its object . and here the onely corruption of our delight is , the deficiency and imperfections of it . for though this blessed light leaves not any man in the shadow of death , yet it takes him not quite out of the shadow of sinne , by the darknesse wherof hee is without much of that lustre and glory , which he shall then have , when the righteous shal shine like the sunne in the firmament . yet at the least our endeavours must be , that though our ioyes cannot be here a repl●…nishing ioy , yet it may be an operative ioy , and so worke out the measure of its own fullnesse . i have done with the severall objects of mans delight , corporall , morall , intellectuall and divine . chap. xx. of the causes of ioy. the union of the object to the faculty , by contemplation , hope , fruition , changes by accident a cause of delight . i now proceed to speak of the more particular causes and effects of this passion . touching the former , not to meddle with those which are unnaturall , belluine , and morbid ( which the philosopher hath given some instances of ) the generall cause is the naturall goodnesse of the object , and the particulars under that . any thing which hath a power to unite and make present the object with the faculty . and that is done ( to speake onely of intellectuall powers ) three manner of wayes ; by contemplation , by confidence , and by fruition , by thinking of it in the minde , by expecting of it in the heart , and by enjoying it in the whole man. contemplation addes unto the soule a double delight : first , from it's owne property , it being the proper and naturall agitation of mans minde , insomuch that those things which wee abhorre to know experimentally , our curlous and contemplative nature desires to know speculatively . and therefore the devils first temptation was drawne from the knowledge as well of evill as good , for he knew that the minde of man would receive content in the understanding of that , which in it's owne nature had no perfection in it . but then secondly , in the object of true delight , contemplation ministreth a farther ioy , in that it doth in some sort pre-unite our soules and our blessednesse together : and this is partly the reason why aristotle so much advanceth his contemplative before his practique felicity : for though this in regard of it's immediate reference unto communion , be of a more spreading and diffusive nature ; yet certainly , in that sweetnesse of content , that serenity of soule , that exaltation of thoughts which we receive from those noble motions of the higher mind , the other doth farre in pleasure and satisfaction surpasse all active happinesse . and hence we see in the parts of mans body , those which are ( if i may so speake ) more contemplative , have precedence to those that are more practique . the parts of vision are before the parts of action ; the right eye is preferred before the right hand . thus we may observe in god himselfe ( notwithstanding in him there can bee neither accession nor intermission of delight ) yet by way of expression to us ward , he did not in the creation of the world so much ioy in his fiat , as in his vidit ; not so much when he gave his creatures their nature , as when he saw their goodnesse : nature being the object of power ; but goodnes the object of delight ; and therefore the day of his rest was more holy than the dayes of his working , that being appointed for the contemplation , as these were for the production of his creatures . and as contemplation by way of prescience , when it looketh forward on good things hoped : so also by way of memory , when it looketh backward and receiveth evill things escaped , doth minister matter of renewed ioy. no man looketh on the sea with more comfort , than he who hath escaped a shipwracke . and therefore when israell saw the egyptians dead on the sea shore , the fear of whom had so much affrighted them before , they then sang a song of triumph . past troubles doe season , and as it were ballace present comforts , as the snow in winter increaseth the beauty of the spring . but in this particular of contemplation , notwithstanding the excellency of it , there may be corruption in the excesse ( for in those matters of delight , except they be such as are disproportioned to our corrupt nature , i meane divine things , wee seldome erre in the other extreme . ) and that is , when wee doe not divide our selves between our parts , and let every one execute his proper function , so to attend upon meere mentall notions , as to neglect the practicall part of our life , and withdraw our selves from the fellowship and regard of humane society , is as wicked in religion , as it would be in nature monstrous to see a fire burne without light , or shine without heate ( aberrations from the supreme law being in divine things impious as they are in naturall prodigious . ) and therefore that vowed sequestration and voluntary banishment of hermits and votaries from humane society , under pretence of devoting themselves to contemplation , and a fore-enjoying of the light of god , is towards him as un●… pleasing , as it is in it selfe uncomfortable , for their very patterne which they pretend in such cases to imitate , was not only a burning lamp by the heate of his owne contemplations ; but a shining lamp too , by the diffusing of his owne comforts to the refreshing of others . a second cause of delight is the sure confidence of the mind . whereby upon strong and un●…ring grounds , it waiteth for the accomplishment of it's desires : so that what ever doth incourage our hope , doth therewithall strengthen ▪ and inlarge our delight ▪ spe gaudent faith s. paul , and sperantes gaudent saith the philosopher , hope and ioy goe both together : for where hope is strong ▪ it doth first divert and take off the mind from poring upon our present wants , and withall ministreth tranquillity unto it from the evidence of a future better estate . but here we must take heed of a deep corruption : for though i encline not to that opinion which denyeth hope , all asswaging and mitigating sorce , in respect of evils , or any power to settle a floating mind ; yet to have an ungrounded confisidence , and either out of presumption or security to resolve upon uncertaine and casuall events , there-hence to deduce arguments of comfort ' works but an empty and imaginary delight , like his in the poet : — petit ille dapes sub imagini somni , oraque vana movet , dentemque indente fatigat . who dreaming that he was a guest at his imaginary feast , did vainely glut upon a thought , tyring each iaw and tooth for naught : and when he fanci'd dainty meat , had nothing but a dreame to eat : or like the musitian in plutarch , who having pleased dionysius with a little vanishing musick , was rewarded with a short and deceived hope of a great reward . a presumptuous delight though it seeme for the time to minister as good content as that which is raised on a sounder bottome ; yet in the end will worke such inconveniences as shall altogether countervaile and overweigh the de●…ipt of its former ioyes ▪ . for the mind being mollified and puffed up with a windy and unnourishing comfort , is quite disabled to beare the 〈◊〉 of some sudden evill , as having its forces scattered by security , which caution and ●…eare would have collected . for wee know in bodies , vnion strengthneth natural motion , and weakneth violent ; and in the mind the collecting and uniting of it doth both inable it for prosecution of its owne ends , and for resisting all opposite force . it is therefore no comforting but a weakning confidence , which is not provident and ope●…ative . the third and most effectuall cause of delight is the fruition of good , and the reall vnion thereof unto the mind●… for all other things worke delight no farther , than either as they looke towards , or worke towards this . and therefore if we marke it in all matter of pleasure and ioy , the more the vnion is , the more is the delight ( and vnion is the highest degree of fruition that can be ) thus wee see the presence of a friend , yeelds more content than the absence , and the imbraces , more than the presence : so in other outward delights , those of incorporation , are greater than those of adhesion . as it is more naturall to delight in our meats than in our garments ; the one being for an union inward to increase our strength ; the other outward only to protect it . in the understanding likewise , those assents which are most cleer , are most pleasant , and perspecuity argues the perfecter union of the object to the faculty . and therefore we have speculum & 〈◊〉 put together by s. paul , we see as in aglasse darkly , where the weaknesse of our knowledge of god is attributed to this , that we see him not face to face with an immediate union unto his glory , but at a distance in the creature and in the word , the glasse of nature and of faith ( both which are in their kind evidences of things not seen ) we shall only there have a perfection of ioy , where we shall have a consummate union , in his presence only is the fulnesse of ioy. now three things there are which belong unto a perfect fruition of a good thing : first , propriety unto it , for a sicke man doth not feele the joy of a sound mans health , nor a poore man of a rich mans money . propriety is that which makes all the emulation and contention amongst men , one man being agreeved to see another to have that which he either claimeth or coveteth . secondly , possession : for a man can reap little comfort from that which is his owne , if it be any way detained and withheld from him , which was the cause of that great contention between agamemnon & achilles , & between the greeks & trojans , because the one tooke away and detained that which was the others . thirdly , accommodation , to the end for which a thing was appointed ▪ for a man may have any thing in his custody , and yet receive no comfort nor reall delight from it , except he apply it unto those purposes for which it was instituted . it is not then the having of a good but the using of it which makes it beneficiall . now besides those naturall causes of delight , there is by accident one more ; to wit , the change and variety of good things , which the diversity of our natures and inclinations , and the emptinesse of such things as we seeke delight from , doth occasion , where nature is simple and uncompounded , there one , and the same operation is alwaies pleasant ; but where there is a mixed and various nature , and diversity of faculties , unto which doe belong diversity of inclinations , there changes doe minister delight : as amongst learned men , variety of studies ; and with luxurious men , variety of pleasures . and this the rather , because there are no sublunary contentments , which bring not a * satiety along with them , as hath been before observed . and therefore the same resolution which the philosopher gives for the walking of the body , when he enquireth the reason why in a journey the inequality of the wayes do lesse weary a man than when they are all plaine and alike . we may give for the walking and wandring of the desire ( as solomon cals it ) to wit , that change and variety doe refresh nature , and are in stead of a rest unto it . * and therefore as i have before observed of nero , the same hath tully observed of xerxes , that hee propounded rewards to the inventors of new and changeable pleasures . hereunto may be added as a further cause of pleasure . whatsoever serveth to let out and to lessen griefe , as words , * teares , anger , revenge , because all these are a kind of victory , then which nothing bringeth greater pleasure . and therefore homer saith of revenge , that it is sweeter than the dropping honey . chap. xxi . of other causes of delight . vnexpectednesse of a god. strength of desire . immagination . imitation . fitnesse and accommodation . of the effects of this passion . reparation of nature . dilatation . thirst in noble objects , satiety in baser . whetting of industry . atimorous unbeliefe . vnto these more principall causes of this affection i shall briefly adde these few which follow . the suddennesse and unexpectednesse of a good thing causeth the greater delight in it . for expectation of a thing makes the minde feed upon it before hand , as young gallants who spend upon their estates before they come to them , and by that meanes make them the lesse when they come . as sometimes it happeneth with choice and delicate stomackes . that the sight and smell of their meate doth halfe cloy and satiate them before they have at all tasted any of it : so the long gazing upon that which we desire by expectation doth as it were deflowre the delight of it before fruition . whereas on the other side , as the poet expresseth it . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no joy in greatnesse can compare with that , which doth our hopes and thoughts anticipate . so strong and violent hath been the immutation which sudden joy hath wrought in the body , a that many ( as i have formerly noted ) have beene quite overwhelmed by it , and beene made pertakers of augustus his wish to enjoy an b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to dye pleasantly . and for this reason it is that c new things , and such as we d admire , and were a not before acquainted withall doe usually delight us , because they surprize us , representing a kinde of strangenesse unto the minde , whereby it is enlarged and enriched . for strange and new things have ever the greatest price set upon them . as i noted before of the romane luxury , that it gloryed in no delicates but those which were brought out of b strange countries , and did first pose nature , before either feed or adorne it . strength of desire , doth on the other side enlarge the pleasure of fruition , because nature ever delighteth most in those things which cost us dearest , and strong desires are ever painfull . when c darius in his flight drank muddy water , & ptolomie did eate dry bread , they both professed that they never felt greater pleasure : strength of appetite marveilously encreasing the delight in that which satisfied it . for want and difficulty are great preparations to a more feeling fruition , a as bees gather excellent honey out of the bitterest herbes . and as we say , nulla sunt firmiora quàm quae ex dubijs facta sunt certa . those evidences are surest which were made cleare out of doubtfull . so those pleasures are sweetest , qu●…suaves fiunt ex tristibus , which have had wants and feares and difficulties to provide a welcome for them . and therefore b wrestlers and fencers , and such like masters of game , were wont to use their hands unto heavie weights , that when in their games they were to use them empty and naked , they might doe it with the more expeditenesse and pleasure . imagination and fancy , either in our selves or other men , is many times , the foundation of delight . diogines his sullen and melancholly fancy tooke as much pleasure in his tubbe and staffe , and water , as other men in their palaces , and ampliest provisions , and he in the poet. qui se credebat miros a●…dire tragados in vacuo latus sessor plausorquè theatr●… . — cum redit adsese pol. me occidist is amici non servastis ait , cui sic extorta voluptas , et demptus per vim mentis gratissimus error . who thought he heard rare tragedies of wit , and in an empty theater did sit and give applauses : but being heal'd complains friends i 'm not sav'd by this your love , but slain , robb'd of that sweet delight i then did finde , in the so gratefull errour of my minde . hence likewise it is that men are delighted with mythologies and po●…icall fables , with elegancies , iests , vrbanity , and flowers of wit , with pageants pompes , triumphes , and publick celebrities , because all these and other the like , are either the fruit or food of the imagination . vpon the same reason we are marveilously delighted with lively imitation , as with those arts which doe curiously expresse the workes and lineaments of nature . insomuch that the similitudes of those things doe wonderfully content us whose naturall deformities we abhorre . we are well pleas'd with homers description of thirsites , and with sophocles his expression of the vlcer of philoctetes ▪ with parmeno his imitation of the grunting of a hog , and theodor●…u his of the ratling of wheeles , with plautus his discription of a chargeable wise , and horace his of a garrulous companion , though the things themselves we should willingly decline . those things delight every man which are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ as the philosopher speakes , sutable fitted ▪ and accommodated to his genius and frame ▪ of nature , as in the same plant , the bee seedeth on the flower , the bird on the seed , the sheepe on the blade , the swine on the roote . so in the same author one man observeth the rationall ▪ another the historicall , a third the elegant and more rhetoricall passages , with speciall delight , according as they are best accommodated unto the complexion of each minde . and i finde it observed out of hipocrates , that even in the body many times that kinde of meat which nature receiveth with complacency , and with a more particular delight , though in it selfe it may be ●…orse ▪ yet proveth better nourishment unto that body than such , as though better in it selfe , findeth yet a reluctancy and backwardnesse of nature to close or correspond with it . the same seeds are not proper for the sand and for the clay ▪ nor the same imploiments of minde for men of various and different constitutions . nor is there i beleeve any thing which would more conduce to the generall advancement of arts and learning , than if every mans abilities were fixed and limited to that proper course , which his naturall sufficiences did more particularly lead him unto . for hereupon would grow a double delight , and by consequence improvement ( for every thing growes most when it is best pleased ) the one from nature , the other from custome and acquaintance , which conquereth and digesteth the difficulties of every thing we set about , and maketh them yet more naturall unto us . and therefore the philosopher reckoning up many things that are pleasant to the minde , putteth these two in the first place . those things that are naturall , and those that we are accustomed unto , wherein there is least violence offered unto the inclinations and impressions of nature . touching the effects of this passion , i shall name but these few : first , the effects of corporall delights are only ( as i observed o●…t of aristotle ) medicinall ; for repayring the breaches and ruines of our decayed natures ; for animating and refreshing our languishing spirits ; for preserving our selves in a good ability to execute offices of a higher nature ; for furnishing the world with a succession of men , which otherwise the greedines of mortality would in short time devoure . these are true and intended ends of those delights , and when they once transgresse these bounds , they begin to * oppresse nature , weaken and distempe●… the body , clog the mind , and fill the whole man with satiety and loathing , which is the reason ( as was even now noted ) why men too violently carried away with them , are presently over●…loyed with one kind , and must have variety to keep out loathing : which tacitus observes in that monster of women messalina , facilitate adulterorum in fastidiu●… versa ad incognit as libidin●…s pr●…stuebat , that loathing more easy and common sinnes , shee betooke h●… selfe to unnaturall lusts , and i verily think is particularly intended by s. paul , rom. . . a second effect of ioy is opening and dil●…tion of the heart and countenance , expressing the serenity of the mind , whence it hath the name 〈◊〉 latitia , as it were a broad and spreading passio●… ▪ now the reason of ▪ this motion occasioned 〈◊〉 ioy , is the naturall desire , which man hath to 〈◊〉 united to the thing wherein he delights to make way and passage for its entrance into him . and hence wee find in this passion an exultation and egresse of the spirits , discovering a kind of loosenesse of nature in her security , doing many things not out of resolution , but instinct and power transporting both mind and body to sudden and unpremeditated expressions of its owne content : for of all passions , ioy can be the least dissembled or suppressed , nam ga●…dio cogendi vis inest , saith pliny ▪ it exerciseth a kind of welcome violence and tyranny upon a man , as we see in davids dancing before the arke ▪ and the lame mans walking , and leaping , and praising god , after hee had been cured of his lamenesse . and this diffusion of the spirits sheweth both the haste and forwardnesse of nature , in striving as it were to meet her object , and make large roome for its entertainment , as also to dispell and scatter all adverse humours that would hinder the ingresse of it , and lastly to send forth newes as it were through the whole province of nature , that all the parts might beare a share in the common comfort . thirdly , those noble delights which arise from heavenly causes , doe withall cause a sweet thirst and longing in the soule after more , as some colours do both delight the sight and strengthen it : for while god is the object , there cannot bee either the satiety to cloy the soul , nor such a full comprehension as will leave no roome for more . thus they who delight in the fruition of god by grace , doe desire a more plentifull fruition of him in glory ; and they that delight in the sight of gods ▪ glory ▪ doe still desire to be forever so delighted . so that their desire is without anxiety ▪ because they are s●…tiated with the thing which they do●… desire , ●… and their 〈◊〉 is without lo●… ▪ thing ; because still they desire the thing wherwith they are s●…tiated ; they desire without griefe , because they are replenished ; and they are replenished without wearinesse , because they desire still ; they see god and still they desire to see him : they enjoy god , and still they desire for ever to enjoy him : they love and prayse god , and make it their immortall businesse still to love and prayse him : et quem semper habent , semper haberevolunt . whom they for ever have , with love yet higher to have for ever , they do still desire . * divine ioy is like the water of aesculapius his well , which they say is notcapable of put●…ifaction . fourthly , delight whettoth and intendeth the actions of the soule towards the thing wherein it delighteth ; it putteth forth more force , and more exactnesse in the doing of them , because it 〈◊〉 the mind of all those dulling indisposition●… which unfitted it for action . and for this reason h●…ppily it i●… , that the 〈◊〉 used * musicke in their warres to refresh and delight nature : for ioy is in stead of recreation to the soule , it wonderfully disposeth for busines . and those actions which nature hath made ne●… , it hath put pleasure in them , that thereby men might be quickned ●…nd excited unto them ; * and therefore wisemen have told us that pleasure is , sal & 〈◊〉 vit●… . the sawce which seasoneth the actions of men . lastly , because the nature of man is usually more acquainted with sorrowes , then with pleasures , therefore whither out of conscience of guilt , which deserves no joy , or out of experience , which useth to finde but little joy in the world , or out of feare of our owne aptnesse to mistake , or out of a provident care , not to close or feed upon a delight , till we are fully assured of our possession of it , and because usually the minde after shaking is more setled , whether for these or any other reasons , we see it usually come to passe , that vehement joy doth breed a kinde of jealousie and unbeliefe , that sure ●…he thing we have is too good to be true 〈◊〉 and that then when our eyes tell us , that they see it , they doe but 〈◊〉 and deceive us , as quod nimi●… volumu●…●…aud facile credimus : the things which we desire should be , we scarse beleeve when we doe see . so i●…cob when he heard that his sonne ioseph was alive , fainted ▪ being astonished at so good newes , and could not beleeve it . and when god restored the iewes out of captivity , they could thinke no otherwise of it then a●… a dreame . and peter when he was by the angel delivered out of prison , tooke it for a vision only , and an apparition , and not for a truth . and lastly , of the disciples after christs resurrection , when he manifested himselfe to them , it is said , that for very joy they beleeved not , their feares keeping backe , as it were , and questioning the truth of their joyes , omnia tuta timens , not suffering them too hastily to beleeve what their eies did see . as in the sea when a storme is over , there remaines still an inward working and volutation , which the poet thus expresseth , vt si quando ruit , debell at asque reliquit eurus aquas , pax ipsa tumet , pontumque jacentem , exanimis jam voluit hyem●… . — as when a mighty tempest doth now cease , to tosse the roaring billowes , even that peace doth swell and murmurre , and the dying wind on the calm'd sea leaves his owne prints behind . even so in the minde of man , when it's feares are blowne over , and there is a calme ▪ upon it , there is still á motus trepidationis , and a kinde of sollicitous jealousie of what it enjoyes . and this unbeleefe of joy is admirably s●…t forth in the carriages of penelope , when her nurse and her sonne endevoured to assure her of the truth of vlysses his returne after so many yeares absence by the poet , in which doubting she stil persisted , till by certaine signes vlysses himselfe made it appeare unto her , whereupon she ex●…used it after this manner . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my deare vlysses let it not offend , that when i saw you first , i did suspend my love with my beliefe , since my faint brest when first with those glad tidings it was blest , trembled with doubts , lest by such forged lies some crafty , false pretender might devise to have ensna●…'d me , and with these false sounds , defiel'd my love , and multiplied my wounds . chap. xxii . of the affection of sorrow , the object of it evill , sensitive , intellectuall , as present in it s●…lfe , or to the mind , by memory , or suspition , particular causes , effects of it . feare , care , experience , erudition ▪ irresolution , despaire , execration , distempers of body . the opposite passion to this of delight , is griefe and sorrow , which is nothing but a perturbation and nnquietnesse wrought by the pr●…ssure of some present ●…vill , which the mind in vaine strugleth with , as finding it selfe alone too impotent for the conflict . evill i say either formally , as in sinne , or paine , present , or feared : or privatively , such as is any good thing which we have lost , or whereof we doe despaire , or have beene disappointed . and this is in respect of its object as the former passion , either sensitive or intellectuall . sensitive is that anguish and distresse of nature which lyet●… upon the body . a passion in this sense little conducing to the advancement of nature , being allwaies joyned with some measure of its decay , but onely as it serves sometimes for the better fortifying it against the same or greater evils , it being the condition as of corporeall delights , by custome to grow burdensome and distastefull , so of paines to become easie and familiar . the other and greater griefe is intellectuall , which in solom●…us phraise is , a wounded spirit ; so much certainely the more quicke and piercing , by how much a spirit is more vitall then a body , besides the anguish of the soule , findes alwayes , or workes the same sympathy in the body , but outward sorrowes reach not ever so farre , as the spirituall and higher part of the soule . and therefore we see many men out of a mistake , that the distresse of their soules hath beene wrought by a union to their bodies , have voluntarily spoiled this , to deliver and quiet that . the causes of this passion , are as in the former , whatsoever hath in it power to disturbe the mind by it's union thereunto . there are then two conditions in respect of the object , that it be evill and present . evill first , and that not onely formally in it selfe ; but apprehensively to the understanding . and therefore wee see that many things which are in their nature evill ; yet out of the particular distemper of the mind , and deceitfulnesse in them , may prove pleasant thereunto . and this is the chiefe corruption of this passion , i meane the misplacing , or the undue suspending of it : for although strictly in its owne property , it be not an advancement of nature , nor addes any perfection ; but rather weakens it ; yet in regard of the reference which it beares either to a superior law , as testifying our love unto the obedience , by our griefe for the breach thereof : or to our consequent carriage and actions , as governing them with greater wisedome and providence , it may bee said to adde much perfection to the mind of man , because it serves as an inducement to more cautelous living . the next condition in respect of the object , is , that it be present , which may fall out either by memory , and then our griefe is called repentance : or fancy and suspition , and so it may be called anx●… of mind : or by sense and present union , which is the principall kind , and so i call it anguish . for the first , nothing can properly and truly worke griefe , by ministry of memory , when the object or evill is long since past ; but those things which doe withall staine our nature , and worke impressions of permanent deformity . for as it falleth out , that many things in their exercise pleasant , prove after in their operations offensive and burden some : so on the other side many things which for the time of their continuance are irkesome and heavy , prove yet after occasions of greater ioy. whether they be means used for the procuring of further good . per varios casus , per tot discrimina rerum 〈◊〉 in latium , sedes ubi ; &c. through various great mishaps & dangers store , we hasten to our home and wished 〈◊〉 ▪ where fates do promise rest , where troy revives , only reserve your selves for better lives . or whether they b●… evils which by our wisedome we have broken th●…ough and avoided ; — sed & 〈◊〉 olim 〈◊〉 i●…vabit . when we are arrived at ease , remembrance of a strome doth please . the objects then of repentance are not our passive , but our active evils : not the evils of suffering , but the evils of doing ▪ for the memory of afflictions past , represent●… unto us nature loosed and delivered , and should so much the more increase our ioy , by how much redemption is for the most part a more felt blessing than immunity ▪ but the memory of sinnes past represents nature obliged , guilty , and imprisoned . and so leaves a double ground for griefe , ●…he staine or pollution , and the guilt or malediction a deformity to the law , and a curse from it . it would be improper here to wander into a digression touching repentance , only in a word it is then a godly sorrow , when it proceeds from the memory of evill ; not so much in respect of the punishment as of the staine . when we grieve more because our sin hath made us unholy , then because it hath made us unhappy ; and not only because we are runne into the danger of the law , but because we are run out of the way of the law. when it teacheth us to cry , not only with pharaoh , take away this plague ; but with israel in the prophet , take away iniquity . concerning griefe of preoccupation , arising out of a suspitious feare and expectation of evill , i know not what worth it can have in it , unlesse haply thus , that by fore-accustoming the mind to evill , it is the better strengthned to stand under it : for evils by praemeditation , are either prevented or mitigated , the mind gathering strength and wisedome together to meet it . and therefore it is prudent advise of plutarch , that wee should have a prepared minde , which when any evill falleth out , might not be surprised by it . to say as anaxagoras did when he heard of the death of his sonne , sciome genuisse mortalem , i know that i be ▪ gat a mortall sonne . i know that my riches had wings , and that my comforts were mutable . preparednesse composeth the minde to patience . vlysses wept when he saw his dogge , which he did not when he saw his wife : he came prepared for the one , but was surprised by the other . hunc ego si potui tantum sperare dolorem , et perferre soror potero . had i foreseene this griefe , or could but feare it , i then should have compos'd my selfe to beare it . which is the reason why philosophers prescribe the whole course of a mans life , to be only a meditation upon death ; because that being so great an evill in it selfe , and so sure to us , it ought to be so expected , as that it may not come sudden , and find us unprepared to meet the king of terrour . for it is in the property of custome and acquaintance , not only to alleviate and asswage evils ( to which purpose seneca speakes , perdidisti tot mala si nondum misera esse didicisti , thou hast lost thy afflictions if they have not yet taught thee to be miserable ) but further as aristotle notes , to work some manner of delight in things , at first troublesome and tedious ; and therefore hee reckoneth mourning amongst pleasant things , and teares are by nature made the witnesses as well of ioy as of griefe . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he kist the shore , fast teares ran from his eyes , when he his native countrey first espyes . and seneca ( whither philosophically or rhetorically ) observes , that obstinacy and resolvednesse in griefe , doth so alter the nature of it , ut fiat tandem infelicis animi prava voluptas dolor . that at length it turnes into a kind of pleasant paine , sure i am the apostle biddeth us count it ioy , when wee fall into temptations . the last presence of grief was reall , when some ponderous evill either of affliction or of sinne , the losse of some good wherein we delighted , the disappointment of some hope whereon we relyed meeting with impotency in our selves , to remove what we suffer , to recover what wee lose , to supply what we want , doth bruise and lie with a heavy weight upon the tenderest part of man , his soule and spirit . and in this i cannot find considered meerly in it selfe any worth at all ( it being nothing else but the violation and wounding of nature ) but in order to the effects which it produceth , it may have sundry denominations , either of a serviceable , or of a corrupt affection . i shall but briefly name them , and passe over to the next . the profitable effects are principally these : first , as it is an instrument of publique administration & discipline . it is as it were both a schoolmaster and a phisitian , to teach and to cure : so the philosopher telleth us , that by pleasure and pain , children are trained up unto arts and sciences , the rod being unto the mind , as a rudder unto a ship : so the prophet david putteth chastisement and instruction together : blessed is the man whom thou chastenest , and teacheth out of thy law , and again , ●…t is good for me that i have been afflicted , that i might learne thy commandements . therefore god the law in the wildernesse , where the people were in want and under discipline : to note that griefe is a good instrument unto learning ; for after in their prosperity they would not heare . and as it is a means to teach , so it is a means to cure too ; for therefore paine is usually made the matter of punishment , that as men offend by sinfull pleasure , so they may bee amended by wholsome sorrow . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cures are usually wrought by contraries . againe , it doth by experience strengthen and harden , making both wise and able , for enduring further calamities , quos deus a●…at , indurat & exercet . god exerciseth and traineth those whom he loves , bringing them up non in delicijs sed in castris , not in paradise , but in a wildernesse . now as the philosopher speaketh , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . experience is a kind of fortitude and armour , whereby a man contemneth , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many things which are indeed , but terriculamenta , skar-crowes to ignorant and weake minds . wheras when paines have wrought patience , and patience experience of an issue and escape , that experience armes the soule unto more patience in new assaults . for if gold were a rationall creature , having past through the fire and kept its own nature unviolate , it would never after be the lesse afraid of the fire . and as plutarch excellently speaketh , a wise man should be like gold , to keep his nature in the fire . strangers dislike many things in a place , which those , that are home-born , and used unto , do easily digest : thus the apostle argueth , god hath delivered , and doth deliver ; therefore he will deliver . so vlysses in homer . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . i 'le beare with a firme mind , what ere comes more , having endur'd so many griefes before . and elsewhere on the same manner he incouraged his companions on the sea. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. sirs , w' are not now to learne what sorrowes are , having felt so many ; and this now by farre comes short of that which we endured then , when the proud cyclops shut us in his den : yet that we scap't , he of his prey did misse , hereafter we shall joy to think of this . * thus as iron which hath passed through the fire , being quenched , is harder than it was before : so the mind having passed through troubles , is the more hardened to endure them againe . and therefore it is wise advice which learned men give , to let griefes have a time to breath , and not to endeavour the stopping of them , while they are in impetu , and in their first rising . as phisitians suffer humours to ripen , and gather to some head , before they apply medicines unto them . when time hath a little concoted griefe , and experience hardened and instructed nature to under it . it doth then willingly admit of those remedies , which being unseasonably applyed it rejecteth and resisteth . quis matrem nisi mentis inops in funere nati flere vetat ? non hoc illa monenda loco est . cum dederit lachrymas animumque expleverit aegrum , ille dolor verbis emoderandus erit . who would forbid a mother then to mourne , when her sons ashes are warme in his urne ? but when she 's cloyd with tears , & sorrow's rage is over , counsell then may griefe asswage . whereas before it doth rather exasperate than allay it . for of all passions , this of griefe doth lest admit of a simple cure from the dictates of reason , except it have a time given it too , wherein it may like unto * new wine , defervescere , slack , and come to its just temper again . the last profitable effect is feare and suspition , care or sollicitousnesse to avoid those evils which oppresse our nature ; a cautelous discourse and consultation of reason , how it may either escape or prevent the evils which experience hath taught it to decline , as a burnt child the fire . for all passions so long as they collect reason , and set that on work , are of good use in the minds of men ; and indeed , the counsels and communion of right reason alone , grounded on and guided by religion , are only that nepenthes and medicine against griefe , which who so mixeth and applyeth aright , shall not spend not load himself with unusefull sorrow . thuy as bee●… doe poise themselves with little gravell stones , that they may not be carried away with the wind , which the poet hath elegantly expressed : — — saepe lapillos , vt cyr●…ba instabiles fluctu jactante saburra●… tollunt , his ses●…per inania ●…bila librant . as ships with ballace , so the little bee with gravel's pois'd , that he may steady flee . so patience and wisedome in the bearing of one sorrow , doth keep the mind in a stable condition against any other . a man doth never over-grieve , that keeps his 〈◊〉 open to counsell , and his reason to judgement above his passion . the evill effects of griefe commonly followes the excesse of it , and they respect the reason , the will , and the body , in the reason , it worketh distractions , irresolution , and weaknesse 〈◊〉 by drawing the maine straine of it , rather to a fearefull contemplation of it's owne misery , then to a fruitfull discourse how to avoide it , for as the motions of a wounded body , so the discourses of a wounded minde are faint , uncertaine and tottering . secondly , in the will , it wo●…keth first despaire , for it being the propertic of griefe to condensate and as it were on all sides besiege the minde , the more violent the passion is , the lesse apparant are the passages out of it . so that in an extremity of anguish where the passages are in themselves narrow , and the reason also blind and weake to finde them out , the minde is const●… ned having no object but it 's owne pai●…e to re flect upon , to fall into a darke and fearefull contemplation of it's owne sad estate , and marvellous high and patheticall aggravations of it , as if it were the greatest which any man felt . not considering that it feeles it 's owne sorrow , but knowes not the weight of other mens . whereas if all the calamities of mortall men were heaped into one storehouse , and from thence every man were to take an equall portion . s●…crates was wont to say that each man would rather choose to goe away with his owne paine . and from hence it proceedeth to many other effects , fury , sinfull wishes and ex●…rations both against it selfe and any thing , that concurred to it's being in misery , as we see in israel in the wildernesse & that mirror of patience iob himselfe ; and thus homer bringeth in vlysses in des paire under a sore tempest bewailing himselfe . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . thrice foure times happy grecians who did fall to gratifie their friends under troy wall . oh that i there had rendred my last breath , when trojan darts made me a marke for death , then glorious rites my funerals had attended , but now my life will be ignobly ended . another evill effect is to indispose and disable for dutie , both because griefe doth refrigerate ( as the pilosopher telleth us ) and that is the worst temper for action ; and also diverts the minde , from any thing , but that which feeds it , and therefore david in his sorrow forgot to eate his bread , because eating and refreshing of nature is a mittigating of griefe , as pliny telleth us . and lastly , because it weakneth , distracteth and discourageth the minde , making it soft and timerous , apt to bode evils unto it selfe . — crudelis ubique luctus ubique pa●…or . griefe and feare goe usually together . and therefore when aeneas was to encourage his friends unto patience and action , he was forced to dissemble his owne sorrow . — curisque ingentibus ager spem vultu simulat , premit altum corde dolorem . although with heavy cares and doubts distrest , his looks fain'd hopes and his heart griefes supprest . and it is an excellent description in homer of the fidelity of antilochus when he was commanded to relate unto achilles , the sad newes of patroclus death . — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 &c. when menelaus gave him this command , antilochus astonished did stand . smitten with dumbnesse through his griefe and feares , his voyce was stopt , and his eyes swamme inteares . yet none of all this griefe did duty stay , he left his armes whose weight might cause delay . and went , and wept and ran , with dolefull word , that great patroelus fell by hectors sword . * in a tempest saith seneca , that pilot is to be commended , whom the shipwracke swalloweth up at the sterne , with the rudd●…r in his hand . and it was the greatest honour of mary mag. dalene , that when above all other , she wept for the losse of christ , yet then of all other she was most diligent to seeke him . lastly , in the body there is no other passion that doth produce stronger , or more lasting inconveniences by pressure of heart , obstruction of spirit , wasting of strength , drynesse of bones , exhausting of nature . griefe in the heart , is like a moath in a garment , which biteth asunder , as it were the strings and the strength thereof , stoppeth the voyce , looseth the joynts , withereth the flesh , shrivelleth the skinne , dimmeth the eyes , cloudeth the countenance , defloureth the beauty , troubleth the bowels , in one word , disordereth the whole frame . now this passion of griefe is distributed into many inferiour kindes , as griefe of sympathy for the evils and calamities of other men , * as if they were our owne , considering that they may likewise be fall us or ours which is called mercy , griefe of a repining at the good of another man , as if his happinesse were our misery : as that pillar which was light unto israel to guide them , was darknesse unto the egyptians , to trouble and amaze them , which is called envie . griefe of b fretfulnesse at the prosperity of evill and unworthy men , which is called indignation , griefe of indigence when we finde our selves want those good things which others enjoy , which we envie not unto them , but desire to enjoy them our selves too , which is called emulation , griefe of guilt for evill committed , which is called repentance , and griefe of feare for evill expected , which is called despaire , of which to discourse would be over-tedious , and many of them are most learnedly handled by aristotle in his rhetoricks . and therefore i wall here put an end to this passion . chap. xxiii . of the affection of hope , the object of it , good future , possible , difficult , of regular and inordinate despaire . the next ranks and series , is of irascible passions , namely those which respect their object , as annexed unto some degree of difficulty , in the obtaining , o●… avoiding of it , the first of which is hope , whereby i understand an earnest and strong inclination and expectation of some great good apprehended as possible to be obtained , though not by our owne strength , nor without some intervenient difficulties . i shall not collect those prayses which are commonly bestowed upon it , nor examine the contrary extreames of those who declaime against it , making it a meanes either of augmenting an unexpected evill , before not sufficiently prevented , or of deflowring a future good too hastily pre-occupated , but shall onely touch that dignity and corruption which i shall observe to arise from it , with reference to it's objects , causes , and effects . concerning the object or fundamentall cause of hope , it hath these three conditions in it , that it be a future , a possible , a difficult good. first , future , for good present is the object of our sense , but hope is of things not seene , for herein is one principall difference betweene divine faith , and divine hope , that faith being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the substance of things hoped f●…r , 〈◊〉 ever respect to it's object , as in some manner present and subsisting in the promises and first fruits which we have of it , so that the first effect of faith is a present interest and title ; but the operation of hope is waiting and expectation , but yet it will not from hence follow , that the more a man hath of the presence of an object , the lesse he hath of hope towards it , for though hope be swallowed up in the compleat presence of it's object , yet it is not at all diminished but encreased rather by a partiall presence , and as in massie bodies though violent motions be in the weakest , as being furthest from the strength that impelled them , yet naturall are ever swiftest towards the center , as nearest approaching unto the place that drawes them : so in the hope●… of men , though such as are violent and groundle●…sse proove weaker and weaker , and so breake out at last into emptinesse and vapour . in which respect * philosophers have called hope the dreames of waking men ; like that of the musitian whom dionissiu●… deceived with an empty promise , of which i spake before : yet those that are stayed and naturall , are evermore strong , when they have procured a larger measure of presence and union to their object , qu●… propius accedimus ad spem fruendi eò impatientius caremus . the nearer we come to the fruition of a good , the more impatient we are to want it . and the reason is because goodnesse is better knowne , when it is in an nearer view of the understanding , and more unite thereunto . and the more we have of the knowledge of goodnesse , the more we have of the desire of it , if any part be absent . besides all greedinesse is attractive , and therefore the more we know of it , the faster we hasten to it . and it is the nature of good to encrease the sense of the remainders of evill . so that , though the number of our defects be lessened by the degrees of that good we have obtained unto , yet the burthen and molestation of them is increased , and therefore the more possession we have of good , the greater is our wearine●… of evill , and the more nature sceleth her defects , the more doth she desire her restauration . the next condition in the object of our hope is possibility , for though the will sometimes being inordinate may be tickled with a desire of impossibilities , under an implicit●… condition , if they were not so , yet no hope whither regular or corrupt can respect it's object under that apprehension . it worketh two passions most repugnant to this , hatred and despaire , the one being a proud opposition , the other a dreadfull flight , from that good , in which the mind perceiveth an impossibility of attaining it . now the apprehension of possibility is nothing else but a conceit of the convenience and proportion , betweene the true meanes unto an end hoped , and the strength of those powers which are to worke or bestow them ; or if they be such ends as are wrought without any such meanes , by the bare and immediate hand of the worker ' , it is an apprehension of convenience , betwixt the will and power of him that bestoweth it . here then because i finde not any arguments of large discourse in the opposite passion , ( unlesse we would passe sró natural or morall unto theologicall handling thereof ) we may observe what manner of despair is only regular & allowable , i mèan that which in matters of importance drives us out of our selves , or any presumption and opinion of our own sufficiency . but that despaire which riseth out of a groundlesse unbeliefe of the power , or distrust of the goodnesse of a superiour agent ( especially in those things which depend upon the will and omnipotency of god ) hath a double corruption in it , both in that it defiles , and in that it ruines nature : defiles , in that it conceives basely of god himself , in making our guilt more omnipotent than his power , and sinne more hurtfull than he is good : ruines , in that the minde is thereby driven to a flight and damnable contempt of all the proper means of recovery . of this kind of despaire , there are three sorts : the one sensual , arising out of an excessive love of good , carnal , and present ; and out of a secure contempt of good , spiritual , and future . like that of the epicures , let us eat and drink while we may , to morrow we shall die : the other sluggish , which dis-hearteneth and indisposeth for action , causing men to refuse to make experiments about that wherin they conclude before hand that they shall not succeed : the third sorrowfull , arising from deep and strong apprehensions of feare , which betrayeth and hideth the succours upon which hope should be sustained : as in the great tempest wherein saint paul suffered shipwrack ; when the sunne and starres were hid , and nothing but terrour to be scene : all hope that they should be saved , was taken away . the last condition in the object of hope , was difficulty , i mean in respect of our own abilities , for the procuring of the good we hope for ; and therefore hope hath not only an eye to bonu●… , the good desired ; but to auxilium too , the help which conferres it . no man waiteth for that which is absolutely in his own power to bestow upon himselfe ; omnis expectati●… est ab extrinseco , all hope is an attendant passion , and doth ever rely upon the will and power of some superiour causes , by dependance whereupon it hath some good warrant to attaine its desires . and thus in divine hope , god is in both respects the object of it , both per modum boni , as the good desired , & per modum auxilii , as the ayde whereby we enjoy him . so that herein all those hopes are corrupt & foolish , which are grounded either on an error concerning the power to help in some assistants ; or cōcerning the will in others ( as indeed generally a blinde and mis-led judgement doth nourish passion ; ) of the former sort , are the hopes of base & degenerous minds in their depēdance upon second and subordinate means , without having recourse to the first supreme cause ; which is to trust in lying vanities ; for every man is a lyar , either by impotency , whereby he may faile us ; or by imposture , whereby he may delude us . of the other sort , are the hopes of those who presume on the helps and wils of others , without ground & warrant of such a confidence ; whence ariseth a sluggish and carelesse security , blindly reposing it selfe upon such helps , without endeavouring to procure them unto our selves . and this is the difference betweene despaire and presumption : hope looketh on a good future , a●… possible indeed in it selfe ; but with all as difficult to us , and not to be procured but by industry and labour . now despaire leaveth out the apprehension of possibility , and looketh onely on the hardnesse : on the other side , presumption neve●… regardeth the hardnesse , but buildeth onely upon the possibility . and this is spes m●…rtua , that dead hope , which by the rule of opposition , wee may gather from the life of hope , spoken of by s. peter : for a lifely hope worketh such a tranquillity of minde ; as is grounded on some certainty and knowledge ; it is 〈◊〉 luminosa , a peace springing out of light ; but dead hope worketh a rest grounded onely on ignorance , such as is the security of a dreaming prisoner , which is rather sencelesnesse than peace●… and this is ten●…brosa ●…ax , a peace springing out of darknesse ; for a true peace is quiet ex fide , a beleeving rest ; but counterfeit is only quies ex somno , a sleeping or dreaming rest . the peace which comes from a living hope must have these two properties in it , tranquillity and serennity : otherwise it is but like the rest of mare mortuum , whose unmovablenesse is not nature , but a curse . chap. xxiv . of the causes of hope , want , and weakenesse together , experience and knowledge . in what sence ignorance may be said to strengthen , and knowledge to weaken hope : examples quicken more than precept . provision of ayds : the uncertainty of outward means to establish hope , goodnesse of nature , faith and credulity , wise confidence . the next things to be confidered , are the causes of this passion : the first impulsive cause of hope is our want , & our weakenesse put together , the one driving us ad bonum , to the object ; the other ad auxilium , to the aid ( and wheresoever there is indigence , there is impotence likewise . ) now in what man soever we finde these two unsupplyed , there is the root and fundamentall ground of hope ; notwithstanding for the defects of other conditions , the creature may be carried to the quite opposite passion ▪ out of an apprehension of an inevitable subjection unto evill , and utter banishment from the fountaine of good . so then of those three estates of man ; the estate of fruition , which is their sabbath and rest ; the estate of travell , which is the day of worke , and the estate of damnation , which is the night of despaire : in the first we have the accomplishment ; in the third the finall overthrow ; in the second the exercise of our hopes : ) because in that alone our indigence may by gods fulnesse be filled , and our impotence by his will and power supplyed . in which respect , all men have roome for hope to enjoy god their last good ; though not a hope of confidence , assurance , and expectation , which is peculiar only unto the godly ( who alone have a present interest in his promises ; ) yet such a generall hope as may well suffice to s●…op the mouth of any temptation , whereby we are solicited to undervalue the power , or to conclude the unwillingnesse of god to help us . the next cause of hope is experience and knowledge , both in the nature of the thing hoped for , and of the means conducing to the attain ment thereof . for notwithstanding it may often fall out , that ignorance of things , and the not tryall of our strength or others opposition , or of the difficulties of the object , may with hot and eager minds , worke presumptions of successe , and an empty and ungrounded hope ( which is the reason why young men and drunken men are both observed by aristotle to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , men of strong hopes ) being naturally or by distemper bold and opinionative : even as on the other side , strength and acutenesse of understanding ; because it sees so farre into the object , workes often diffidence , slownesse and irresolution in our hopes : as pliny out of thucydides observes ; and the philosopher likewise of old m●…n , that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men slow in th●…ir hopes ; because of great experience ; ) yet for all this , if we do observe it , both the former of these proceeds from some opinion of knowledg , as the later doth from some opinion of ignorance : for of drunken men , and those whom in the same place he compares unto them , aristotle saith , they are therefore confident ▪ quia seputant superiores , because they beleeve much in their owne strength . and of young men hee faith in the same place of his rhetoricks , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are peremptory in the opinion of their owne knowledge ; whereas , on the other side , as a ●…ame man placed upon some high tower , can overview with his eye more ground , than hee hath hope to overrun with his feet in a whole day ▪ so men that have attained unto some good pitch of knowledge , & are withall not insensible of their own weaknes , out of the vastnes of distance which they discover between themselves and their end , doe easily frame unto themselves as narrow hopes , as they doe large desires ; but then thi●… proceeds not from that knowledge which we have properly ▪ but only as it serves to discover unto us , how much knowledge we want . so then properly knowledge and experience is the cause of hope ; experience i say , either of the conquerablenesse of the object by our owne means : or of the sufficiency of the power , and readinesse of the will of him from whom wee expect further assistance : for a●… there is lesse casualty , and by consequence , more presumption to be had of an event of art th●…n of fortune ( the one proceeding from a gouern'd , the other from a blind and contingent cause ) so consequently there is greater hope & confidence to be given to the successe of an enterprise , grounded on experience , than of one ignorantly and rashly adventured on . experience 〈◊〉 as the philosopher observeth , the root of art ▪ 〈◊〉 unexperience 〈◊〉 of sort 〈◊〉 . now this experience may be such , either as our selves have had , or such as we have observed other 〈◊〉 to have ▪ 〈◊〉 which we have from our selves is the most forcible to 〈◊〉 this affection , because every man is the best 〈◊〉 of his owne abilities . and it is that which 〈◊〉 forth influence and force into all our actions ; nothing could more assure the hopes of david in his encounter with g●…liah , than an experience formerly had against creatures every way as formidable , a lyon and a beare , wherein notwithstanding they were the sheep of iesse , and not of god that were endangered . thus the eye of faith and hope looketh both backward upon the memory of actions past , and forward with courage and resolution on second enterprises : for though in some cases it be requisite with saint paul to forget that which is past , when the remembrance of it may be an occasion of sloath , wearinesse , and distrust ; yet there may a happy use be made of a seasonable memory in matters of difficulty , wherein haply our former successefull resolutions and patience may upbraid our present fears , and sharpen our languishing and sluggish hopes . o passi graviora , was the best argument which hee could have used to put his fellowes in confidence of that which hee added : — dabit de●… his quoque●…inem . since other greater griefes you have found ease , doubt not , but god will put an end to these , and in that great battell between scipio and hannibal , ad a●…nem ticinam ; though the victory by reason of the excellency of the generall , fell to the adverse part ; yet the romane generall could not have used a more effectuall perswasion unto hope , than when hee told his souldiers that they were to enter on a warre with those men who were as much their slaves as their enemies , as being such whom they had formerly themselves overcome , cum ijs est vobis pugnandum quos priore bell●… terrâ ▪ marique vicistis . you are to joyne battell with those whom in the former warre you conquered both by land and sea. a strong inducement ; though that in such a case , the feare of a second overthrow would more necessitate the one , than the hope of a second victory persuade the other to courage and resolution ▪ as we see in the hot battell between the greekes and the trojans , when hector had driven the grecians into their ships , and set some of them on fire , which is thus elegantly described by homer : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . these were the mutuall motions did engage the minds of greeks and trojans on this rage . the grecians all despair'd to escape the blow , deeming themselves neer to an overthrow . but former victory in those of troy , kindled a hope another to enjoy . they boldly promis'd to themselves the day , the grecians ships to burne , and then to slay , thus hope of victory inflam'd the one , th' other were more inflam'd , 'cause they had none . that experience from others , which may enliven and perfect our hope , in the applying their examples and successes to our owne encouragements . for since the nature of most men is like that of flocks , to tread in one anothers steps ( precidents having the same precedence to reason in vulgar judgements , which a living and accompanying guide hath to a mercuryes finger in a travellers conceipt ; the one only pointing too , but the other leading in the way . and as i finde it observed , that running mettall will sooner melt other of its owne kind , than fire alone : so the examples of vertue will sooner allure and prevaile with the minds of men , to frame them to the like resolutions , than a naked and empty speculation of precepts . it hath pleased nature to make man , not onely a morall , but a sociable creature , that so when his hopes towards good should languish and grow slacke by any conceived prejudices against the reason of precepts , they may againe be strengthened by the common and more obvious and common sense of examples . segnius irritant animos demissa per aures , quam quae sunt oculis commissa fidelibus — those things more sluggishly our minds excite , which enter at the eares , than at the sight . sight which is the sense of example , is oftner imployed in the government of our passions , than hearing , which is the sense of precept . and therefore when the poet would sit an advise for the person of ascanius , hee doth not bring any tedious , thorny , morall discourse ; but he works upon that affection which is most predominant in ingenuous and noble natures . — te animo repetentem exempla tuorum , et pater aen●… , & avanculus excitet hector . recont the brave examples of thy bloud , and what thou hast in them seen great and good , let be thy patterne , that the world may see father and vncle both alive in thee . for though an argument from example , to prop a sainting hope be weakest in respect of convincing demonstration ; yet it is strongest , in respect of morall and persuasive insinuation , as inferring greater descredit upon a sluggish and unnecessary despaire . and therefore they were brave instructions which agamemnon gaue unto menelaus , when he commanded him to goe into the army of the grecians , and animate them unto the battell . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . run through the army , cry , encourage all , mind them of their progenitors , and call each by his name , prayse them , and let us too what we command to others , our selves doe . it is true indeed that some men are blessed with a greater e●…cellency of gifts than others ; yet we are not to thinke that any man was ever made , as seneca speaks of cato , in convitium humani generis , for a reproach of mens weaknesse , rather than for an example and incouragement of their actions : or for astonishment rather than emulation unto others . this being one end of nature , in framing men of great vertues , not onely that wee might wonder and beleeve , and know that the same things which for the greatnesse of them , are the objects of our admiration , may as well for their possibility be the objects of our hope ; and the incouragements of our industry . the third cause of hope , may be large furniture with , or strong dependance upon the assistant mean●… of what is hoped for helps in any enterprize are in stead of head and hands , to advance a man●… designe , which likewise is elegantly exprest by diomedes and s●…rpedon in homer : — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . if any second would accompany , my hopes and courage would the greater●…e : for when two joyne , the one may haply note what the other everpass'd ▪ or if he kn●…w it , his counsell would be weake , and his mind slow , when he should execute what he do's kn●…w . and according as these means , which wee rely upon , have more or lesse power or certainty in them ; they are foundations of a more regular o●… corrupt hope such are wealth ▪ friends , wit , policy , power , or the like . all which can be causes onely of a hope of probability , but not of certainty ; because they are all means which are sub●…ect to 〈◊〉 age , and are also subject to the providence of god , who only can establish and give finall security to our hopes , as being such an assistant , in whom there is neither weaknesse nor mutability , which should move him to disappoint us . all other ayds have two ill qualities in them ; they have wings , and therefore can easily forsake us ▪ and they have thornes , and therefore if we leane too hard on them , they may chance in stead of helping , to hurt us . the best promises which earthly aydes can make , are bounded by adouble condition . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . if the thing ly●… within my power to doe , and divine providence permits it too . here then we may discover corruption in this passion , when the mind ready upon every present approhension to play the proph●…t in forecasting future events , shall out of weake grounds , and too high a conceipt of those means which it hath , so build unto it selfe peremptory imaginations for the future , as that thereby it is made in it selfe light & opinionative , and upon occasion of disappointment , is to seeke of that patience to sustaine it , which by a wise intermixtion of feare and caution might have been retained . and as there is an errour in the ●…rust and affiance , so there may be in the use of those means : for though divine hope hath but one anchor to rest upon , and therefore hath but one manner of being produced ; yet these lower hopes , of which i speake , doe alwaies depend upon the concurrence of divers means , and those likewise have their reference unto divers circumstances . and therefore those which have not the wisdome of combining their ayd●…s , and of fitting them unto casuall occurrences , may to no end nourish in themselves imaginary and empty presumptions . and this is that which maketh all worldly hopes so full of lightnesse and uncertainties , leves spes & cer●…aminas , as the poet calleth them ; because it may fall out , that the neglect of but some one circumstance ; the not timeing or placing our actions right ; the not accommodating our means to the variety of of occasions ; the miscarrying in some one complement or ceremony ; the having of our minds , either too light and voluble ; or too fixed and constant ▪ or too spread and wandring ; or too narrow and contracted ; or too credulous and facile ; or too diffident and suspitious ; or too peremptory , resolute , or hasty ; or too slow , anxious , and discursive ; or too witty and facetious ▪ or too serious and morose , with infinite other the like weaknesses ( some whereof there is not any man quite freed from ) may often notwithstanding the good store of other ayds , endanger and shipwrack the successe of our endeavours : so that in the prosecution of a hope , there is something alike industry , to be used as in the tryall of mathematicall conclusions , the mediums whereunto are so touched and dependant upon one another , that not diligently to observe every one of them , is to labour in vaine , and have all to doe againe . a fourth cause of hope , may be goodnesse and facility of nature , whereby we finde a disposition in our selves of readinesse , to further any mans purposes and desires , and to expect the like from others ; for it is the observation of aristotle , touching young men , sud ipsorum innocentiâ cateros metiuntur . their own goodnesse makes them credulous of the like in others . for as every mans prejudice loves to find his owne will and opinion ▪ so doth his charity to find his owne goodnesse in another man. they therefore who are soft and facile to yeeld , are likewise to beleeve , and dare trust them whom they are willing to pleasure . and this indeed is the rule of nature , which makes a mans selfe the patterne of what it makes his neighbour the object . now from this facility of nature proceeds a further cause of hope ; to wit , faith and credulity , in relying on the promises which are made for the furtherance thereof : for promises are obligations , and men use to reckon their obligations in the inventory of their estate : so that the promises of an able friend , i esteem as part of my substance . and this is an immediate antecedent of hope , which according as the authority whereon it relles , is more or lesse sufficient and constant , is likewise more or lesse evident and certaine . and in these two , the corruption chiefly is not to let iudgement come betweene them and our hopes . for as he said of lovers , we may of hopes too , that oftentimes sibi somnia fing●…nt , they build more upon imagination than reality . and then if what tacitus speakes in another sense , fingunt , creduntque if our facility faine assistances , and our credulity rely upon them , there will issue no other than ixious hope , a cloud for inno. and therefore aristotle out of an easinesse to hope , collects in young men , an easinesse to be deceived , credulity very often m●…ets with impostures . and hee elsewhere placeth credulous , modest , quiet and friendly men amongst those who are obnoxious to injuries and abuses . proud and abusive men making it one of their pleasures to delude and mislead the ingenuity of others : and as once apelles , to deceive the expectation of another with a curtaine for a picture . the last cause ( which i shall but name ) of hope , is wise confidence , or a happy mixture of boldnesse , constancy , and prudence together ; the one to put on upon an enterprize ; the other , to keep on when difficulties unexpected do occurre ; and the third , to guide and mannage our selves amidst those difficulties : for as he said in studies , so wee may in actions likewise ( when thus swayed and ballanced ) altiús ●…unt , qui ad sum●…a ●…ituntur . the further wee set our aimes , the more ground wee shall get , and then , — possunt quia posse videntur ▪ when a man thinks , this i can doe , by thinking , he gets power too . and unto this doth the historian attribute all the successe of alexanders great victories , nihil aliud quā benè ausu●… vana contemnere , his confidence judging them feacible , did by that means get through them . and though it was vehterous ; yet as the case might be , it was wise counsell which we finde in the same historian , * audeamus quod credi , non potest ausuros nos , eo ipso quod difficillimum videtur , facillimum erit . let us shew our courage in adventuring on some difficult enterprize , which it might have been thought wee would not have attempted , and then the very difficulty of it will make it the more easie : for our enemies will conclude that our strength is more than they discover when they see our attempts greater than they could suspect . thus men teach children to dunce in heavy shooes , that they may begin to conquer the difficult in the learning of the art. and therfore the philosopher telleth us , that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bold men , are men of hope ; for boldnesse suffers not a man to be wanting to himselfe : and there are two principles which incourage such men upon adventures ; the one , audentes fortuna invat . that resolution is usually favoured with successe ; or if it misse of that * magnis tamen exidit ausis ; yet the honour of attempting a difficulty , is more than discredit of miscarriage in it . chap. xxv . of the effects of hope : stability of mind : wearinesse , arising not out of weaknesse , impatience , suspition , curiosity ; but out of want , contention , and forth-putting of the mind . patience under the want , distance , and difficulty of good desires , waiting upon ayde expected . the effects of hope follow , which i will but name : the first is to free the mind from all such anxieties as arise out of the floating , instability , and fearefulnesse thereof : for as the philosopher telleth us , fearefull men are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , hard of hope : and in this property , hope is well compared unto an anchor ; because it keeps the mind in a firme and constant temper , without tottering and instability : for though there be but one hope joyned with certainty as depending upon an immutable promise all other having ground of feare in them ; yet this should be only a feare of caution , not of iealousie and distrust ; because where there is distrust in the means , there is for the most part weaknesse in the use of them ; and hee who suspects the ayde which he relyes on , gives it just reason to faile and to neglect him . and therefore aristotle hath set hope and confidence together , as was before noted , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a good hope is grounded on a beleefe , and alwaies worketh some measure of affiance in the means unto it . a second effect of hope , is to worke some kind of distaste and wearinesse in our present condition , which according as it is good or evill , doth qualifie the hope from whence it ariseth : for there is a distaste that ariseth out of weaknes ; like that of iob , my soule is weary of my life ; i am a burthen unto my selfe . another that ariseth out of want , that which ariseth upon weaknes is a fickle and unconstant mutability of the mind , whereby it desireth a continuall change of condition : which affection is wrought either out of impatiency of opposition ; whence the mind upon the first difficulty which it meets with , is affrighted and discouraged ; or out of a sharpnesse of apprehension , discovering insufficiency in that wherein it desired content ; or out of an errour , and too high estimation fore conceived , which in the tryall disappointing our hopes , and not answering that opinion , begins to be neglected as weake and deceitfull : or lastly , out of curiosity and search , when wee suppose that those things which cannot in their nature , may at least in their varieties , number , yeeld some content : and as sands , which are the smallest things asunder ; yet being united , grow great & heavy : so these pleasures , which are alone light and worthlesse , may by their multitude bring weight & satisfaction with them . although herein the minde is likely most of all to find solomons vanity ; the vnion of things subordinate , and which have no cognation each to other ( which is the property of worldly delights ) working rather distraction than tranquillity in the mind ; this wearinesse then which springeth from the vnstaydnesse and impotency of our affections , is not that which i make the effect of a proper hope ( as being an opposite rather to true contentment of mind , a vertue established , and not overthrowne by hope ) the wearinesse then , which is wrought by the forecast and providence of a minde possessed with hope , is that which is grounded upon the knowledge and feeling of our emptinesse and wants , which therefore we long to have removed : like that of david , w●… is me that i am constrained to dwell in mese●…h ; wherupon followeth , the third effect of hope , which is an earnest contention of the minde , in the pursuit of that good , which should perfect our natures , and supply our wants . and this desire saint paul calleth gemitus creatura , the groaning of the creature : which is set downe as a consequence of the earnest expectation of the creature : and indeed there is not any passion , which doth so much imploy , and so little violate reason , as this of hope doth , it being an exciting passion , which moveth every principle to its proper and speedy operation for gaining that perfection which the mind so earnestly breathes after ; & the want wherof doth work such weaknes in it . the last effect of hope , is a contented repose and patience of the mind , resting it selfe in a quiet expectation of the things hoped for , and yet not exhibited . and this patience is threefold ; a patience under the want ; a patience under the distance ; and a patience under the difficulties of our desired good ; which holds especially in these hopes ( and those are almost all ) which depend upon the will and disposition of another , whose pleasure it behooveth us in matters which are not of debt and necessity , rather to attend , than by murmuring and discontent to provoke him , and disappoint our selves . hasty therefore and running hopes are as improper in their nature , as they are commonly vaine and empty in their successe . hee that beleeves , and must by faith depend upon externall help , must not make haste , but be content to have his expectations regulated , not by his owne greedinesse , but by anothers will. chap. xxvi . of the affection of boldnesse . what it is . the causes of it , strong desires , strong hopes , aydes , supplyes , reall , or in opinion . despaire and extremities , experience , ignorance , religion , innocency , impudenc●… , shame , immunity from danger , dexterity of wit , strength of love , pride or greatnesse of mind and abilities . the effects of it , execution of things advised , temerity , &c. so little in love hav●… i e●…er bin with this affection of 〈◊〉 ( as i find it mannaged by many , who make no other use of it , then children do of straw , with which they stuffe empty clothes , that they may looke like men ) as that when first i writ this tractate , i passed it over rather as a vice , than an affection of the soule , and said nothing of it . and being no more friends with it now then i was then , i should be contented to have left it out still . but that i would not have the treatise defective in such a member , whereof there may be so good and so ill use made , as experience sheweth us there is of this . for as * plutarch notes of aegypt , that it bringeth forth multa vene●…a , & multa salubria , many good things , and many bad : like those creatures , some parts wherof are poyson , and others restorative : so may wee say of the men in whom this affection is predominant , that they are usually instruments either of much good , or of much evill to the places that nourish them : as once thomistocles his tutor said of him . the best mixture that i can call to mind of this passion , was in hannibal , of whom the historian tels us , that he was marvellous 〈◊〉 to put upon dangers ; and yet marvellous wise in managing of them : his courage not working temerity , nor precipitating his resolutions : and his counsell not working slownesse , nor retarding his courage . boldnesse then or confidence , is ( as the philosopher describes it ) a hope joyned with fancy and opinion , that those things which are safe for us , are neer at hand ; and those which are hurtfull , either are not at all , or are a farre off , and cannot suddenly reach us : or it is an affection whereby we neglect danger for the procuring of some difficult and good thing , which wee earnestly desire and hope for , in confidence to overcome and breake through that danger : for confidence of victory is that which maketh a man boldy to prosecute the danger which opposeth him in his hopes of good. so that two things belong unto the formality of this passion . . vehemency of hope , whatsoever strengthneth that , causeth this , as power , experience , friends , neerenes of ayds , and the like . . exclusion of feare , whatsoever removeth that , increaseth this : as distance from danger , freenesse from enemies , cleernes from injuries , &c. the object of this passion is twofold . the primary and principall object is some difficult worke under the relation of a needfull medium , to the obtaining of a good vehemently desired and hoped for . the secondary object , is some evill and danger , which standing between our hope , and the good for which we hope , is by the v●…hemency of our hope , as it were removed and despised in our eyes , good earnestly desired , and evill confidently despised , are the things about which this affection is conversant . the causes of this affection are so many the more , because it is apt to be excited by clean contrary reasons . the fundamentall and principall cause of it , is strength of desire , working vehemency of hope , and impatiency of resistance , or restraint from the thing desired : for lust when it hath once conceived , will at last bring forth and finish , and rush forward to that after which it longeth , which the philosopher calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and saint peter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a pouring out of passion , and the prophet a breaking forth and violent eruption , a rash and head. strong praecipitancy , which like a torrent venters upon any thing that withstands it . the philosopher instanceth for this particular in adulterers , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . who adventure on many bold attempts for the satisfaction of their lust. but because where there are strong desires , there may be weake hopes , and great feares , the one discouraging , the other deterring from the prosecution of them , therefore to the emboldening of those desires , other particular causes doe usually concurre . some whereof i shall enquire after . then strong hopes , and ready , present aydes and supplies proper to the end , which we would advance are excellent meanes to generate boldnesse . great aydes as the catts vnum magnum , or many aydes , that if one faile another may hold. as greatnesse of wealth , friends , power , strength . and these in a readinesse and ●…re at hand . ▪ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ as the philosoper expresseth it , as the trojans being besieged when 〈◊〉 with his armie drew neare , gathered cou●…ge above their feares . — clam●…rēm ad sydera tollunt , darda●…idae muris ; spes addita suscitat iras tela ma●… iaciunt . they all climb'd up the wals , thence fill'd with ▪ joyes , shouted as loud , as if they meant the noyse should wake the stars , hopes added stir'd up ire and their dar●…s flew as swift as any fire . and in scriptures we are often quickened unto courage against the difficulties of our christian warfare by the greatnesse and the nearenesse of the aydes , and the reward which we hope for . yea , so strong a power hath hope over the resolutions of men that even the froth , and dreame , and fancy of it in drunken men , maketh them as the philosopher noteth marvellous ventrous upon dangers , which reason and sobriety would have taught them to feare . solomon tels us of a drunkard lying on the top of a mast , and i have my selfe seene a drunken man climbe to the top of a steeple . which boldnesse proceedeth in such men from weaknesse and wilfulnesse of selfe-conceit , and opinion , for com monly that strength , which a drunken man looseth in his reason , he gathers in his fancy , and as his judgement weakens , his opinion encreaseth . and we shall never finde men more confident in their affirming , then when they know not what they affirme . now upon this ground , that hope is the great quickner unto courage , it was , that alexander used it as an argument to his souldiers against the persian , when he saw them come into the field cloathed so richly , that their armes were much rather a prey to the greekes , then a defence unto themselves , in which respect homer thus derides amphimachus . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in glitering gold , like a faire damsell , clad he came to fight : vaine man why art so mad to thinke that iron is kept backe by gold ? thou bring'st the price , for which thy selfe art sold. and yet upon a contrary reason , i finde one of the greatest and wisest commanders of the world iulius casar , requiring of his souldiers to carry gold about them that the feare of loosing that , might make them the more constant to their resolutions . contrary unto this we shall often observe , that despaire and extramities doe put men upon bold adventures . as no men fight more desperately then cowards when they cannot flie , as the historian noteth a of cu. pis●… a confederate of 〈◊〉 ▪ that by poverty he became desperate , and thereby emboldened unto that attempt , wherein he might either rise by the ruine of others ( having neither merit nor hope to rise by their favours ) or at least not be ruined without company . b as that which shakes a tree , doth often serve to settle and fasten it : so many times dangers and c extremities doe excite strength , as in the height of a fever or frenzie , men shew more strength and agility of body , then in their per●…ectest health . and as they say of d beasts , they bite with more venome and indignation when they are wounded , and ready to die . and therefore homer expresseth the dying of wounded enemies by biting of the ground ; so utmost extremities of miseries make men put out the more boldnesse in either revenge o●… new attempts , because they may be better , but they cannot be worse . a and it is a kinde of impunity to be so low as that a man hath not a condition to fall from . b m●…riensque recepit . quas n●…llet victur●…s aqu●…s . in a famine a man will eat and drinke that which in plenty he could not have the courage to looke on . and this cause of boldnesse is thus expressed by the poet when he sheweth how the youth of troy , seeing their citie burnt and sacked , grow unto a desperate resolution . si●… animi●… iuvenum fur●…r addit●… ▪ ●…de 〈◊〉 r●…ptores atra in nebula qu●…s impr●…ba ventris exeg●… 〈◊〉 rabies , cat●…que 〈◊〉 faucib●… e●…pectant siccis , per telaper hostes vad●…mus hand dubi●… in 〈◊〉 — thus youth did rage despairing of their lives , like wolves of prey whom extreame hunger drives from their yong thirsty whelps , through darkest sterms ; through darts and foes we rush an our owne harmes and being sure to die dare that , which feare with hope of life would force us to forbe●…e . another cause of boldnesse is experience , when a man hath often done a thing with successe , often seen dangers and escaped them . as marriners at sea , found other men , upon as small hopes as he himselfe hath ▪ to goe through the like matters without doubt or hesitation . for examples doe put life , hope , and emulation into men , as we noted before , and we are encouraged sometimes rather to a erre in good company , then to goe right alone , and this argument aentas used in the poet. v●…s & scylla●…m rabie●… , penitusque sonantes accestis sc●…pulos , v●…s & cyclopea saxa , exper●… : revocate a●…mos , mastumque tim●…rem m●…tite — you by charibdis , and by s●…ylla say●…'d , where waves through r●…ks did sound , nor hath prevail'd . ' gatust you , that w●…rser rocke the cyclops denne , then cast off feares , and shew your selves brave men . and a●… experience , so on the contrary side ignorance is as usuall ●… cause of confidence , as we see children will put their finger in the fire , and play with serpents , as not acquainted with any hurt they can doe for them . we may too often meet with men like waters or vessels , which the shallower and emptier they be , doe make the lowder noyse , and make use of other mens ignorance to gaine boldnesse and credit to their owne . to which purpose it is a grave expression of the poet. — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . th●…se whom wise men know for d●…ll with vulgar ●…ares are wondrous musicall . and as flies are esteemed very bold creatures , because they often returne to the same place : so the boldnesse of these kinde of speakers is usually discovered in vaine and emptie tautologies , which is the reason why ( as the orator noteth ) they are usually more copious then far learnedner men , quia doct is est electi●… & modus , because able speakers use choice and iudgement in what they produce . another cause of boldnesse in attempts may be religion , and a confidence of divine direction unto what we doe . ithu his pretence unto zeale , was that which caused him to walke furiously . and in this case as the historian speakes , melius vatibus quam ducibus parent . men are ap●…er to be led by their prophets then by their captaines . and we finde when god would encourage his people in their warres , he gave them signes and assurances for their faith to relie upon above their feares that where reason saw cause of doubting , faith might see all defects supplied in god , so to gideon ▪ to ahaz , to hezekiah , and others , and the church complaines of the want of them in their times of calamity . we see not our signes , neither is there amongst us any prophet , or any one that knoweth how long . when i●…suah did fight , moses did pray , and israel was more encouraged by the intercession of the one , then by the valour of the other . and the philistines were never more affrighted , then when israel brought forth the arke of god against them , for as ajax said in the poet , — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . — if god will fight , he can make weak men put the strong to flight . and therefore tolumnius the soothsayer having received happy auguria , doth thereupon grow to resolutions of courage . hoc erat , hoc votis , inquit , quod saepè petivi , accipio , agnocosque deos ; me , me duce , ferrum corripite ò rutili . this , this is that which in my chiefest thought i still desir'd , and now finde what i sought ; the divine tokens ●…embrace and see ▪ come souldiers , take your swords and follow me . unto this head of religion belongeth innocency , as a most excellent cause of boldnesse ; for the righteous is bold as a lyon , which careth not though a multitude of shepheards come out against him . and the philosopher tels us that they who have done no wrong unto others , are confident of successe in their attempts , beleeving that they shall finde no enemies , because they have provok'd none . a notable example , whereof wee have in m. publius furius the roman consul , who was so confident of his owne integrity in publike administration , that being deputed by lot to governe the province of spaine , hee chose the two bitterest enemies that he had in the city to be coadjutors with him in that dispensation . whereunto may be added the answer which drusus gave to him who would have contrived his house for secrecie , when hee told him that hee could wish his house were pervious and transparent that his privatest actions might be seene in publick . and as religion and innocencie , so on the other side deboishnesse and desperatenesse of living doth implant a marvellous boldnesse in the mindes and faces of men , when they have no modesty or shame to restraine them . as we see in gypsies , parasites , jugglers , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , neurospastae , and such like . and therefore such kinde of men both in scripture and in other writings , are said to have faces of brasse and necks of iron , whorish and impudent foreheads that cannot blush or be ashamed ; and these words , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , we shall finde for synonymies and of equall signification , whereof the former signifie despaire , impudence , and the other boldnesse . againe , as impudence , so shame and feare of disgrace is a great cause of boldnesse , in vertuous and honourable attempts ; for there is no man of generous principles , but will much rather chuse an honourable danger than a sordid safety , and adventure his person before hee will shipwrack his honesty or good name , choosing ever to regulate his behaviour rather by a morall than a naturall feare , to give an account of himselfe rather to those that love his vertues , than to those who love his fortunes . in one word standing more in awe of mens hearts than of their hands , and shunning more a iust reprehension than an vnjust injury . and to this purpose it is gravely observed by the historian , that the dishonour which the romans suffered , ad furcas ca●…dinas , was that which procured their adversaries a bloudy overthrow afterwards , quia ignominia nec amicos parat , nec inimicos t●…llit . their saving of the lives of the romans to bring ignominy upon them , being esteemed not a benefit , but a scorne : a very like example we have hereunto in the servants of david , abused and put to shame by ha●…un the sonne of ammon . and thus the poet expresseth the courage of dares revived by the fall which hee had from entellus : at non tardatus casu , nec territus heros , acrior ad pugnam redit , & vim suscitat ira , tum pudor incendit vires & conscia virtus . dares no whit dismay'd , renewe●… the fight with a more eager force , wrath doth excite the stouter courage , shame with valour met , inflam'd his minde , and did his weapon whet . another cause of boldnesse , is immunity from danger , or at least a versatilousnesse and dexterity of wit to evade it , or shift through it . and therefore though cunning men dare not alwaies second their contrivances with execution , nor let their hand goe in equipage with their wit ; yet commonly men of vigorous fancies are so far in love with their owne conceptions , that they will many times venture upon some hazards , to bring them into act , trusting the same 〈◊〉 to bring them out of danger , which hath at first made them to adventure on it : as dariu●… was wont to say of himselfe , that in a pinch and extremity of perill , hee 〈◊〉 ever wisest : and sylla gave the same judgment of himselfe , that he came off best in those businesses , which he was the most suddenly put upon , which also i finde observed in the character of our henry the seventh ( who hath had the felicity above all his praedecessor●… , to have his ●…ineamenti drawne by the ablest pen that hath êmployed it selfe in our story ) that his wit was ever sharpened by danger , and that he had a greater denterity to evade , than providence to prevent them . another cause of boldnesse ( as i have formerly noted on that passion ) is strength of love , as we see weake creatures , indefence of their young ones , will set upon those that are strong , and the tribune in a. gellius , out of love either of his countrey , or of glory , did not only advice , but himselfe undertake the executing of a service , where in hee was before-hand certaine to perish . and the same author telleth us of euclide , a desciple of socrates , who ventured in a disguise upon the evident danger of his life to enjoy the discourses and counsels of his master . lastly pride , greatnesse of minde or parts , and opinion of merit ; especially if it meet with discontentednesse and conceits of being neglected , doth very often embolden men to great and now attempts : for it is a very hard thing when great abilities and vast hopes meet together , to governe them with moderation . private ends being in that case very apt to engage a mans parts , and to take them off from publicke service unto particular advantage . and therefore i take it , there is no temper of minde that will with that evennesse and uniformity of proceeding , or felicity of successe , promote publicke and honourable ends , as height of abilities , with moderation of desires ; because in that case a man can never stand in his own light , no●… have any mist or obstacle between his eye and his end. now from this ground i beleeve did arise that maxime of some of the states of greece noted by tully , and at large debated by the philosopher , nem●… de nobis unui excellat , that they would not have any one man to be notoriously eminent in abilities above the rest , and thereupon instituted ostracisme , or an honourable bannishment , as a restraint either to abate the excessive worth of eminent men : or to satisfie and asswage the envy which others might conceive against them , who are apt to hate the vertues which they can onely admire : or lastly , to prevent the dangers which greatnesse of parts taking advantage of popularity and vulgar applause , might haply venture to bring upon things . vpon this ground the ephe sians expelled hermodorus ; and the athenians , aristides , because he was too just for the rest of the people . as one voice in a consort , which is loud above the proportion of the rest , doth not adorne , but disturbe the harmony ; and therefore usually m●…n of great parts , have lien either under envy or iealousie . mens minds out of i know not what malignity , being apt to suspect that that will not be used unto good , which might be abused unto evill , which tacitus noteth to have been the quality of domitian , and ammianus marcellinus of constantius towards men of the greatest worth . now according to the difference of this affection in different men , so it worketh two different effects . there is a happy and discree●… boldnesse , which doth not anticipate , but second and attend the mature counsels of the minde , and doth first call out and stirre up it selfe by wisedome , before it proceed unto action ▪ or execution ▪ like the boldnesse of the lyon , which is slow , but at last prospers in what it undertakes . for after counsell hath ripened resolutions , boldnesse is then the best instrument to accomplish them , and in that case , quo minus timoris , minus fermè perituli , as the historian speaks . the lesse feares are , the lesse also are their dangers , and the greater their confidence , the surer their successe : — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the greeks by venturing did enjoy their ten yeares wish , and gained troy , there is a a hasty and rash boldnesse , which beginning too speedily without counsell doth usually end too cowardly , without courage ; for rash men whom the philosopher cals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men made up of confidence and feare , are bold and boasting before a danger ; but in it very timorous ▪ or at least inconstant . lyons in peace , but harts in warre , as tertullians proverb hath it . a like those of whom livy and florus tell us , that they were more than men in the onset , and lesse than women in the issue , melting away from their resolutions like snow . and another ill property of the rashnesse of this passion is , that it will expose a man to more danger than the successe which it aimes at can compensate●…as he that fishes for a gudgeon with a golden hooke : or as vlysses who went backe to the cyclop●… his denne to fetch his cap and girdle which he had left behind him . another is , that it makes men overvalue themselves , and so undertake things too hard for them to endure or hold out in . like b menelaus in the poet , who would venture to fight with hector or ari●…ioxenus in tully , who being a musitian , would needs determine in questions of philosophy . lastly it hath a property as we say , to breake the ice , and to give the first onset upon dangerous attempts , which is a thing of very perillous consequence , not only to the author , but many times d to the publick peace too , c forward , exulcerated , and seditious spirits , being too ready to follow what they dare not begin . chap. xxi . of the passion of feare : the causes of it ; impotency , obnoxiousnesse , suddennesse , neerenesse , newnesse , conscience , ignorance of an evill . the opposite passion to this of of hope is feare : which being an equivocall passion , and admitting of many different kinds , can sca●…se have any whole and simple definition to explaine it . there is a vertuous feare ; a feare of sinne and shame ; an intellectuall feare of admiration , when the excellency of the object dazleth our eye ; a feare of reverence ; an astonishing feare , by reason of the newnesse ; and an oppressing feare , by reason of the neerenesse and inavoydablenesse of the evill sea red . it is a griefe , trouble , flight , aversation of some approaching evill apprehended , either as destructive , or as burthensome to our nature , and not easily resistable by our strength : for the qualification of the object thereof , because it is in all circumstances like that of hope ( save in the evill of it ) i shall therefore forbeare to touch it , and shall onely in briefe consider the dignities and defects thereof in its causes and effects . fear is an humbling & debasing passion , which alwaies importeth some manner of servitude and subjection in whom it resideth ; so then as in the former passion of hope i noted the fundamentall cause thereof to be weaknesse and w●…nt : so likewise in this of feare , the root and first principle is weakness●… and subjection ; whereof the one implyes a disability in us to resist , the other a necessity to undergoe an evill . hence it is that wee feare the displeasure of great men ; or the power of vnjust men ; or the competition of popular and plausible men ; or the cunning of close and malitious men ; or the revenge of provoked men ; or the guilt of injurious men that have wronged us already : because in all these cases there is some notice of weakenesse and subjection in us : so that feare is of all other a naked passion : for as nakednesse hath three evill properties ; to disable for defence ; to expose to injury ; and from both to work shame in the consciousnesse of our dejected condition : so likewise feare hath three properties ; to make us impotent and obnoxious ; and from both these to beget shame . for though his speech was true , rubor est virtutis color , that shame and vertue have the same colour ( which makes it seeme a companion rather of perfection than of weaknesse ; yet indeed it is rather a signe of a mind vertuously disposed in restifying the quicke apprehensivenesse of its own defects , than any adjunct of vertue it selfe . so then the roots of this passion are weaknesse and subjection both together ; so that where either condition is wanting , there is not any proper ground of feare , and therefore wee see sundry times strength takes off the yoake of obedience , not only in the civill government of men , but in the naturall government of creatures by men , to whom by the law of creation they were all made subject ; yet the strength of many of them hath taught them to ferget their originall subjection , and in stead of fearing , to terrifie man their lord ; and when ever we tame any of them , and reduce them to their first condition : this is not so much an act of our dominion , wherby we awe them , as of our reason , whereby we deceive them ; and we are beholding more therein to the working of our wit , than to the prerogative of our nature ; and usually every thing which hath knowledg enough to measure its owne abilities ; the more it hath of strength , the lesse it hath of feare ; that which solomon makes the strongest , the apostle makes the fittest to expell peare , to wit , love. so likewise on the other side , immunity from subjection in the midst of weaknesse removes feare . of this we may give an instance in guilty persons , who notwithstanding their weaknesse ; yet when once by the priviledge of their sanctuary or mercy of their iudge they are freed from the obligation of the law , though not from the offence ; their former feares doe presently turne into ioy and gratulations : and that is the reason why good men have such boldnesse , confidence , and courage , that they can bid defiance unto death ; because though they be not quite delivered from the corruption ; yet they are from the curse and condemnation of sinne , though by reason of their weaknesse they are not delivered from the mouth ; yet they are from the teeth and stings of death ; though not from the earth of the grave ; yet from the hell of the grave ; though not from sinne ; ye●… from the strength and malediction of sinne ▪ the law ou●… adversary must be strong , as well as our selves weake , if he looke for feare . the corruption then of this passion , as it depen●…eth upon these causes is , when it ariseth out of too base a conceit of our owne , or too high of anothers strength ; the one proceeding from an errour of humility , in undervaluing our selves ; the other from an errour of iudgement or suspition in mistaking of others . there are some men who as the or●…our speaks of despairing wits , de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ●…rentur , who are too unthankfull unto nature in a sl●…ight esteeme of the abilities shee ●…ath given them , and deserve that weakenesse which they unjustly complaine of : the sight of whose iudgment is not unlike that of perspective glasses ▪ the two ends whereof have a double representation ; the one fuller and neerer the truth ; the other smaller and at a farre greater distance : so it is with men of this temper , they looke on themselves and others with a double prejudice ; on themselves with a distrusting and despairing iudgement , which presents every thing remote and small ; on others with on overvaluing and admiring iudgement , which contrariwise presents all perfections too perfect . and by this means between a selfe-dislike , and a too high estimation of others , truth ever fals to the ground , and for revenge of her selfe , leaves the party thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 timorous . for as errour hath a property to produce and nourish any passion , according to the nature of the subject matter which it is conversant about : so principally this present passion ; because errour it selfe is a kinde of formido intellectus , a feare of the vnderstanding : and it is no great wonder for one feare to beget another . and ▪ therefore when christ would take away the feare of his disciples , he first removes their prejudice : feare not those that can kill the body onely , and can doe no more . where the overflowing of their feares seemes to have been grounded on the overiudging of an adverse power . thus much for the root and essentiall cause of feare : these which follow , are more casuall and upon occasion . whereof the first may be the suddennesse of a●… evill , when it ceiseth upon ( as it were ) in the dark : for all darknesse is comfortlesse ; and therefore the last terrible iudgement is described unto us by the blacknesse and vnexpectednesse of it , by the darknesse of night , and the suddennesse of lightning . all vnacquaintaince then and igno ▪ rance of an approaching evill , must needs worke amazement and terrour : as contrarily a foresight the●… of worketh patience to undergoe , and boldnesse to encounter it : as tacitus speaks of caecina , ambiguarum rerum sciens eoque intrepidus , that hee was acquainted with difficulties , and therefore not fearfull of them . and there is good reason for this , because in a sudden daunt and onset of an unexpected evill , the spirits which were before orderly carried by their severall due motions unto their naturall works , are upon this strange appearance and instant oppression of danger so disordered , mixed , and sti●…lled , that there is no power left either in the soule for counsell , or in the body for execution : for as it is in the warres of men , so of passions , those are more terrible , which are by way of invasion , then of battell , which set upon men unarmed and uncomposed ; then those which find them prepared for resistance : and so the poet describes a lamentable overthrow by the suddennes of the one side , and the ignorance of the other : invadunt urbe●… somno vin●…que sepultam . they do invade a city all at rest , which ryot had with sleep and wine opprest . and this is one reason why men inclinable to this passion , are commonly more fearfull in the night than at other times ; because then the imagination is presenting of objects not formerly thought on , when the spirits which should strengthen , are more retyred , and reason lesse guarded . and yet there are evils too , which on the other side more affright with their long expectation and traine , than if they were more contracted and speedy . som●… set upon us by sleath , affrighting us like lightning with a sudden blaze others with a train and pomp like a comet , which is ushered in with a streame of fire , and like thunder , which hurts not only with its danger , but with its noise : and therefore aristotle reckoneth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the signes of an approaching evill amongst the objects of feare . another cause of feare may be the neernesse of an evill , when we perceive it to be within the reach of us , and now ready to set upon us : for a●… it is with objects of sence in a distance of place ▪ so it is with the objects of passion , in a distance of time ; remotion in either , the greater it is , the lesse present it makes the object ; and by consequence , the weaker is the impression there-from upon the faculty : and this reason aristotle gives why death , which else where he makes the most terrible evill unto nature , doth not yet with the conceit thereof , by reason that it is apprehended at an indefinite and remote distance , worke such terrour and amazement : nor so stiffe reason and the spirits , as objects farre lesse in themselves injurious to nature ; but yet presented with a determined neerenesse . and the reason is plaine , because no evill h●…ts us by a simple apprehension of its nature , but of its vnion : and all propinquity is a degr●…e of vnion . for although futurition be a necessary condition required in the object , which must inferre feare ; yet all evill , the lesse it hath d●… future , the more it hath de terribili : which is the reason , why that carnall security , which is opposed to the feare of god , is described in the scripture , by putting the evill day farre from us , viewing as in a landskip and at a great distance the terrour of that day . and if here the atheists argument be objected , let us eat and drinke , for to-morrow wee shall die : where the propinquity of ruine is made an inducement unto ryot . wee must answer , that an atheist is here in both right and vaine , in that he conceiveth annihilation , or never more to be the best close of a wicked life ; and therefore most earnestly ( though most vainly ) desireth that it may be the issue of his epicur●…sme and sensuality . and here briefly the corruption of feare in this particular is , when it takes advantage by the approach of evill , to swell so high as to sinke reason , and to grow bigger than the evill which it is afraid of . — — propiusque pericl●… it timor , & major martis jam apparet imago ▪ their feare gets closer than the thing it feares , warres image bigger than it selfe appeares . for as it is a signe of distemper in the body , when the unequall distribution of nourishment and humours causeth some parts to exceed their due proportion of greatnesse : so is it likewise in the saculties of the minde , when the inferiour grow high and strong ; if reason raise not it selfe to such a proportion , as still to maintaine and manage its authority and government over them . but this is to be observed only of the rising and strength , not of the humility and descent of reason : for though it be fit for the power of reason to keep it selfe up above rebellion ; yet is it not necessary that it should stoup and sinke according to the lownesse or sordidnesse of any passion . as in the body , though we would have all parts increase alike ; yet if one part by distemper grow weake , wee require in the rest a fellow-feeling , not a fellow-languishing ▪ yea indeed in both cases , where the inferiour part is weaker , it is the course of nature and art to fortifie the higher ; because in a superiour there is required as well a power to quicken and raise that which droopeth , as to suppresse and keep under that which rebelleth . another cause of feare may be * newnesse of evill : when it is such , wherewith neither the minde it selfe hath had any preceeding encounter , whereby to judge of its owne strength ; nor any example of some other mans prosperous issue to confirme its hopes in the like successe : for as before i noted out of the philosopher , experience is in stead of armour , and is a kind of fortitude , enabling both to judge and to beare troubles : for there are some things which he elegantly calleth them , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . empty dangers : epictetus calleth them , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . scar-crowes , and vizors , which children feare only out of ignorance : as soone as they are knowne , they cease to be terrible . as the log of timber which was cast into the pond , did with the first noise exceedingly affright the frogges , which afterwards when it lay quietly , they securely swam about . and this ignorance and inexperience is the cause that a man can set no bounds to his feare . i grieve for so much evill as hath befallen me ; but i feare so much as may befall me ; and the more strong and working my fancy , the greater my feare ; because what i cannot measure by knowledge , i measure by imagination ▪ the figments of fancy do usually exceed truth . and from this ignorance likewise it is , that timorous men are usually inquisitive , as the philosopher notes ; and so the prophet expresseth the feare of the idumeans in the warre , watchman ! what of the night ? watchman ! what of the night ? feare usually doubleth the same questions , as griefe doth the same complaints . therefore men in a fright and amazement , looke one another in the face ; one mans countenance , as it were asking counsell of another ▪ and once more from hence grow the irresolutions of timorous men , because they know not what to doe , no●… which way to fly the things they feare : in which respect they are said to fly from an enemy seven wayes , as ever suspecting they are in the worst . pavidei semper consilia in incer●…o , they never can have fixed and composed counsels : and it is the usuall voice of men in their feares , i know not what to do , i know not which way to turne my selfe ; trembling of heart , and fayling of eyes , blindnesse and astonishment : ignorance and feare , doe thus usually accompany each other . and therefore the stoicks make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sluggish affection of minde , whereby a man shrinketh backe , and declineth businesse , because of difficulty of danger which hee observeth in it ; and a tumultuary and distracted frame of mind , not knowing which way to take , to be amongst the kinds of this passion of feare . the poet speaking of the sabine virgins , whom the romane youth snatched away , and tooke to them for wives , hath thus elegantly described this distraction of feare . vt fugiunt aquilat timidissima turba columbae , vtque fugit visos agna novella lupos : sic illa simuere viros sine lege mentes , constitit in nulla qui fuit ante color . nam timor unus erat , facies non una timoris pars laniat crines , pars fine mente sedet . altera maesta filet , frustra vocat altera matrem , haec queritur , stupet hac , hac fugit , illa manet . as weake and fearfull doves the eagle flie , and tender lambs when they the woolfe espie : so the affrighted sabine virgins runne pale and discolour'd , romane youth to shunne . their feare was one , but feare had not one look , part here sit reav'd of sense , part there doth pluck , and teare their haires , one silent mourns , another with a successelesse outcry cals her mother . one moanes , the fright another doth amaze : one flies for feare , for feare another staies . now the reasons why newnesse of evill doth thus work fear , may be many . for first , all admiration is ●… kind of feare : it being the property of man , not only to feare that which is against , but that also which is above our nature , either in regard of naturall and civill dignity , which worketh a fear of reverence ; as to parents , governours , masters ; or in regard of morall excellency and excesses above the strength of the faculty , which worketh a feare of admiration . now then it is the property of every thing , that brings novelty with it to worke more or lesse , some manner of admiration , which , ( as the honour of this ages learning cals it ) is a broken knowledge , and commonly the first step , which we make in each particular science : & therfore children are most given to wonder , because every thing appeareth new unto thē . now then when any evill shall at onc●… fright our nature , & pose our understanding , the more our ignorance doth weaken our reason , the more doth it str●…ngthen our passion . againe , though such evils may happily be in themselves but sleight , yet the very strangenesse of them will worke an opinion of their greatnesse : for as that of seneca is true , magnitudinem rerum 〈◊〉 sub duci●… : that use makes smal esteem of great things : so it will follow on the contrary side , that novelty makes evill appeare greater , as the way which a man is least acquainted with s●…emes the longest . * and therfore the romans did use themselves unto their gladiatory fights and bloody spectacles that acquaintance with wounds and blood might make thē the lesse fear it in the wars . and lastly , such is the imbred cautelousnesse of nature in declining all noxious things , and such is the common suspition of the minde , whereby out of a tendering of it's own safety , it is willing to know every thing before it make ex periment of any , and thereby it is made naturally fearfull even of harmlesse and inoffenssive thing●… ( omniatutatimens , much more then of those which bring with them the noyse and face of evill . now the coruption of this passion herein i●… , when it falleth too soone upon the object , and snatcheth it from the understanding before that it hath duely weighed the nature of it ; when ●…s aristotle speakes of anger ) that it runs away from reason with an halfe message , so the object shall be pluckt away from the understanding with an halfe judgemen●… . for when a man hath but an halfe and broken sight , like him in the gospel , he will be easily apt to judge men as big as trees , and to passe a false sentence upon any thing which he feares . another cause of feare may be conscience of evill and guiltinesse of minde , which like mud in water , the more it is stirred , doth the more soule and thicken : for wickednesse , when it is condemed of it's owne witnesse is exceeding timorous , and being pressed with conscience , alwayes forecasteth terrible things ; and as the historian speaketh of tyrants , so may we of any other wicked men , si recludantur mentes , posse aspici laniatus & ictus , their mindes with lust , cruelly and uncleane resolution , being no lesse torne and made raw , then the body flight with scourges : every vicious man hath a double flight from god , a flight from the holinesse , and a flight from the iustice of his will. adam first eates , and next he hides : as soone as he hath transgressed the covenant , he expects the curse , and therefore wee shall still observe that men are afraid of those whom they have injured . * al biciades having provoked the athenians , was afraid to trust them , saying , it is a foolish thing for a man when he may flie , to betray himselfe into their hands from whom he cannot flie . and therefore they who would have us feare them , desire nothing more then to be privie to our guilts , and to know such crimes of us , as by detecting of which , they have it in their power to bring either infamie or losse upon us . scire volunt secreta domus , atque inde timeri . into our secret crimes they pry , that so we may feare them , when they our vices know . and therefore innocency is the best armour that any man can put or against other mens malice or his owne feares : for the righteous are bold as a lion. other causes of feare might here be observed which i shall but intimate . as we feare active and busie men , because if they be provoked , they will stirre and looke about to revenge themselves . we feare likewise delators , because they are inquisitive and pry into the secrets of others . plutarch compares them unto cupping glasses which draw ever the worst humours of the body unto them , and to those gates through which none passed but condemned and piacular per sons . we may liken them unto flies , which resort onely to the raw and corrupt parts of the body , or if they light on a sound part , never leave blowing on it , till they dispose it to putrefaction . for this is all the comfort of malevolent persons , to make others appeare worse then they are , that they themselves , though they be the worst of men , may not appeare so . we feare also abusive and satyricall wits , which make use of other mens names , as of whetstones to sharpen themselves upon . omnes hi metuunt versus , odere poetas , fanum habet in corn●… , longe suge ; dummodo risum excut●…at sibi , non hic cuiquam parcet amico . et , quodcunque semel chart is illeverit , omnes gestiet a furno redeuntes scire , lacuque , et pueros , & anu●… — — these all hate poets , feare to suffer seorne from those curst wits , which carry hay in horne . shun them , they wil not spare their dearest friend to make thēselves sport . thē what they have pend th' are big with , till old wives & boyes that goe from ovens and from washpooles know it too . lasty , we feare , close , cunning ; and suppressed malice , which like a skinn'd wound doth wrankle inwardly : crafty , insinuative , plausible men , that can shrowd and palliate their revengefull purposes , under pretexts of love . i formerly noted it of tiberius , and a aelius spartianu●… observeth it of antoninus geta , that men were more afraid of his kindnesse then of his anger , because his use was to shew much curtesie there where he intended mischiefe . and b caesar was wont to say that he was not afraid of antony and dolabella , bold adversaries , but of brutus and cassius , his pale and leane enemies , who were able to smoother there passion , till they had fit opportunity to act it . the italians ( they say ) have a proverb wherein they promise to take heed themselves of their enemie , but pray to god to deliver them from their friend . and this as it is of all other the most dangerous and the most unchristian , so is it the most unworthy and sordid disposition of minde , ( i cannot finde wordes bad enough to character it c by ) which at the same time can both flatter and hate , and with the same breath praise a man , and undoe him . and therefore the d philosopher telleth us that a magnanimous man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . such an one as doth boldly professe as well his displeasure as his love , esteeming it timorousnesse to stifle and conceale his affections . of all christs enemies , iudas when he kissed him , the herodians when they praised him , and the devill when he confess'd him were the worst and ill-favouredest . a leprosie was ever uncleanest when it was whitest , and satan is never more wicked or more ugly then when he puts on samuels mantle . hatred when it flatters , is the most mishapen monster . like those poisons which kill men with laughing ; or like the philistines trespasse-offering , mice , and emerauds made of gold . chap. xxviii . of the effects of feare , suspition , circumspection , superstition , ' betraying the succours of reason , feare generative , reflecting , inward , weakning the faculties of the minde , base supition , wise caution . i proced to consider some of the effects of this passion , whereof the first may be suspition and credulity , which either other mens rumors , or our owne working imagination frameth untoit self . which effect of feare the historian hath wisely observed , retineri comeatus dum timet , credit , what he feared that he beleeved . and in another place speaking of the strange relations , which had been made of monsters , his iudgement on the report is , visa , sive ex metu credita . it was uncertaine whether they had beene really seen or beleeved out of feare . for as timorous men are by their own suspicion ready to frame unto themselves new terrours , and to feare where no feare is , which the poet hath observed . quae finxêre timent . — they are afraid , of fancies which themselves have made . so are they ready likewise to beleeve the apparition of their owne braine for reall terrours : for tacitus his speech is here likewise true : fingunt creduntque , first they feigne , and then they beleeve . now the reason hereof may be , first , the generall impression of nature , which being subject unto infinite dangers , hath therefore given it a wisedome of providence , and circumspection to foresee those evils , which cannot by dexterity be so easily shifted off , as they may at a distance be prevented ; so that wee finde even in the most cleare and undisturbed order of our operations toward any new thing ( though not apprehended as noxious and offensive to our nature ) untill it be better understood , a secret drawing back and feare least it should prove hurtfull unto us ; how much more then when it is once prepossessed with passion : for as cloth once died from it's naturall white , will take no other but a darker colour : so minds once steeped in the bitter a humours of this melancholique passion , will seldome admit of any , but more blacke and fearefull conceits . b and from this suspition of feare it is that timerous men are usually cruell when they gaine any advantage . their jealousie teaching them to doe that unto others which they feare from them . a second reason may be , because in feare the minde of man is drawne to a neerer sense of it's weaknesse , and to a more prejudicate apprehension of the adverse power : and therefore it is a true observation , c prona ad religionem p●…rculsa semel mentes , &c. mindes once possessed with fearefull conceits , are most forward in sacrifices , and religious ceremonies , to avert the evils , which they expect . so that as tacitus on another occasion speakes , inclinatis ad credendum . so i may say , inclinatis ad timendum animis loco omnium , etiam fortuna , when the minde is once drooping , things which before passed away as matters of course and casualty , are now drawne within the compasse of presages and emphaticall evils . but here by the way we are to remember that this credulity of feare is to be understood with respect to it 's owne suspition , otherwise in regard of those strengthening helpes which are given against it , it is ever incredulous : o thou of little faith ! why doest thou feare ? now this effect of feare is generally in it selfe a corruption of it : for though i would have a mans dangers make him provident and solicitous in the forecasting future evils out of a sound and sober conjecture , according as are the likelihoods of their event , and not have him flatter himselfe in a carelesse security , nor divert his minde from such unwelcome and pensive thoughts , like vitellius in tacitus , who in the neere approach of his fatall ●…ine , was trepidus dein temulentus , one houre fearfull , and the next drunken , smothering in himselfe every thought of ensuing danger , and enduring nothing but i●…cundum & l●…surum ; that which was pleasing , though harmefull to him ; yet i would not have the mind tormented with ungrounded fancies , and preoccupate evils to be no further effected than in our braine , because hereby it is made soft and irresolute , tumultuary and confused , and both wayes much indisposed and disabled for action . another ill effect of feare , is a dislike of whatever means reason presents for the freeing of us , whence issue inconstancy and continuall change of resolutions , hating all counsels when they are present , and recalling them when they are too farre past ▪ which effect is elegantly described by the author of the booke of wisedome , who saith that feare is a betraying of the succours which reason offereth : a submitting of them to the false interpretations of a crooked and prejudicate suspition , which overcuriously discovering weaknesse in all means , and making use of none , doth thereby betray nature into the hands of danger . * they say of a certaine fish , that it hath a sword , but it hath not a heart : a perfect embleme of feare , which though you put into armor , yet you cannot give it courage . and † therefore as he said , an army of lyons led by a hart , would doe lesse service than an army of harts led by a lyon , because in that case feare would betray her owne succours . and this i finde a frequent observation , that pavidis consiliain incerto . feare ever dazleth the eye , and blindeth the mind in all her counsels : and timor etiam auxilia reformidat . it is afraid of the very succors that are offered . and therefore it is noted as a great mastery of vlysses over his feares , that he could thinke and wisely advise what to do . — nec talia passus vlysses , oblitusq , sui est ithacus discrimine tanto . although with feares opprest ▪ yet he had not the cares and thoughts of his own peace forgot . now the reason of this may bee first , because feare is a multiplying and generative passion , ever producing motions of its owne nature . he●… which feares danger from anothers power , will easily feare errours or impotency in his owne ayds ▪ and it is * common with men to thinke themselves vnwise , when they feele themselves vnhappy ▪ & this very thought that they are so , doth i know not by what fascination make them so . so that as a chased buck , when he flyes from the dogges , doth many times fly into the net which was spread for him : so when our feares drive us from one mischiefe , the often hamper and intangle us in another . againe it is the property of feare , to make us euer reflect upon our own weaknes , & ( as i said ) not only to present it , but to worke it : as the sun when it discloseth unto us the glorious lights of the one part , is commonly it selfe hid in the other part of the heavens : as contrarily , when it shineth on the earth , it hides the starres : so it is in those two offices of reason ▪ the transient and reflexive act , that whereby we looke outward on others ; or inward on our selves , specially where there is passion to withdraw and pervert it ; as the one is stronger , so commonly the other is weaker : which is true most of all in this passion of feare , wherein the more we see of dangers from outward oppositions , the lesse we see of inward strength for resistance . insomuch that great minds , when they meet with great dangers , are oftentimes staggered , as the po●…t intimates , when ajax came forth to battell : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 feare had the other trojans all opprest ; yea hectors heart panted within his breast . a third effect may be a weaknesse of the fa culties of the minde , and the spirits in the body ; whereby the one is made unfit for search or counsell ; the other for service or execution . and hence ( as plutarch noteth ) it imports in the greeke , a binding or shutting up , and so withdrawing and indisposing the soule for action . and such actions , as feare forceth a man upon , are presumed to be so weake and unnaturall , that it is a maxime in the law , per metumgesta , pr●… non ratis habentur : those things which wee doe in feare , are void and invalide to binde , when the feare which forceth them is removed . and as it is in the civill state , so it is in the morall common-wealth of the soule , there are three principall wayes to inferre weaknesse , forreign incursions , intestine tumults , and an emptying of the parts , all which are to be seen in an extremity of feare . where first two things are to be granted , one concerning the body , and the other the mind . the first is , that the spirits being of the most strong , subtle , and quicke motion , are the principall instruments of entercourse , either in negotiation to , or service from reason : the other , that the mind being of a spirituall and elevating nature , retaines then the perfectest power of operation , when it least of all suffers the incursion of grosser passions , which yet i understand not of all manner of ministry and admixtion of appetite , with reason ( as if the regular motions of inferiour powers did not serve to sharpen the counsels of the higher ) but onely of invasion and tyranny . which granted , wee may observe all the three former causes of weaknesses in an extremity of feare . for first there is a confused and vnserviceable mixture of passion and reason : the passion with too much outrage and assault breaking in , and distracting the advices of reason , which is forreigne incursion : for , though these two are not parts of a different regiment ; yet they are of a different nation ( if i may so speake ) the one belonging to the higher , the other to the lower parts or region of the soule . secondly , there is tumult and disorder amongst the spirits , which is civill dissention . thirdly , there is a retyring of them to the principall castle or fort , the heart , whereby the outward quarters are left naked and vngarrison'd ; which though it be a strengthning of the better , yet it is a weakning of the major part , and this answereth unto emptying or vacuity . by all which , both reason is made unfit for counsell ( all the conceipts therof being choaked and stifled with a disorderly throng of spirits and passions ) ●…nd the body likewise is so benummed , that though our discourse were entire , yet it could not be there seconded with any successefull service . and hence are those many ill effects of feare upon the body , whitenesse of haire , trembling , silence , thirst , palenesse . horrour , gnashing of teeth , emission of excrements . the outward parts being over-cooled , and the inward melted by the strength of the spirits retyring thither . which homer hath thus described , speaking of a coward . his colour comes and goes , nor doth he set long in one place ; he croucheth to his feet ; his heart pants strong , and intercepts his breath , his teeth doe gnash with , but the thoughts of death . brave men are still the same , not much agast , when the first brunt of their attempts is past . where by the way we may observe what seneca also tels us , that feare doth usually attend the † beginnings of great enterprizes , even in the worthiest men . which mindeth me of one more , ( and that an usefull and profitable ) effect of this passion , i meane * care , wisedome , and caution , which ever proceeds from a moderate feare , which is a dictate of nature . and therefore the weakest fishes swim together in shoales , and the weakest birds build in the smallest and outermost boughes , which are hardest to come unto . and we may observe that nature hath made the weakest creatures swiftest : as the dove , the hare , the hart : and the † say that the hare is very quicke at hearing , and sleepeth with his eyes open , every way sitted to discouer danger before it surprise him . for as in religion , a feare that is governed by the word of god , so proportionably in morality : a feare grounded by the word of reason , is the principle of wisedome . as security and supinenesse is the root of folly , which tiberius replyed to the petition of hortulu●… , wherein he requested of the senate a contribution from the publicke treasury to recover the honour of his family , which now was sunke and began to wither . industry saith hee will languish , idlenesse will increase , if no man have feare or hope in himselfe : but all will securely expect a supply from others ; in themselves l●…zy and burthensome unto us : and it is the judgement of tacitus upon one of the wisest policies , which ever that emperour practised , i meane his writing to the legions abroad , tanquam adepto principatu , as if he were already emperour , when at home in the senate he used only modesty and refusals , that he did it out of feare , so wise a counsellor was his passion unto him . and we find that some * great commanders have caused their skout-watches to be unarmed , that feare might make them the more vigilant . and therefore this passion is the instrument of discipline , seasoning the minde , as ground colours doe a table , to receive those beauties and perfections , which are to bee superinduced . chap. xxix . of that particular affection of feare , which is called shame . what it is . whom we thus feare . the ground of it , evill of turpitude , injustice , intemperance , sordidnesse , softnesse , pufillanimity , flattery , vaine-glory , misfortune , ignorance , pragmaticalnesse , deformity , greatnesse of minde , vnworthy correspondencies , &c. shame , vitious and vertuous . besides this generall consideration of the passion of feare , there is one particular thereof , which calleth for some little observation ; namely , shame , which is a feare of just disgrace , and reproof in the minds of those , whose good opinion wee doe or ought to value , as hee said in the poet , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . now those whom we thus feare , are wise men , ( for so polydamas is said to looke behind and before him . ) aged men , and all whose presence wee reverence as parents , rulers , counsellers , friends : any whom we our selves admire , or who admire us . we feare disgrace with those whom we admire , because their judgement of us , is in our own apprehension , a kind of touch-stone , which is we cannot suffer the tryall off , argues us to be but corrupt and uncurrant mettail . and wee feare it with those who admire us , because as every man it willing to see his face when it is cleane , in that glasse which represents it fairest : so when it is soule , of all others he shunneth that most . in the former case we are in danger to misse of what wee desired ; in the other , wee are in danger to shipwracke what we before inioyed . wee are apt to be ashamed with our friends , because their opinion wee value , and with our enemies , because theirs we feare ; with our friends , because they are grieved ; with our enemies , because they are delighted with that which shames us . againe wee feare in this regard , rigid and severe men , who are not ready to forgive , not to put candide and charitable constructions upon what we doe . therefore when cat●… was present ( who was virrigida innocentia , a sterne and severe censor of the manners of men ) none durst call for the obscoene spectacles of their floralia , being more awed by the authority of the man , than al lured by the pleasure of the playes . likewise busy and garrulous men , because they enquire into our crimes , and having disclosed , do divulge them . for which cause wee feare in this case the multitude , because an ill name is like an ill face , the broader it is drawn , and the more light it hath about it , it appeares the more deformed . as a little gold beaten into thin leaves : a little water drawn into a thin steeme and vapor , seems wider than it was at first : so even lesser crimes being multiplied through the mouthes of many , do grow into a spreading cloud , and obscure a mans name . for hee is presumed to be void either of wisedome or modesty , that doth not feare many eyes . we feare innocent and vertuous men , their presence aweth us from liberty of sinning , and maketh us blush if they deprehend us in it , because examples have a proportionable authority over the heart of man , as lawes have , which wee doe not trespasse without feare . and therefore the philosopher adviseth to live alwaies so , as if some grave , and serious and severe person were ever before us , to behave our selves sub custode , & paedagoge , as under the eye of a keeper , because such a mans conversation will either regulate ours , or disgrace it . vitious men do the lesse feare one another , by how much they stand in need of mutuall pardon , as we finde stertorius ( if i forget nor ) giving those souldiers of the enemies army their lives , who had but one eye , hee being himselfe mon●…phthalmos . againe we feare envious and malevolent persons , because such looke upon our actions with prejudice ; and as momu●… when he could not finde fault with the face in the picture of venus , picked a quarrell at her slipper : so these men will ever have somthing either in substance or circumstances of our actions , to misreport and expose to scandall . lastly we feare those in this respect , whose company we shall most be used unto ; because that leaves us not time wherein to forget our errours , or to fortify our selves against them . it makes a man live ever under the sense of his guilt . in which respect cat●…major was wont to say , that a man should most of all reverence himselfe , because hee is ever in his owne sight and company . the fundamentall ground of this affection , is any evill that hath either guilt , or any kinde of turpitude in it , or any signes and suspitions thereof , reflecting either on our selves , or any of ours , whose reputation we are tender of . and thus the apostle telleth us , that all sinne is the matter of shame , when it is revived with a right judgement . what fruit had you then in those things whereof you are now ashamed . that which hath emptinesse in the beginning , and death in the end , must needs have shame in the middle . but though all sinne with respect to gods eye and iudgement doth cause shame yet in the eye of men , those cause it most which have any notable & more odious turpitude adhering unto them . as either obscene or subdolous , and dishonest actions when they are detected , forging of deeds defacing records , counterfeiting of names or seales , suborning of wit nesses , making use of ingenious professions , as cloakes to palliate , and instruments to provoke abusive and illiberall practises . such are all kinde of sordid actions or behaviours , as gaine raised out of despicable com modities , ( as a vespatian set a vectigal or excise upon pisse ) and the philosopher tels us of some that made a b gaine of the dead . such are also the livings which by sordid ministers , panders , bawdes , curtezans , a parasites , iuglers , b dela tors , cheaters , sharkes , and shifting companions make unto themselves , such the poets miser●… . — c populus me sibilat at mihi plaudo ipse do , si mul ac nummos contemplor in arcâ . the people hisse me all abroad , but i at home my selfe applaud . when in my coffers i behold , that which none hisse at , heapes of gold. many particular causes there are which are apt to excite this affection , some whereof i shall briefly name as . first sloth , and shrinking from such labour , which those that are better , older , weaker , more delicate then our selves doe willingly undergoe . thus menelaus in the poet seeing the grecians as fearefull to undertake a single combat with hector , as they were ashamed to deny it , did thus upbraid their cowardize . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . what grecian soldiers turn'd to grecian dames ? that can digest so great , so many shames ? what not a man of greece ( o fowle disgrace ) dare meet or looke proud hector in the face ? well , sit you downe inglorious , heartlesse men , turn'd to your first water and earth : yet then : i le take up armes ; for victories last end , doth not on our , but divine will depend . in like manner hector rebuketh the basenesse of paris in flying from menalaus . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . trim warriour , tell me what thy lute can doe , what venus graces , comely heire , sweet hew , when thou shalt wallow in the dust ? th' art far , fitter to weare stone-coat , then coat of war. againe , any thing which argueth pusillanimity or littlenesse of minde is a just ground of shame , as to recount curtesies & upbraid them , & therefore he said in seneca , non tanti est vixisse . that his life was lesse worth , then to be so valued to him , in daily exprobrations , and that his blood with lesse trouble to him might have beene let out at his veines , then to be every day disordered , and called up into his face . to receive continuall gifts , and be ever craving from our inseriours , burthen some to those who can lesse beare it . hereunto referre all light ludicrous and ridiculous behaviour , wherein if a grave or serious man be deprehended , it rendreth him suspected of a minde that can flag and lessen , and therefore agesilaus being so taken playing with his childe made his apologie for it , and desired his friend not to thinke light of him , till he had children of his owne , for love will teach greatnesse of mind to descend . also all sordid arts of a flattery , which praiseth , imitateth , creepeth , changeth , complieth , transformeth it selfe to all shapes to get a living , and like crowes pulleth out mens eyes , with praises that it may after more securely make a prey of them , fadum crimen servitutis , as the historian well cals it , a servile and filthy crime . any thing which argueth vanity , and windinesse of minde , as a arrogance , and vaine glorious ostentation , ascribing to our selves things which belong not unto us , intruding into the learning lands , ●…cheiements of other men , as hee who called all the ships in the harbour at athens his owne . labore alien●… magnam partam gloriam verbis sapè in se trans●…ovet . whereunto belong absurd , and unusuall affectations in words or fashions , mimicall and fantasticall gesticulations srothy and superficiall complements , strange and exoticke habits , which are usually the seum of light , and unsetled mindes , and ever expose them to contempt . in so much that alexander himselfe escaped not the imputation of lenity , when he followed the fashions of those countries which he had subdued . misfortune and decay in the outward ornaments of life , for it is not in mens fortunes , as in their monuments wherein b ruine doth many times conciliate reverence . nil habet infelix paupertas durius inse quam quod ridiculos homines facit — vnhappy poverty hath nothing worse , then that it maketh men ridiculous . and therefore men of sunk and broken estates are ashamed to live there , where they have beene formerly in credit and estimation , as hecuba complaining in the tragaedie . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this my broken and dejected case , pardon me , if i shame to shew my face . to polymestor , whose eyes once have seene , me , a now spoyled captive , then a queen . againe , ignorance and ineptitude in our own proper functions and miscarriage in our owne arts and professions , is an exprobration , either of indiligence , or of weaknesse . as want of proficiancy in a student , of elocution in an orator , of military wisedome in a souldier , &c. and therefore a physician will seldome stay to see his patient buried , he usually departs before the sicke man , because funerals are convicia medi corum . yet all ignorance is not matter of disgrace , for some things there are below the inquiry , or studies of some men . and therefore though tully tels us that when themistocles declined the lute ▪ he was esteemed more ignorant then became a person of quality , yet it was a brave apologie which he made for himselfe , that though he knew not to handle a lute , yet he knew to conquer a citie . and gel●… when others after a feast sang to an instrument , called for his great horse , and did excellently manage that . and as it was a cautelous answer which favorinus gave touching adrian the emperour , who had censured him in his owne profession of grammer . that he durst not be learnedner then he who commanded thirtie legions ; so it was a ruer answer which another artificer gave in the like case unto a prince . god forbid sir that you should know things of so meane a quality , better then i who owe my subsistence unto them . and as ignorance in our owne , so intrusion and vsurpation of other mens offices , is a ground of shame , especially if they be such as wherein we descend the below the dignity of our places or professions , as when men of liberall condition apply themselves unto the businesse of fordid persons . for every man is intrusted with the dignity of his place , he is to be not onely the possessor , but the protector of it , which when he betraies , it doth justly revenge it selfe upon him with contempt and disgrace . againe , any notorious externall deformities , and dehonestament a corporis , especially if there be any thing of our owne , either guilt or servility in them . the grecians taking notice of the ill shape and worse conditions of thirsiti●… , are said to looke on him with derision and laughter , then when they had other occasions of sadnesse . and when vlysses his companions were by circe transformed into shape of swine , they wept and were ashamed of their owne deformities . and the poet describeth delophebus whom menelaus had dismembred , — pavitantem & dira tegentem supplicia . afraid of being knowne , carefull to hide his mangled wounds , that they might not be spide . and we finde how carefull men were to cover any of these notes and prints of infamy , or servility , which persons either extremely vicious , or in bondage were marked withall , for infamous or servile persons were wont so to be branded . many times greatnesse of minde is a cause of shame , either for something which such a man suffereth in himselfe , or in those that are neare unto him , such was that of the romanes , ad fur●… caudinas , of which the historian giveth this observation . their obstinate silence , eyes fastened to the earth , eares refusing all comfort , faces ashamed to behold the light , were certaine evidences of a minde deeply resolved upon revenge . and of maximinus , of whom the historian telleth us , that out of a desire to conceal his ignoble birth , he slew all , even the best of his friends , which were conscious unto it . so poverty meeting with pride doth often suffer conflicts with this passion of shame , when penury denies that which luxury and pride demaunds . — quid enim majore cachi●…no . excipitur vulgi quam pauper apicius ? who without much irrision can endure , to see a beggar a proud epicure ? againe , acqual●…tance and intimacy with infamous persons is noted by the philosopher amongst the grounds of shame , and therefore it was upbraided unto plato that calippus , the murtherer of his hoste had been bred in his schoole . and to secrates , that he was resorted unto by alcib●…ades , a factious and turbulent citizen , and to themist●…cles that he held correspondence , and intelligence with pausanius a traitour ; and we finde how fatall the favour of 〈◊〉 after his fall , was to many of his friends , that no wonder if every man not onely out of indignation , but out of feare too cryed out . — nunquam si quid mihi credis amavi hunc hominem . such being the impotent and immoderate passions of many men to trample on the sam●… persons in their calamity , whom in their grea●… nesse they almost adored , as he said , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . when the oake is fallen that stood , then every man will gather wood . lastly , not onely things shamefull to themselves , but such as are signes , and intimations of them doe usually beget this affection . as aeschinus in the comaedian , blushed when he saw his father knocke at the doore of an infamous woman , because it was a token of a vicious intension . and therefore casar was wont to say . that hee would have those that belonged unto him free , as well from suspicion , as from crime , for we shall never finde that a man who is tender of his conscience will be prodigall of his credit , and he who is truely fearfull of incurring censure from himselfe by the guilt of a crime , will in some proportion be fearfull of incurring censure from others by the shew and suspition of it ; for as a good conscience is a feast to give a man a cheerfull heart ; so a good name is an oyntment to give him a cheerefull countenance . there is a twofold shame , the one vertuous , as diogenes was wont to say , that blushing was the colour of vertue , the other vicious , and that either out of cruelty , as tacitus and seneca observe of domitian , that he was never more to be feared then when he blushed . or else out of cowardize , when a man hath not strength enough of countenance , to out-face and withstand a vicious solicitation , as it was said of the men of asia , that they had out of tendernes of face , exposed themselves to much inconvenience , because they could not pronounce that one syllable , noe. it was a better resolution , that of zenophanes , who being provoked unto some vitious practise , confessed himselfe a coward at such a challenge , as not daring to doe dishonestly . i will conclude this matter with that excellent similitude wherwith plutarch beginneth it , in that golden book of his touching the same argu ment . that as thistles , though noxious things in themselves , are usually signes of an excellent ground wherein they grow , so shamefastnesse thought many times a weaknesse , and betrayer of the minde , is yet generally an argument of a soule , ingenuously and verttuously disposed . chap. xxx . of the affection of anger . the distinctions of it . the fundamentall cause thereof , contempt . three kindes of contempt , dis-estimation , disappointment , calumnie . i now proceed to the last of the passions , anger , whereof , in it self a subject of large discourse , yet being every where obuious , i shall not speake much . i intend not therefore distinctly to handle the severall kindes of this passion , which aristotle in his ethicks hath given us , a which are a sharpe anger , and an hard or knotty anger . and saint paul who likewise gives us three kindes of it . whereof the first i may call a b close and buried anger , which he names bitternesse , the other a violent c burning anger , which he calls wrath , and the last a desiring and pursuing anger , which seemeth to have it's d derivation from a word which signifies to desire , and therefore is defined by aristotle to a be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . & by the b stoicks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , words of prosecution and pursute . for these differ not essentially or formerly amongst themselves , but onely in diversity of degrees , and in order to the diverse constitutions of the subject wherein they lodge , and of the habits wherewith they are joyned . in which respects we might observe severall other shapes of this affection . for there is the a anger of a waspe , which is an hasty , pettish , and fretfull anger , proceeding from a nature b leavened and habituated with choler , which is presently stirred and prouoked . and there is the anger of a c lion , which is slow , but strong & severe , thus elegantly described by d homer . — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he first walkes by with sk●…rne , but when swift youth , vrge him with darts , then with devouring mo●…th he turnes againe , and at his lips is seene a boyling f●…ame , while his stout heart within rouseth itselfe with a groanes : and round about his tayle , beating his sides and loynes , cals out and wakeneth proud revenge . thus stir'd he flies right on with red and fierie sparkling eyes to kill or to be kill'd — there is further a cowardly verball and ridiculous anger , like that of whelps , which barke aloud , but run away from the thing which anger 's them . which spendeth it selfe onely in stormes of empty expressions , rather pleasing then punishing those whom they light on , and rendering the person that useth it a very 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or skarre ▪ crow , formidable to children , but to men ridiculous , like geta in the comedian . ruerem , agerem , raperem , tunderem , prosternerem . there is a grave and serious anger , like that of agamemnon . an insolent and boasting anger , like that of achilles . a sullen and stubborne anger like that of the romanc armie disgracefully used by the samnitians . a cruell and raging anger , like that of scylla , who in an excesse of fury , vomited up blood , & died . and thus saul is said to b have breathed out threatnings , and bin exceeding mad against the church . a revengefull and impatient anger , as that of c cambyses , who being reprooved by prexaspes for his drunkennesse , con●…uted the reproofe with this act of cruelty , he shot the sonne of his reproover thorow the heart , to prove the steaddinesse of his hand . an anger of indignation at the honour and prosperity of unworthy persons , as that of the roman nobility , who seeing cu. flavius , a man of meane condition , advanced to the praetorship , threw away their golden rings , ( the signes of their honour ) to testifie their just indignation . the poet thus elegantly expresseth the like against menas , made of a slave a freeman by pompey . videsne sacram metiente te via●… cum bis ter ●…lnarum tog â vt or a vertal ●…uc & huc euntium liberrima indignatio ? sectus flagellis hic trium viralibus praconis ad fastidium , arat falernimille fundi jugera et appiam mannis terit . when thou pacest up and downe in thy long gowne , seest thou how the people fret to see thee iet ? how with indignation bold , they cannot hold to see a man , so lately plow'd with scourges low'd , vntill at length the weary cryer , began to tyre , dressing a thousand acres now with horse and plow ? lastly , an anger of emulation , or a displeasure against our selves for comming short by our negligence of the perfections of other men whom haply by industry we might have equalled . as themistocles professed that the trophie of miltiades would not suffer him to sleepe . and caesar wept wh●… he read the atchiements of alexander , as having not at his age done any memorable thing . and thucydides hearing herodotus recite a history which he had written , brake forth into a strange passion of weeping which the historian espying thus comforted his father you are a happy man to be the father of such a son , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . who is carried with such a vehement affection unto learning . but to passe over these particulars , i shall in the generall content my selfe with a briefe consideration of the causes and effects of this passion . the fundamentall and essentiall cause of anger , is contempt from others meeting with the love of our selves . whether it be disestimation and undervaluing of a mans person , or disappointment of his purposes , or slandering his good name , or any other way of casting injury on him . or any of these particulars being impaired ( if by such on whom we may hope to receive revenge ) doe worke not only anxiety and griefe ( which is a motion of slight ) but hope also and desire to ease it selfe , if not in the recovery of its own losse , yet in the comfort of another mans : for calamity ( as the historian speaks ) is ever either querulous or malignant , cum suo malo torquetur , quiescit dien●… . when it feels it selfe wrung and pinched , it quickly proceeds either by justice or revenge to please it selfe in † retaliation . for the former of these , as it is the common property of man with all other creatures to love himselfe : so it is his particular desire also , being animal sociale & politicum , to be loved by others ; because hereby that love of himselfe , which proceedeth from iudgement and reason , is confirmed . for every man doth more willingly beleeve that , whereunto he hath farther authority to persuade him . and therefore though love be not sinisterly suspitious , nor too envious in interpreting a mans owne , or a friends actions and beha●…iour ; yet that love , which is not blind and furious , will be ever ready to submit it selfe unto the opinion of stayed and indifferent judgements , because it is conscious to it selfe , how easily it may miscarry , if it r●…ly upon its owne censure , wherein reason , affection , and prejudice are mixed together . now then when a man already strongly possessed with a love of his owne or his friends person or parts , shall find either of them by others sleighted and despised ; from whose joynt-respect he hoped for a confirmation of his judgement ▪ there hence ariseth not onely a † griefe to see his expectation deceived , and his opinion undervalued ▪ but withall a * desire to make knowne unto the persons , who thus contemne him by some manner of face or tongue , or hand , or heart , or head , revenge , ( for all these may be the instruments of our anger ) that there is in him more courage , power and worth than deserves so to be neglected . which passion in a word , so long as it submits it selfe to the government of reason , is then alwaies allowable and right , when it is grounded on the pride and insolency of others , who unjustly contemne us . and then irregular and corrupt , when it proceeds from the root of pride and ambition in our selves , which makes us greedy of more honour from others , than their judgements or our owne worth suffers them to afford us . to this branch of contempt may bee referred forget fulnesse of friends and acquaintance , whereby we upbraid them with obscurity and distance , as well from true worth , as from our affection : for omnia quae curant , meminerunt , saith tully : and aristotle to the same purpose . those things which wee doe respect , doe not lye hid and out of our sight . next hither may be referred all vngratefull persons , who sleight those favours which they have received from other mens bounties , and out of a swelling and height of stomacke , cannot endure to acknowledge any obligations ; but desire to receive benefits , as corrupt men take bribes in the darke , and behind their backs , that so neither others , nor ( if it were possible ) their owne eyes might be witnesses unto it : for as tacitus speaks , gratia oneri habetur , : such is the pride of some men , that they disdaine not to be overcome in any thing ▪ though it be in kindnesse . and therefore vbi multum beneficiâ antevenêre , pro gratia odium redditur , saith the same author : when they finde themselves overloaden with love , the best requi●…all which their high minds can affoord , is hatred : which cannot but worke a double anger ; an anger against our selves and our owne weaknesse in the choice of so unfit a subject for the placing of our benefits ; and an anger at that contemptuous pride , which so basely entertained them . hither also we may referre those locked and close men , who even to their friends are so referred , and keep every thing so secret , as if none were worthy , to whose iudgement or trust they might commit themselves . hitherto likewise are referred acceptation of persons in equallity of merit with unequall respect , negligence of outward ceremony and beha viour ▪ and generally what ever else may worke an opinion that we are undervalued . the second branch of this first fundamentall cause was an hindering of the projects and purposes of another , which is not only a privative ( as the former ) but a positive and reall injury , which includes that other , and addes unto it , as being not only a sleighting , but an assault upon us ; no●… an opinion only , but an expression of our weaknesse ; a course so much the more likely to insenc●… nature , and make it swell , by how much violent and opposition , is more sensible in motion than in rest . so that these two former injuries , i thinke i may well compare to a banke , and to a bridge , or some other stops to a river in his course : whereof the former doth confine the river , and not op pose it , as not hindring it in its direct and naturall motion ( which it rather helpeth by more uniting the parts ) but only in a motion laterall and indirect , which nature intended not ; and therefore herein we see not any manifest fretting and noise , but only a secret swelling and rising of the water , which breaks not into outrage and violence : but the latter resisting the naturall course of the streame in its owne chanell , and standing directly crosse , where the nature should passe , makes it , not only in time to overswell on all sides , but in the meane time works in it great tumult & noise . sp●…mens , & fervens , & ab obice savior ibit . it foames and boyles , and with a raging force , fights with all obstacles , that stop its course . so of these two degrees of contempt in anger ▪ the former as being onely a confining and limiting contempt , which shuts up a mans worth within too narrow and strait a judgement , works indeed a secret swelling of the heart with indignation at the conceipt of such disesteem ; but this breaks not out into that clamour ( as s. paul cals it ) that noise of anger , as the other doth , which a●…iseth out of a direct opposition against our counsels or actions . vnto which opposition may be reduced all manner of injurious proceeding , which tends to the prejudice and disappointing of any mans ends ; whether it be by closenes and undermining , as cheats and couzenages in the preventing of lawfull , or by other politicke wisedome in hindering unlawfull ends ; or whether by open and prosessed opposition , as in matters of emulation , competition , commodity , and the like ; or lastly , whether it be such as takes notice , and discovers ends which desired to be undiscerned . and therefore tacitus reckoning the ambiguous and close speeches of the emperour tiberius , sayes that it was vnicus patrum metus si intelligere viderentar , the senate seared nothing more than to discover that they understood him ; which is the same with his judgement after : eò acriùs accepit recludi quae premeret , nothing did more exasperate him than to see those things taken notice of , which he desired to suppresse and dissemble . both which were true in scaur●…s ; one of the senatours , who adventuring to collect tiberius his willingnesse of accepting the empire , in that he did not sorbid by his tribunitiall authority the relation thereof by the consuls , did thereby procure his utter and jmplacable hatred . but of all contempts , the last of the three is greatest ; that i meane , which immediately violates our reputation and good name ; because it is a derivative and spreading injury ; not only dishonouring a man in private and reserved opinion , but in the eyes and eares of the world ; nor only making him odious in his life , but in his memory . as there is in a man a double desire ▪ the one of perfecting ; the other of perpetuating himselfe : which two answer to that double honour of our creation , which we lost in our first father ; the honour of integrity in goodnesse ; and the honour of immunity from corruption : so there may bee from the violation of these sundry degrees of anger , or any other burthensome passion wrought in us . but when in injury we find them both assaulted , and not only our parts and persons ( which belong to our perfection ) privily undervalued ; but our name and memory ( which belong to our prepreservation ) tainted likewise , we cannot but be so much the more insenced , by how much perpetuity accumelates , either to weaknes or perfection : but of this fundamentall cause of anger enough . chap. xxxi . of other causes of anger : first in regard of him that suffers wrong : excellency , weaknesse , strong desires , suspition . next in regard of him who doth it ; basenesse , impudence , neerenesse , freedome of speech , contention , ability . the effects of anger , the immutation of the body , impulsion of reason , expedition , precipitance . rules for the moderating of this passion . those which follow , are more accidentall : whereof some may be considered ex parte patientis , on the part of him that suffers ; and some ex parte inferentis injuriam , on the part of him that doth the injury . touching the patient or subject of an injury , there are three qualifications , which may make him more inclinable to anger , upon supposition of the fundamentall cause , contempt : and the first of these is excellency , whether inward from nature , or accidentall from fortune : for hereby men are made more jealous of their credit , and impatient of abuse , as well perceiving that all injury implies some degree both of impotency in the patient , and of excellency ( at least conceited ) in the agent . as aristotle speaks , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that injurious men are commonly highly conceited of their owne excellency , which cannot well stand with the height and distance of that minde which is possessed with his owne good opinion ▪ and this cause the poet intimates in those words ▪ — manet altâ mente repôstum , iudicium paridis , spretaeque injuria formae . a deep and lasting discontent is bred to see their beauties undervalued by a weake wanton iudgement . it wrought a deep indignation in the minds of power and wisedome to see a weake and wanton iudgement give beauty the precedence in their emulation . which undervaluing of worth , how much it is able to possesse a man with griefe and fury : the one example of achitophel alone may discover , who upon the rejection of his counsell , when he was too low to revenge himselfe on absalon , executed his anger on his owne necke . the second qualification of the subject is weaknesse and de●…ect , when the mind finds it selfe assaulted in those things , wherein it is most of all deficient : which aristotle hath observed , when he tels us , that † sicke men , poore men and lovers are commonly most subject to this passion : it being as great a paine , and a greater contempt to ●…ub and provoke an old wound , than to make a new . that injury which proceeds against men of high and eminent quality , cannot possibly pierce so deep as that which is exercised upon open and naked weaknesse : because the former proceeds only from strife and emulation ; but the other from insultation and pride : the one is only a disesteem ; but the other a contumely and exprobation : the one is a conflict of judgements , but the other a conflict of passions ; and therefore likely to be the greater . for a neglect of worth and good parts ( unlesse , as sometimes it falleth out , it proceeds from basenesse and ignorance ) is an injury from worth also : but a neglect , and despising men already downe , is an injury from stomacke and height of mind ; wherein the party offended cannot labour so much to cleere it selfe from the imputation , as to revenge it selfe for it . another reason why weaknesse the better disposeth a man to anger , may be , because such men are most tender to feele an injury , most suspitious to feare it , and most interpreting to over-judge it . all which being circumstances of aggravation to increase a wrong , are likewise good means to adde degrees and heat unto our passion . lastly , to give a reason of both these two former causes together , it may be a disappointment and frustrating of expectation : for men of eminency and worth , expect rather approbation and imitation than contempt . and men weake and defective , expect compassion to cover , and not pride to mocke , and so double their wounds : and both these are in some sort debts of nature , it being the law of reason to honour merit , as it is the law of mercy to cover nakednesse : and for both i am sure it is the law of charity , as not to vaunt or be puffed up in our selves : so neither to rejoyce or thinke evill of another : and we may well conceive anger will be strong , when it thinks it selfe lawfull . vnto this particular of weaknesse wee may also reduce that which the grammatian hath observed on virgil , plus irarum advenit , cum in manus non potest venire , cui irascimur . anger is increased when it cannot reach the thing with which it is angry . and therefore the chaining up of woolves and mastives enrageth them , because it restraineth them ; which the poet hath excellently described . ac veluti pleno lupus iusidiatis evili , cum fremit ad caulos , ventos perpessus & imbres nocte super media : tuti sub matribus agni balatum exercent . ille asper & improbus irâ savit in absentes , collecta fatig at edendi ex longo rabies , & siccae sanguine fauces . haud aliter rutilo muros & castra tuenti ignescunt ira , & durus dolor ossibus ardet . as a fierce woolfe with winds , storms , midnight , whet when in close solds the secure lambs do bleat , barks at his absent prey with the more ire : when rag'd and deceiv'd hunger doth him tyre . so rutilus seeing his foes all safe , doth vex and boyle with the more burning chase . for it is a great torment to an enemy , when he can finde no in-let nor advantage against him , whom he hates . another cause of anger may be strong desires : for alwaies vaster and more exact our desires are , it is so much the harder for them to be pleased or satisfied . and therefore as the philosopher notes , luxurious men are usually transported with anger , because men love not to be stopped in their pleasures : and hence as plutarch observes , men are usually most angry there , where their desires are most conversant : as a country-man with his bayliffe ; or an epicure with his cooke ; or a lover with his corrivall , because all these crosse men in that which they most love . now strength when it is opposed , is collected and gathered into the more excesse ; as we see in winds or rivers , when they meet with any thing which crosseth their full passage . the last qualification of the subject , whereby he is made more inclinable to this passion , is a suspitious , apprehensive , and interpreting fancy , ready to pick out injury where it cannot be justly found ; and ( that its anger may be imployed ) to frame occasions unto it selfe . and therefore t is wise advise of seneca , non vis esse iracundus ? ne sis curiosus . he which is too wise in his judgement on other mens errours , will be easily too foolish in the nourishing of his owne passion : and it s commonly seen in matters of censure and suspition , the more sight and reason goes out , the lesse useth to abide within . now is it hard for a man , if he be peremptorily possessed with this opinion ; yet he is a common subject of others contempt , to find out , either in defects of nature , or rudenes of custome , habit , education , temper , humour or the like , some probable ground or other for exception ; which yet when it is further inquired into , will prove rather strangenesse than injury . and this is generally a corruption of anger ▪ first , because it is hereby oftentimes unjust , either in fastning it selfe there where it was justly neglected : for we may ever observe that suspition proceeds from guilt , and none are more jealous of being neglected than those that deserve it : as it is observed of some reproachfull speeches , which a senatour was accused to have uttered against the honour of tiberius : quia ver a erant dicta credebantur . his suspitious mind was persuaded that they had been spoken , because hee was conscious that they had been acted ; and therefore ( as was before noted ) it was the custome under such men to avoid all manner of curiosities , and search into things done by them , which might easily be subject unto sinister judgement ; and rather to affect ignorance with security , than to be ruined with wisedome . and next it is corrupt , because it is rash and hasly , being led by a halfe judgement , the worst guide to a headlong and blind passion . the next degree of causes is of those which qualifie the agent , or him that worketh the injury , and there may be amongst many other , which cannot be reckoned , these generall ones . first basenesse , which works a double cause of anger : one for an injury of omission , in neglecting those respects which are required in men of meane and inferiour ranke towards their superiours : another for a positive enquiry in the evill exercised against them . and many times the former alone is a cause of anger , without the later : for this distance of persons doth quite alter the nature of our actions , insomuch that those demeanors , which are commendable and plausible toward our equals , are rude and irreverend toward those that are above us : and this is that which makes the wrath of god in the scripture to bee set out so terrible unto us : because of the infinite distance between the vnmeasurable glory of the maker of the world , and the basenesse of sinners ; and therefore the comparison which useth to bee made for the defence of veniall sinnes , that it is altogether unlikely that god , infinitely more merciful than men , should yet be offended at that which a mans neighbour would pardon him for , as a foolish angry word , or the stealing of a farthing , or the like , is without reason : because between man and man there is a community both in nature and weaknesse ; and therefore , ha●…c veniam , petimu●…que damusque vicissim . because we both our errours have , we pardon give , and pardon crave . but it is an argument of infinite insolence in a vile creature for feeding it own corruption and selfe-love in a matter of no value to neglect one command of him , who by another is able to command him into hell , or into nothing . the next quality in the injurer , which may raise this passion is impudence , either in words or carriage . and the reasons hereof may be : first , because as aristotle observes , all impudence is joyned with some contempt , which is the fundamentall and essentiall cause of anger . secondly , because all impudence is bold , stiffe and contentious , which are all incitements to this passion . for as shame being a degree of feare works an acknowledgement of our owne weaknesse ; and therefore a submission to the power wee have provoked , which as aristotle observes ) procureth from beasts themselves lenity and mercy : so impudence in all other things being contrary to it , must likewise produce a contrary effect . thirdly , those things which we impudently do , we do willingly likewise . and therefore wee shall observe in the scripture how reigning sins that is , those which are done with greedine●…se of the appetite , and full consent of the will , are set forth by the names of stubbornnesse , rebellion , whorish fore-head , brasse , and yron . now nothing doth more aggravate a wrong then this , that it proceeded from the will of man. and the reasons are , first , because a mans power is in his will ▪ but passions and other blind agents , when they work ungoverned , are our imperfections , and not our power ; and therefore the easier borne withall . secondly , to a plenary , spontaneous action , ( such as i take most of impudence to be ) there are required antecedenter , deliberation , approbation , and assent ▪ and consequenter ▪ resolution , perseverance , and constancy . all which , as they take away the two principall conditions required unto lenity ; consession and repentance : so likewise doe they adde much to the weight of an injury , because an actition which is thus exercised , is a worke of the whole man , and imployes a perfect consent thereunto : so a perfect and compleat en mity toward the person offendeth thereby . wheras others are but the wrongs of some part , such as are of those of the wil , led by an ignorant ; or those of passion , led by a traduced vnderstanding ; and they too not of a part regular , but of an vnjointed and paralyticke part , which followes not the motion of a stayed reason ; and therefore as they proceed from more disorder in our selves , so doe they worke lesse in the party offended . another thing which may raise and nourish this passion , is any degree of neer relation between the parties ; whether it be naturall by consanguinity ; or morall , by society , liberality , or any other friendship . for as it is prodigious in the body naturall to see one member wrong and provoke another : so in vnions civill or morall , it is strangely offensive to make a divulsion . therefore we are more angry for the neglect offered us by friends , or those of whom we have well deserved , than by enemies or † strangers . no wounds go so deep as those we receive in the house of our friend . and the reason why this difference between men neerly referring each other should worke a greater anger between them , is : first , because herein we may finde that which before i observed as a furtherance to this passion , disappointment , and frustrating of expectation : for in this case , we expect sympathy & not division . secondly , because all anger is a kind of dis-joyning or divulsion of things before joyned : there therefore , where is the greatest vnion , must needs bee the strongest and most violent separation ; as in the body , the divulsion of soule is more horrible than of an arme , or some other member ; because the one is an essentiall , the other onely an integrall vnion : and so it is with those who are by bloud or friendship made one ; as the dividing of them is more strange and violent , so doth it produce a stronger passion . another cause of this passion in respect of the injurer , may be a too great freedome and indiscreet use of speech ; especially if it be in way of correction and rebuke : for as solomons speech is true , mollis responsio frangit iram , a soft answer pacifies wrath : so on the contrary it is true likewise , dura correptio unit iram ; that an harsh rebuke knits it . anger is by nothing more nourished than by much speaking , though not in the par●…y that speaketh ; because speech is to anger , like teares to griefe , a spending and venting of it , yet alwayes in another , unto whom we minister farther matter of offence . to which purpose , is that speech of syracides . strive not with a man that is full of tongue , and heape not wood upon his fire . another cause , which i shall observe is contention and difference , whether it be in opinions or in inclinations : because this must needs be ever joyned with some undervaluing of another mans choice and judgement ; which if it be not seasoned with much sobriety , will easily induce a man to beleeve , that it proceeds not from zeale to truth , but from a humour of opposition . wherewith many men are so farre possessed , that one must hardly dare to speake the truth in their company for feare of endangering it and them . like chry●…ippus in laertius , who used to boast that hee often wanted opinions , but those once gotten , he never wanted arguments and sophismes to defend them . the last cause which i shall note of this passion is in him , who offends us , his very abilities , when we see them neglected : for this provokes to more displeasure , then naked impotency . weaknesse , when it miscarries , is the object of pitty : but strength , when it miscarries , is the object of anger . — — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i should not blame unworthy and base spirits to sl●…g and shrinke from battle : but for merits so to forget themselves , for you to be vnlike the men you are , what man can see such weaknesse , and not wonder , chide , debate ; till you your selves doe your owne errours hate . vnto all these we might adde some others which the philosopher toucheth , as neglect of our calamities , or rejoyeing at them , or divulging them , or bringing readily the report of them unto us , receiving the report of them with pleasure . or lastly , representing the signes which may bring into minde the memory of any injuries done us . as the levite sent the parts of his abused concubine up and downe unto the tribes of israel to move them unto indignation . so antony in the funerall oration upon iulius caesar produced his robe stained with the blood which brutus and cassius had shed , to worke ad●…testation of that fault in the people . now concerning all these causes together ( because it would be two tedious to gather particular circumstances of dignity and corruption from all of them ) we are to conclude that anger , as it ariseth from any of them , is then onely regular and iust , when it keepes these conditions . i first , that it still observe proportion and conformity to the rules of love : otherwise it i●… not ira in delictum , but ira in fratrem not agains●… the crime but the person of my brother : 〈◊〉 kn●…w the nature of this passion is to be transient to goe out from us on our brother and reforme him : not immanent to worke upon our selves and deforme us : i meane by soyling the habite of charity , which ought alwayes to remaine inviolate . secondly , that it keepe likewise due proportion unto judgement , and that unto a true judgement , and a whole judgement ; otherwise it is not onely to be angry with our brother , but , which is farther , to be angry with him unadvisedly . iudgement then must be true first , that is , cleare , setled , and untransported ; and that likewise in two actions ; in the act of interpretation , which reacheth unto the injurie ; and in the act of direction or government , which reacheth unto the passion . and next it must be a whole judgement : and that in both the former . it must judge fully of the nature and circumstances of the injury , which ever receives it degrees of intention or remission , not from the matter of the act , but from some particular qualifications and circumstances joyned thereunto . secondly , it must judge fully of the act of passion , not onely in informing , quod sit , that reparation of our selves is lawfull ; but 〈◊〉 too , in the manner and forme how to undertake it . because as passion , being without reason in it selfe , wants the tongue of judgement to inform it what to do ; so , being blinde , it wants the hand of judgement to leade it in the doing of it : and this i take to be the proper way of governing this passion . but that which was once prescribed by athenodorus the philosopher , unto augustus to repeate over the alphabet between the passion and the revenge , is too boyish and slight , as diverting the minde from the occasion to some other trifle , which is onely to cozen and not to conquer ou●… distemper ; and therefore though it may for a time allay it , yet this is but as the cures of empericks , which give present ease , but search not into the roote , nor leave such ●…n habit within , as shall in after occasions limit the unrulinesse of such distempers , like those odours which use to raise men out of a fit of the falling sicknesse , but doe not all cure them of the disease . now to speake a word or two of the effects of this passion : they are such as are wrought , either in our selves or others . concerning the former , they are either outward effects , which ●…each to our bodies , or inward , which reflect upon reason . those on the body are clamour ( as saint paul cals it ) in the tongue , tumour and inflammation in the heart ▪ fire in the eyes , and fiercenesse and palenesse in the countenance , and a sensible alteration in the whole man. the use or deformity of all which depend upon the subordination of passion unto reason , or dominion over it . for if it be governed and obedient , there is an excellent use of these alterations in the body ( which will not then be permitted to be excessive ) namely the testification of our just displeasures at an offence received , and the inlivening or sharpning of us ( if occasion require to the prosecution of further lawfull redresse ; for though i would not have a man in his passion suffer a metamorphosis , and turne his face into a torment punishing himselfe as much with deformity , as his adversary with feare , yet neither can i like that close and dissembled , that politique and stomacke anger , which cunningly shrowds it selfe under a calm and serene countenance ; which being unnaturall to this passion ( whose property it is , non insidiari sed palàm agere , not to worke by way of ambush and stratagem , but visibly ) will quickly degenerate into malice and rancour . the inward effect of this passion , is an excitation of reason ; to judge of the wrong and meanes of redresse , which is then regular , when it is done ministereally and by way of service to the whole ; but most corrupt and dangerous , when it is done by prepossession , transporting , confounding , or any other way tainting of reason ; which is to make it a party rather then a iudge . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which makes sometimes a wise man breake into distempers wilde and weake . in which ill office there is not any passion more busie and fruitfull then this of anger by reason of it's suddennesse , and of it's violence : both which are strong meanes to smother or divert reason , as we see in tiberius himselfe , who though a man of a close and sad judgement , and of most reserved passions ( insomuch as he lived in them and nourished them a long time before either their working or discovery ) yet when he was provoked by agrippina , to a more violent anger then usuall , his passion we see for the time altered his nature . et veram occulti pectoris voc●…m elicuit , num ide●… l●…deretur , quia non regnaret . he brake forth into words , strange and unusuall from so close a disposition ; to wit , whether she were wronged because she did not reigne ? which is tacitus his observation upon the anger of that man. the last effect is expedition and dexterity inexecuting those means which reason judgeth needfull for satisfying our selves against the person that hath offended us , wherein it 's assistance , while it is regular , is of excellent use in mans actions , because it makes bold and resolute . but here one maine corruption is to be avoided , precipitancy and impatience of delay or attendance on the determination of right reason ▪ which makes it commonly runne away with an halfe or a broken judgement . in which respect aristle in his ethicks very elegantly compares it to a hasty servant , that goes away posting with halfe his errand and to dogs , wch , as soon as ever they heare a noise , barke presently before they know whether it be a stranger at the doore , or no●… so anger attends reason thus long , till it receive warrant for the justnes of seeking redresse , & then suddenly hastens away without any further listening to the rules of decorum and iustice , which it should alwayes observe in the prosecution thereof : lest while it is too intent on his owne right , it fall in that extreame which it pretendeth to revenge , the wronging of another . there is not any passion which standeth more in need of moderation then this doth , both because it is one of the frequentest which we are troubled with , and the most unruly , as that which can over-beare the rest , and , of all other , hath the least recourse to a reason , being hasty , impetuous , full of desires , griefe , selfe-love , impatience , which spareth no b persons , friends or ●…oes , no things , animate or c in animate , when they fit not our fancy . and therefore d grammarians tell us that it hath its name ira from ire , because a man in his anger usually goeth away from his reason , and as his anger slackens , he is said , ad se redire , to returne again unto himselfe . and therefore those men in whom reason is most predominant , are least transported by this affection , and most often displeased with themselves for it . it was a strange commendation given to a theodosius iunior , that never any man saw him angry ; and such a power had b lycurg●… over himselfe , that when an insolent young ●…n had done him no lesse injury then the striking out of one of his eyes , by lenity and mansu●…tude hee convinced and gained him . c and pericles that great statesman and oratour of greece , being all the day reviled by a●… impure companion , commanded his servant at night to light him home unto his house * nothing more obvious then examples of this kinde . that we may therefore so ma●…nage this passion as to be angry but not sinne , it will be requisite ▪ to let it have an eye upward , as moses did , whonever expressed any other anger that wee read of but zealous , and religious , when the injury directly aimed at god and his honour . it is very improbable that any thing will move too fast upward . to convert it inward into a selfe-displicency and severity towards our owne errours , for the more acquainted any man is with himselfe , the lesse matter he will finde of anger with other men , as having so much both to doe , and to blame at home . anger ever ●…riseth from the value which wee set upon our selves , which will ever then be most modest , when we take of it the fullest view . follow it not too close , joyn not too soon , not too hastily with it , though it may be used sometimes , it must never be incouraged , being over-bold and forward of it selfe . and therefore as many drugges must be prepared before wee may 〈◊〉 to use them ; so we must take heed of disp●…ing this affection without its due corrective●… must first be schooled before it be imployed , as men bridle their horses before they ride them . it is not good drinking in muddy water so soone as it is stirred , give it time to subside and settle . keepe it not long , it is the spawne of malice and contention , and time will hatch it . it is a corroding thing which will fret and staine the vessell in which it is kept . let not the sunne goe downe upon it , 't is ill being in the darke with so bad a leader . it may passe through the heart of a wise man , but it resteth onely in the b●…some of fooles . remove the occasions of it , withdraw fuell from so catching a flame . they say of turpentine , and some other like things . that they will draw and sucke fire unto them . certainely of all fire there is none so ductile , so sequacious and obsequious , as this of wr●…th . it was not ill done therefore of c●…tys and augustus , to cause those curious vessels to be broken of purpose , which having beene accidentally broken might have made ●… breach likewise upon the dis●…retion of their owners . give not an easie eare to reports ▪ nor an easie entertainement to suspicio●…s , bee not greedy to know who or wherein another hath wrong'd thee . that which wee are desirous to know , or apt to beleeve , wee shall be the more ready to revenge . curiosity and ●…dulity , are the handmaides unto passion . alexander would not see the woman after ●…hom he might have lusted ▪ nor casar search pompeyes cabinet , l●…st he should find new matters of revenge . he chose rather to make a fire of them on his hearth , then in his heart . inju●…ies unknowne doe many times the lesse hurt ; when i have found them , i then begin to feele them , and suffer more from mine owne discovery then from mine enemies attempt . bee candid in interpreting the thing●… wherein thou sufferest . many times the glasse through which i looke , makes that seeme formidable , and the wave , that crooked , which in it selfe was beautifull and straight . haply thou art angry with that which could not intend to hurt thee , thy booke , thy penne , the stone at which thou stumblest , the winde or raine that beates upon thee : bee angry gaine , but with thy selfe , who art either so bold as to be angry with god , or so foolish , as to be angry with nothing . thou art displeased at a childish or an ignorant miscarriage , call it not injury but imprudence , and then pitty it . thou art angry with counsell , reproofe , discipline ; why doest thou not as well breake the glasse in which thy physitian ministreth a potion unto thee . bee angry with thy sinne , and thou wilt love him that takes it from thee . is hee that adviseth thee thy superiour ? thine anger is undutifull , is hee thy friend , thine anger is ungratefull . give injuries a new name , and that will worke a new affection . in blinde agents call it chance ▪ in weake persons , infirmity , in simple , ignorance , in wise counsell , in superiours , discipline , in equals , familiarity ' in inferious , confidence , where there is no other construction to be made , doe as ioseph and david did , call it providence , and see what god sayes to thee by it . get a minde conversant with high and noble things , the more heavenly , the lesse tempestuous . be not idle , sluggish , luxurious , wee are never more apt to bee angry , then when we are sleepy or greedy . weake resolutions and strong desires are sensible of the least exa●…peration , as an empty ship of the smallest tempest . againe be not ●…ver-busie neither ▪ that man can hardly bee master of his passion that is not master of his imployments . a minde ever burdened , like a bow alwayes bent must needes grow impotent , and weary , the fittest preparations to this distemper . when a mans businesse doth not poise , but presse him , there will ever bee something either undone or ill-done , and so still matter of vexation . and therefore our mindes as our vessels must bee unloaded , if they would not have a tempest hurt them . lastly , wrastle not with that which pincheth thee . if it bee strong it will hurt , if cunning , it will hamper and entangle thee . hee that strives with his burden makes it heavier . that tempest breakes not the stalkes of corne , which rends asunder the armes of an oake , the one yeelds , the other withstands it . an humble weaknesse is safer from injury , then a stubborne strength . i have now done with the passions of the minde . and briefly proceede to those honours and dignities of the soule of man which belong unto it in a more abstracted consideration . chap. xxxii . of the originall of the reasonable soule , whether it be immediatly created and infused , or derived by seminall traduction from the parents . of the derivation of originall sinne . the dignity of man in respect of his soule alone , may be gathered from a consideration either of the whole , or of the par●…s therof . cōcerning the whole , we shall consider two things ; it s originall , and its nature . concerning the originall of the soule , divers men have diversly thought ; for , to let passe the opinion of a seleucus , who affirmed that it was educed out of the earth , and that b of origin and the plato●…ists who say that the soules of men were long agoe created , and after detruded into the body as into a prison : there are three opinions touching this question . the first of those who affirm the traduction of the soule by genera●… , some of which so affirm because they judged 〈◊〉 a corporeall substance , as did c tertullian . others because they beleeved that one spirit might as easily proceed from another , as one fire or light be kindled by another : as d apollinarius , nemesi●… , and divers in the westerne churches , as st. hierome witnesseth . the second , of those who deby the naturall traduction , and say that the soule is 〈◊〉 ●…ion infused into bodies , organiz'd and praedisposed to receive them ; of which opinion among the ancients were e st. hierom , f hilarie , g ambrose , h lactantius , i theodoret. k aeneas gaz●…us , and of the moderne writers the major part . the third is of those who doe haesitare , stick betweene both , and dare affirme nothing certaine on either side , which is the moderation of l st. augustine and gregory m the great , who affirme that this is a question incomprehensible , and unsolvable in this life . now the only reason which caused st. austin herein to haesitate , seemeth to have been the difficulty of traducing originall sinne from the parents to the children . for saith he ( writing unto st. hierome touching the creation of the soule ) if this opinion doe not oppugne that most fundamentall faith of originall sinne , let it then be mine , but if it doe oppugne it , let it not be thine . now since that opinion which denieth the traduction , seemeth most agreeable to the spirituall substance of the soule , i shall here produce some few reasons for the creation , and solve an argument or two alledg'd for the traduction of the soule , reserving notwithstanding unto my selfe , and others , the liberty and modesty of st. austins haesitation , which also i finde allowed by the holy ghost himselfe . two things there are of certainty in this point . . that the soule is not any corporeall masse or substance measurable by quantity , or capable of substantiall augmentation . . that the traduction of one thing out of another , doth connotate these two things , that the thing traduced doth derive being from the other , as from its original principle ; & that this derivation be not any other manner of way , but ratione semi●…ali , & per modum decisionis , by a seminall way , and the decision , seperation , or effluxion of substance from the other : which things being laid , the arguments against traduction are these . first , the testimonies of holy scripture , calling god the father of spirits , as our naturall parent the father of our bodies , iob . . eccles. . . esa . . num. . . . . heb. . . zach. . . which though they doe not according to the judgement of st. aug. conclude the point by infallible consequence , yet doe they much favour the probability of this opinion . . to have being by traduction , is , when the soule of the child is derived from the soule of the parent , by the meanes of seed : but the seed of the parent cannot reach the generation of the soule , both because the one is a corporeall , the other a spirituall substance , uncapable of augmentation , or detriment . now that which is spirituall , cannot be produced out of that which is corporeall : neither can any seed be discinded or issue out from the soule , being substantia sim●…lex , & impartibilis , a substance simple , and indivisible . . that which is separable from the body , and can subsist and work without it , doth not depend in its being or making upon it ; for if by the generation of the body the soule be generated , by the corruption of the body it would be corrupted ; for every thing that is generable , is corruptible . but the soule can subsist and work without the body ; therefore it doth not from corporeall generation derive its being . . if the soule be seminally traduced , it must he either from the body , or from the soule of the parents ▪ not from the body , for it is impossible for that which is not a body , to be made out of that which is a body , no cause being able to produce an effect out of its owne spheare , and more noble than it selfe ; not from the soule , because that being a spirituall and impartible substance , can therefore have nothing severed from it by way of substantiall seed unto the constitution of another soule . . if there be nothing taken from the parents , of which the soule is formed , then it is not traduced by naturall generation : but there is nothing taken from the parents , by which the soule is formed ; for then in all abortions and miscarrying conceptions , the seed of the soule would perish , and by consequence the soule it selfe would be corruptible , as having its originall from corruptible seed . these and divers other the like arguments are used to confirme the doctrine touching the creation of the reasonable soule . unto which may be added the judgement and testimony of some of the forecited fathers . st. hierome telleth us that the originall of the soule in mankinde is not as in other living creatures . since as our saviour speaketh , the father worketh hitherto . and the prophet esat telleth us , that hee formeth the spirit of m●…n within him , and fram●…th the hearts of all men ; as it is in the psalmes . and so lactamius ( whom i doe wonder to finde numbred amongst the authors that affirme the traduction of the soule , by ruffinus , and the author of the dialogue amongst the works of hierome ) . it may be questioned ( saith he ) whether the soule be generated out of the father , mother , or both . neither of all three is true ; because the seed of the soule is not put into the body by either , or both of these . a body may be borne out of their bodies , because something may be out of both contributed ; but a soule cannot be borne out of their soules , in as much as from so spirituall and incomprehensible a substance nothing can issue forth or be severed for that use . so also st. hilary , the soule of man is the work of god ; the generation of the flesh is alwayes of the flesh . and againe , it is inbred and an impress'd beliefe in all ; that our soules have a divine originall : and in like manner theodoret , god ( saith he ) frameth the bodies of living creatures out of bodies subsisting before ; but the soules , not of all creatures , but of men only hee worketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of nothing that had beene before . against this doctrine of the soules originall , the principall argument is drawn from the consideration of originall sinne , and the propagation thereof , which alone was that which troubled and staggerd s. augustine in this point . for if the soule be not naturally traduced , how should originall sinne be derived from adam unto it ? and if it were not in the loynes of adam , then neither did it sinne in his loynes ; whereas the apostle expresly telleth us , that by one man sinne came into the world , and that in one all have sinned ; and that not only by imputative participation , but by naturall propagation , deriving an inhaerent habituall pollution , which cleaveth inseparably to the soule of every man that entreth into the world , and is the fruit of adams loynes . unto which argument to omit the different resolutions of other men touching the pollution of the soule by the immediate contact of the flesh , and the parents attinging the ultimate disposition of the body , upon which naturally followeth the union of the soule , ( god being pleased to work ordinarily according to the exigence of second causes , and not suffering any of them to be in vain for want of that concurrence , which he in the vertue of a first and supreame cause is to contribute unto them . ) i shall set downe what i conceive to be the truth in this point . first then , it is most certaine that god did not implant originall sinne , not take away originall righteousnesse from man , but man by his praevarication and fall did cast it away , and contract sin , and so derive a defiled nature to his posterity . for as ma●…arius excellently speaketh , adam having transgressed , did lo●… the pure pos●…esion of his nature . secondly , originall injustice as it is a sinne , by the default and contraction of man , so it is also a punishment by the ordination , and disposition of divine justice . it was mans sinne to cast away the image of god ; but it is gods just judgement ( as hee hath that free dispensation of his owne gifts ) not to restore it againe in such manner as at first he gave it unto that nature which had so rejected and trampled on it . thirdly , in this originall sinne , there are two things considerable , the privation of that righteousnesse , which ought to be in us ; and the lust or habituall concupiscence , which carrieth nature unto inordinate motions . the privation and want of originall justice is meritoriously from adam , who did voluntarily deprave , and reject that originall rectitude which was put into him , which therefore god out of his most righteous and free disposition is pleased not to restore unto his nature in his posterity againe . in the habituall lust are considerable these two things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sinfull disorder of it , and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the punishment of sinne by it . consider it is as a punishment of adams first praevarication ; and so , though it be not efficiently from god , yet it falls under the order of his justice , who did most righteously forsake adam , after his wilfull fall , and leave him in the hand of his owne counsell , to transmit unto us that seminary of sinne which himselfe had contracted . but if we consider it as a sinne , we then say that the immediate and proper cause of it , is lapsed nature whole and entire by generation and seminall traduction derived upon us . but the re●…ter cause is that , from which wee receive and derive this nature . nature i say first fallen ; for unto nature innocent belonged originall righteousnesse , and not originall sinne . . nature derived by ordinary generation as the fruit of the loynes , and of the womb . for though christ had our nature , yet hee had not our sinne . . nature whole and entire . for neither part ( as some conceive ) is the totall spring and fountain of this sinne . for it is improbable that any staine should be transfused from the body to the soul , as from the foule vessell to the cleane water put into it . the body it selfe being not soly and alone in it selfe corrupt and sinfull ; else , all abortions and miscarrying conceptions should be subject to damnation . nothing is the seat of sin which cannot be the seat of death the wages of sinne . originall sinne therefore most probably seemeth to arise by emanation , partiall in the parts , totall in the whole ; from mans nature as guilty , forsaken , and accursed by god for the sinne of adam . and from the parts not considered absolutely in themselves , but by vertue of their concurrence and vnion , whereby both make up one compounded nature . though then the soule be a partiall subject or seat of originall sinne ; yet wee have not our sinne and our soule from one author ; because sinne followes not the part , but the nature whole and entire . and though we have not from our parents totum naturae , yet we have totam naturam , wee have our whole nature , though not every part of our nature . even as whole christ was the son of mary , who therefore by vertue of the communication of properties in christ , is justly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the mother of god , against the nestorians in the councell of chalcedon . though in regard of his divine nature , he was without beginning ; & the reason is , because the integrity of nature ariseth from the vnion of the two parts together , which is perfected by generation ; so then wee say that adam is the originall , and meritorious cause . our next parents , the instrumentall and immediate cause of this sinne in us , not by way of physicall emission or transmigration of sinne from them to us , but by secret contagion , as s. augustine speaks . for having in the manner aforesaid from adam by our parents received a nature , most justly forsaken by god , and lying under the guilt and curse of the first praevarication , from this nature thus derived , as guilty and accursed doth immediately and intimately flow habituall pollution . so then habituall concupiscence is from adam alone meritoriously by reason of his first praevarication . from adam by the mediation of our parents seminally by naturall generation . and from nature generated not as nature , but as in adam guilty , forsaken and accursed , by secret and ineffable resultancy and emanation . this is that which i conceive of this great difficulty , not unmindfull in the meane time of that speech of s. augustine , that there is nothing more certaine to be knowne , and yet nothing more secret to be understood than originall sinne . for other arguments to prove the traduction of the soul , they are not of such moment ; and therefore i passe them by , and proceed to the consideration of the soule in its nature . chap. xxxiii . of the image of god in the reasonable soule , in regard of its simplicity , and spirituality . concerning the dignity of the soule in its nature and essence , reason hath adventured thus farre , to confesse that the soule of man , is in some sort a spark and beame of divine brightnesse . and a greater and more infallible oracle hath warranted that it was breathed into him by god himselfe , and was made after his image and likenesse , not substantially , as if there a were a real emanation and traduction of the soule out of god ; which were blasphemous and impious to conceive : but only by way of resemblance , and imitation of god properties in mans originall created nature which is more notable in him , than in the othe●… parts of the world ; there is indeed in all god works some kind of image , and lineaments , an●… footsteps of his glory . deum namque ire per omnes terrasque tractusque maris coelumque profundum , &c. for all the tracts of earth , of sea , and sky , are filled with divine immensity . the whole world is a great * book , wherein we read the praise , glory , power , and infinitenesse of him that made it , but man is after a more peculiar manner called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the image and glory of god ; the greater world is only gods workmanship , wherein is represented the wisdom and power of god , as in a building the art and cunning of the workman ; but man ( in the originall purity of nature ) is besides that , as wax , wherein was more notably impressed by that divine spirit ( whose work it is to seale ) a spirituall resemblance of his owne goodnesse and sanctity . againe , the greater world was never other than an orator to set forth the power and praises of god ; but he made the soule of man , in the beginning as it were his oracle , wherein he fastned a perfect knowledge of his law and will , from the very glimpses and corrupted reliques of which knowledge of his law , some have beene bold to call men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ the kindred of god , and senec. liber animus & diis cognatus ; which is the same with that of aratus cited by s. paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , for wee are his off-spring , yea euripides ( as tully in his * tusculans observes , ) was bold to call the soule of man , by the name of god ; and seneca will venture so farre too . quid aliud vocas animum quàm deum in humano corpore hospitantem . but to forbeare such boldnesse , as ( it may be ) one of the originals of heathen idolatry : certaine it is , that there are ( as tully many times divinely observes ) sundry similitudes betweene god and the minde of man. there are indeed some attributes of god , not only incommunicable , but absolutely inimitable , and unshadowable by any excellency in mans soule , as immensity , infinitenesse , omnipotency , omniscience , immutability , impassibility , and the like ; but whatsoever spirituall , and rationall perfections the power & bounty of god , conferr'd upon the soule in its first creation , are all of them so many shadowes and representations of the like , but most infinite perfections in him . the properties then and attributes of god , wherein this image chiefely consists , are first these three . spirituality with the two immediate consequents thereof , simplicity and immortality , in which the soule hath partaked without any after corruption or depravation . concerning the former , it were vast , and needlesse , to confute those * sundry opinions of ancient philosophers , concerning the substance of the soule ; many where of tully in the first of his tusculans hath reported ; and aristotle confuted in his first de anima . some conceived it to be blood , others the braine , some fire , others ayre ; some that it consists in harmony and number ; and the philosopher dicaearchus , that it was nothing at all but the body disposed and fitted for the works of life . but to let these passe as unworthy of refutation , and to proceed to the truth of the first property . there are sundry naturall reasons to prove the * spirituality of the soule ; as first , the manner of its working , which is immateriall by conceiving objects , as universall , or otherwise purified from all grosnesse of matter , by the abstraction of the active understanding , whereby they are made in some sort proportionall to the nature of the intellect passive , into which the species are impressed . secondly , it s in dependance on the body , in that manner of working ; for though the operations of the soule require the concurrence of the commonsense and imagination , yet that is by way only of conveyance from the object , not by way of assistance to the elicite and immediate act . they only present the species , they doe not qualifie the perception . phantasmata are only objecta operation is ; the objects they are , not instrumenta operandi , the instruments of the soules working . the act of understanding is immediatly from the soule , without any the least concurrences of the body there ▪ unto , although the things whereon that act is fixed and conversant , require , in this estate , bodily organs to represent them unto the soule ; as light doth not at all concurre to the act of seeing , which solely and totally floweth from the visive faculty , but only serves as an extrinsecall assistance for qualification of the medium and object that must be seene . and this reason aristotle hath used to prove , that the understanding , which is principally true of the whole soule , is not mixt with any body , but hath a nature altogether divers there-from , because it hath no bodily organ , as all bodily powers have , by which it is enabled to the proper acts that belong unto it . and hereon is grounded another reason of his , to prove the soule immateriall , because it depends not on the body in its operations , but educeth them immediately from within it selfe , as is more manifest in the reflexion of the soule , upon its owne nature , being an operation ( as hee expresly speaketh ) seperable there-from , the soule being not only actus informans , a forme informing , for the actuating of a body , and constitution of a compound substance , but actus subsistens too , a forme subsisting ; and that per se , without any necessary dependance upon matter . it is an act , which worketh as well in the body , as whereby the body worketh . another reason of aristotle in the same place , is the difference betweene materiall and immateriall powers . for ( saith he ) all bodily cognoscitive faculties doe suffer offence and dammage from the too great excellency of their objects , as the eye from the brightnesse of the sunne , the eare from the violence of a sound , the touch from extremity of heat or cold , and the lik●… . but the understanding on the contrary side is perfected by the worthiest contemplations , and the better enabled for lower enquiries . and therefore aristotle in his ethicks , placeth the most compleat happinesse of man , in those heavenly intuitions of the minde , which are fastned on the divinest and most remote objects ; which in religion is nothing else , but a fruition of that beatificall vision ( which , as farre as nature goes , is call'd the contemplation of the first cause ) and an eternall satiating the soule with beholding the nature , essence , and glory of god. another reason may be drawn from the condition of the vnderstandings objects , which have so much the greater conformity to the soule , by how much the more they are divine and abstracted . hoc habet animus argumentum suae divinitatis , ( saith seneca ) quòd illum divina delectam . this argument of its divinenesse hath the minde of man , that it is delighted with divine things ; for if the soule were corporeal , it could not possibly reach to the knowledge of any , but materiall substances , and those that were of its owne nature ; otherwise we might as well see angels with our eyes , as understand any thing of them in our minds . and the ground of this reason is , that axiome in philosophy , that all reception is ad modum recipientis , according to the proportion and capacity of the receiver . and that the objects which are spirituall and divine , have greatest proportion to the soule of man , is evident in his understanding and his will , both which are in regard of truth or good unsatisfiable , by any materiall or worldly objects , the one never resting in enquiry , till it attaine the perfect knowledge , the other never replenished in desire till it be admitted unto the perfect possession of the most divine and spirituall good : to wit , of him who is the first of causes , and the last of ends. from this attribute of spirituality flowes immediatly that next of simplicity , vnity , or actuality ; for matter is the root of all perfect composition , every compound consisting of two essentiall parts , matter and forme . i exclude not from the soule all manner of composition ; for it is proper to god only to be absolutely and perfectly simple : but i exclude all essentiall composition , in respect whereof the soule is meerely actuall ; and so i understand that of tully , nihil est animus admixtum , nihil concretum , nihil copulatum , nihil coagmentatum , nihil duplex . chap. xxxiv . of the soules immortality proved by its simplicity , independance , agreement of nations in acknowledging god and duties due unto him , dignity above other creatures , power of understanding things immortall , unsatiablenesse by objects mortall , freenesse from all causes of corruption . and from this simplicity followes by a necessary & unavoydable consequence , the third property spoken of , * immortality , it being absolutely impossible ( as tully excellently observes , & it is the argument of iul. scaliger on this very occasion ) for any simple and uncompounded nature to be subject to death and corruption ; for ( saith tully ) interitus est discessus & secretio ac direptus earum partium quae conjunctione ●…liqua tenebantur . it is a separation ( and as it were ) a divulsion of parts , before united each to other , so that where there is * no union , there can be no separation , and by consequence no death nor mortality . another reason may be the same which was alledged for the spirituality of the soule , namely independance in operation , and therefore consequently in being upon the body . and that independance is manifest , first , because the acts of the soule are educ'd immediately in it selfe , without the intercedence of any organ whereby sensitive faculties work . secondly , because the soule can perceive and have the knowledge of truth of universals , of it selfe , of angels , of god , can assent , discourse , abstract , censure , invent , contrive , and the like ; none of which actions could any wayes be produced by the intrinsecall concurrence of any materiall faculty . thirdly , because in raptures and extasies , the soule is ( as it were ) drawne up above and from the body , though not from informing it , yet certainely from borrowing from it any assistance to the produceing of its operation . all which prove , that the soule is separable from the body in its nature , and therefore that it is not corrupt and mortall as the body . another reason may be taken from the universall agreement of all nations in the earth in * religion and the worship of some deity , which cannot but be raised out of a hope and secret resolution that that god whom they worshipped , would reward their piety , if not here , yet in another life . nulla gens adeo extra leges est project●… ut non aliquos deos credat , saith seneca ; whence those fictious of the poets touching elyzium and fields of happinesse for men of honest and well ordered lives ; and ▪ places of torment for those that doe any way neglect the bonds of their religion . ergo exercentur poenis , veterumque malorum supplicia expendunt . therefore they exercised are with paine , and punishments of former crimes sustaine . for in this life it is many times in all places seene , that those which have given themselves most liberty in contempt of gods lawes , and have suffered themselves to be carried by the swinge of their owne rebellious passions , unto all injurious , ambitious , unruly practises , have commonly raised themselves and their fortunes more than others , who out of tendernesse and feare have followed no courses but those which are allowed them . and yet these men who suffer so many indignities out of regard to religion , doe still observe their duties , and in the midst of all contempt and reproach , fly into the bosome of their god : and as lucretius himselfe that arch-atheist confesseth of them : — multò in rebus acerbis acri●…s advertunt animos ad religionem . their hearts in greatest bitternesse of minde , unto religion are the more enclinde . their very terrors and troubles make them more zealous in acknowledging some deity and in the worship of it . hic pietatis h●…s ? would not this easily have melted their religion into nothing , and quite diverted their minds from so fruitlesse a severity , had they not had a strong and indeleble perswasion fastned in their soules , that a state would come , where in both their patience should be rewarded , and the insolencie of their adversaries repayed with the just vengeance they had deserved ? as for that atheisticall conceit , that religion is only grounded on policie , and maintained by princes for the better tranquillity and setlednesse of their states , making it to be only imperiorum vinculum , a bond of government , that the common-weale might not suffer from the fury of minds secure from all religion , it is a fancie no lesse absurd , than it is impious . for that which hath not only beene observed and honour'd by those who have scarce had any forme of a civill regiment amongst them , but even generally assented unto by the opinions and practice of the whole world , is not a law of policie and civill institution , but an inbred and secret law of nature dictated by the consciences of men , and assented unto , without and above any humane imposition . nor else is it possible for legall institutions , and the closest and most intricate conveyances of humane policy so much to entangle the hearts of men ( of themselves enclinable to liberty ) nor to fetter their consciences , as thereby only to bring them to a regular conformity unto all government for feare of such a god , to whose infinitnesse , power and majestie they assent by none but a civill tradition . it must be a visible character of a deitie acknowledged in the soule , an irresistible principle in nature , and the secret witnesse of the heart of man , that must constraine it unto those sundry religious ceremonies ( observed among all nations ) wherein even in places of idolatry , were some so irksome and repugnant to nature , and others so voyd of reason , as that nothing but a firme and deepe assurance of a divine judgement , and of their owne immortality , could ever have impos'd them upon their consciences . and besides this consent of men unto religion in generall , we finde it also unto this one part hereof touching the soules immortality . all the wisest and best reputed philosophes for learning and stayednesse of life , and , besides them , even barbarians , infidels , and savage people have discerned it . adeò nescio quo mod●… inhaeret in menibus quasi seculorum quoddam augurium futurorum , saith tully . the soule hath a kinde of presage of a future world ; and therefore he saith , that it is in mans body a tenant , tanquam in dome al●…enâ , as in anothers house : and is only in heaven as a lord tanquam in domo suâ , as in its owne . though in the former of these , the ignorance of the resurrection made him erre touching the future condition of the body , wherein indeed consists a maine dignity of man above other creatures . and this opinion it is which he saith was the ground of all that care men had for posterity , to sow and plant common-wealths , to ordaine lawes , to establish formes of government , to erect foundations and societies , to hazard their blood for the good of their country ; all which could not have beene done with such freedome of spirit , and prodigality of life , unlesse there were withall a conceit that the good thereof would some way or other redound to the contentment of the authors themselves after this life : for it was a speech savouring of infinite atheisme . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . when i am dead , and in mine v●…ne ; what care i though the world burns ? now although against this present reason drawne from the consent of men ( which yet heathens themselves have used ) it may be alledged that there hath beene a consent likewise of some , that the soule is nothing else but the eucrasie or good temperature of the body , and that it is therefore subject to those maladies , distempers , age , sicknesse , and at last death , which the body is ; as amongst the rest lucretius takes much paines to prove : yet the truth is , that is votum magic quàm iudicium , never any firme opinion grounded on judgement and reason , but rather a desire of the heart , and a perswasion of the will inticing the understanding so to determine . for the conscience of lewd epicures and sensuall minds , being sometimes frighted with the flashes and apprehensions of immortality , which often times pursues them , and obtrudes it selfe upon them against their wills , shining like lightning through the chinks & crevises ( as i may so speak ) of their soules , which are of set purpose closed against all such light , sets the reason on work to invent arguments for the contrary side , that s●… their staggering and fearefull impiety may b●… something emboldned , and the eye of their conscience blinded , and the mouth mustled from breathing forth those secret clamors and shrikes of feare . the deniall then of the immortality of the soule is rather a wish than an opinion , a corruption of the heart and will , than any naturall assertion of the understanding , which cannot but out of the footsteps and reliques of those first sacred impressions , acknowledge a spirituall resemblance in the soule of man unto some supreame deity , whom the conscience in all its enormities doth displease : and therefore it is observed that the mind of an atheist is continually wavering and unsatisfied , never able so to smother the inbred consciousnes of its immortality , as not to have continuall suggestions of feare and scruple . wheresoever there is an impious heart , there is alwayes a shivering judgement . another reason of the soules immortality may be drawne from the dignity and preheminence of man above other creatures : for hee is made lord over them , and they were ordained to be serviceable to him , and ministers for his contentments : which dignity cannot possibly stand with the mortality of the soule . for should not many other creatures farre exceed man in the durance of their being ? and even in their time of living together , how subject to weakenesses , sicknesse , languishing , cares , feare , jealousies , discontents , and all other miseries of mind and body , is the whole nature of man , of all which , other creatures feele the least disturbance ? are not men here , beyond the rest , the very proper subjects and receptacles of misery ? is not our heart made the naturall center of feares and sorrowes ? and our minds , as it were , hives to entertaine numberlesse swarmes of stinging and thorny cares ? are wee not vassals and slaves to many distempered passions ? have not our very contents their terror , and our peace disturbance ? are not all our comforts , wherewith wee strive to glut and stuffe our selves here , the glorious vanities , and golden delusions and cosenages of the world ? and how miserable must their miseries be , whose very happinesse is unhappy ? and for reason , what comfort could wee finde in it , when it would alwayes be presenting unto us the consideration of an eternall losse of all our contentments , and still affright us with the dark and hideous conceit of annihilation ? mortality and corruption makes unreasonablenesse a priviledge ; and in this case the beasts would be so much the more happy than man , by how much the lesse they know their owne wretchednesse . an atheist would be in this life farre happier than he is , if he could bring himselfe to have as little reason as he hath religion . another reason may be taken from the nature of mans reasonable faculties . to every power in man , as god hath assigned a peculiar operation , so likewise hath hee given it objects of equall extent thereunto , which are therefore able to accomplish its naturall desires , whereby it fasteneth on them . and for this cause from the nature of the objects , wee easily rise to know the nature both of the faculties and essence ; for from the essence flowes naturally the faculty , from the faculty is naturally educed the operation , which requires naturally objects proportionall , convenient , satisfactory , and of equall extent . where therefore no mortall object beares full convenience , nor is able to satiate and quiet the faculty , there it and the essence , from which it flowes , are both immortall . now we see sensitive powers finde in this life full satisfaction , as the sight from all the variety of colours , the eare of sounds , and the like : only the reasonable parts , the understanding , and the will can never be replenished in this estate of mortality . have they as great and wide contentments , as the whole frame of nature can here afford them ; still their pursuites are restlesse , still they find an absence and want of something , which they cannot finde . orbis alexandro angustus ; in this case every man is like alexander . this world wherein wee now converse , is too straight and empty to fill the vastnesse , and limit the desires of the soule of man. only the sight and possession of god , the most infinite good , can satisfie our understandings and our wills. for both these faculties ( as all others in suo ge●…re ) ayme at summum . the understanding is carried ad summam causam to the first of truths ; the will ad summum bonum to the last of ends ; and therefore he only which is the first and the last , can satisfie these two searching and unquiet faculties . hi motus animorum a●…que haec certa●…ina . these are the motions , this the strife of soules , aspiring unto life . all the knowledge we heap up here , serves only as a mirrour wherein to view our ignorance , and wee have only light enough to discover that wee are in the dark . and indeed , were there no estate wherein knowledge should receive a perfection , and be throughly proportioned to the heart of man , the labour of getting the knowledge wee have , and the vexation for the want of what wee have not , and the griefe of parting so soone with it , would render the vexation of it farre greater than the content . hoc est quòd palles ? cur quis non prandeat hoc est ? is this the fruit , for which we fast ? and by pale studies sooner waste ? do we toyle and sweat , and even melt our selves away for that which wee sooner forsake than finde ? doe wee deny our selves the contentments and satisfactions most agreeable to our corporeall condition , being without hope of accomplishing our wishes in another estate ? it is naturall for gaining of knowledge to hasten unto that whereby we loose both it and our selves ? and to labour for such a purchase , which like lightning is at once begun and ended , yea indeed sooner lost than gotten ? certainly were man not conscious of his owne immortality , there could be no stronger inducement to sottishnesse , luxury , riot , sensuality , and all other unbridled practises . it is registred for the impiety of atheists ; let us eat and drink , for to morrow wee shall dye . another reason may be framed after the same manner , as was that to prove the spirituality of the soule from the manner of its operation . and it is grounded on those two ordinary axiomes in philosophy , that every thing is received according to the quality of the receiver , and that every thing hath the same manner of ●…ssence , as it hath of operation . now the soule of man can easily receive impressions and conceits of immortality , and discourse thereupon : therefore also it is in its owne essence and nature immortall . wee see even betweene things meerely corporeall , as the object and the sensitive organ , how small a disproportion works incapacity . much more must it be found in so great a difference as would be betweene immortality of objects and corruption of the soule that worketh on them . we cannot picture an angel or spirit , nor make any im●…ateriall stamp in a piece of wax , since a corporeall substance is capable of none but corporeall impressions . and therefore wee see that even amongst bodies , the more pure and subtile they are , the more are they exempted from the perception of the quickest and most spirituall sense , the sight . now the mind of man in understanding , is but as wax to the seale , or as a table and picture to an object which it represents : which is the ground of that paradox in aristotle , that in understanding the soule is ( as it were ) made the object that is understood . because , as the wax , after it is stamped , is in some sort the very seale it selfe that stamp'd it , namely representative , by way of image and resemblance ; so the soule , in receiving the species of any object , is made the picture and image of the thing it selfe . now the understanding , being able to apprehend immortality ( yea indeed apprehending every corporeall substance , as if it were immortall , i meane by purging it from all grosse materiall and corruptible qualities ) must therefore needs of it selfe be of an immortall nature . and from the latter of those two principles , which i spake of , namely , that the quality of the being may be gathered from the nature of the operation , aristotle inferres the separability and independance of the understanding on the body , in the third de animâ afore-named : for the soule being able to work without the concurrence of any bodily organ to the very act it selfe ( as was before shewed ) must needs also be able to subsist by its owne nature , without the concurrence of any matter to sustaine it . and therefore hee saith in the same place , that the understanding is separable , uncompounded , impassible ; all arguments of immortality . other reasons are produced for the proofe hereof , taken from the causes of corruption , which is wrought either by contraries working and eating out nature ; or by defect of the preserving cause , as light is decayed by absence of the sunne ; or thirdly by corruption of the subject whereon it depends . none whereof can be verified in the soule . for first , how can any thing be contrary to the soule , which receiveth perfection from all things ? for intellectus omnia intelligit , saith aristotle , yea wherein all contraries are reconciled and put off their opposition ? for ( as a great man excellently speaketh ) those things , which destroy one another in the world , maintaine and perfect one another in the minde ; one being a meanes for the clearer apprehension of the other . secondly , god , who is the only efficient of the soule ( being else in it selfe simple and indivisible , and therefore not capable of death , but only of annihilation ) doth never faile , and hath himselfe promised never to bring it unto nothing . and lastly , the soule depends not , as doe other formes , either in operation or being , on the body , being not only actus informans , but subsistens too , by its owne absolute vertue . chap. xxxv . of the honour of humane bodies by creation , by resurrection ; of the endowments of glorified bodies . and now , that this particular of immortality may farther redound both to the honour and comfort of man , i must fall upon a short digression touching mans body : wherein i intend not to meddle with the question , how mans body may be said to be made after the image of god ( which sure is not any otherwise , than as it is a sanctified and shall be a blessed vessell , but not as some have conceited , as if it were in creation imago christi futuri , nec dei opus tantum , sed & pignus : as if christ had beene the patterne of our honour , and not wee of his infirmity , since the scripture saith , hee was made like unto us in all things , and that he assumed our nature , but never that we were , but that we shall be like unto him ) not , i say , to meddle with this , i will only briefly consider the dignity thereof in the particular of immortality , both in the first structure , and in the last resurrection of it . the creation of our bodies , and the redemption of our bodies , as the apostle calls it . what immunity was at first given , and what honour shall at last be restored to it . in which latter sense it shall certainly be secundum imaginem , after his image , who was primitiae the first fruits of them that rise . that as in his humility his glory was hid in our mortality , so in our exaltation our mortality shall be swallowed up of his glory . and for the first estate of mans body , we conclude in a word : that it was partly mortall , and partly immortall : mortall in regard of possibility of dying , because it was affected with the mutuall action and passion of corruptible elements : for which reason it stood in need of reparation and recovery of it selfe by food , as being still corpus animale , and not spirituale , as st. paul distinguisheth , a naturall , but not a spirituall body . but it was immortall , that is , exempted from the law of death and dissolution of the elements , in vertue of gods covenant with man , upon condition of his obedience . it was mortall conditione corporis , by the condition of a body ; but immortall beneficio conditoris , by the benefit of its creation ; else god had planted in the soule such naturall desires of a body wherein to work as could not be naturally attained ; for the soule did naturally desire to remaine still in the body . in the naturall body of adam there was no sin , and therefore no death , which is the wages of sinne . i come now to the redemption of our bodies already performed in pignore & in primi●…its , in our head , & in some few of his members , enoch , ellas , and ( as is probable ) in those dead bodies which arose to testifie the divine power of our crucified saviour ; and shall be totally accomplished at that day of redemption , as the same apostle calls the last day : that day of a full and finall redemption , when death , the last enemy , shall be overcome . and well may it be called a day of redemption , not only in regard of the creature , which yet groaneth under the malediction and tyrannie of sinfull man : nor yet only in respect of mans soule , which , though it be before admitted unto the purchased possession of the glorifying vision , and lives no more by faith alone , but by sight , shall yet then receive a more abundant fulnesse thereof , as being the day of the manifestation and plenary discovery both of the punishing glory of god in the wicked , and of his merciful and admirable glory in the saints : but also and ( as i think ) most especially in respect of the body . for there is , by vertue of that omnipotent sacrifice , a double kinde of redemption wrought for us : the one vindicative , giving us immunity from all spirituall dangers , delivering us from the tyrannie of our enemies , from the severity , justice , and curse of the law ; which is commonly in the new testament called simply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a deliverance from evill ; the other purchasing , or munificent , by not only freeing us from our own wretchednesse , but farther conferring upon us a positive and a glorious honour , which st. iohn calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a power , priviledge , prerogative , and title unto all the glorious promises of immortality : which like wise st. paul calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the redemption of a purchased possession , and a redemption unto the adoption of sonnes . now then the last day is not totally and perfectly a day of redemption unto our soules in either of these senses , since they are in this life delivered from the malediction of the law , from the wrath of the judge , from the tyrannie of the enemie , from the raigne of sinne , and by death freed not only from the dominion , but from the possession , or assault of the enemie ; not only from the kingdome , but from the body of sinne ; and is withall in good part possessed of that blisse , which it shall more fully enjoy at last . but our bodies , though before that great day they partake much of the benefits of redemption , as being here sanctified vessells , freed from the authority and power of the devill , world , flesh , and from the curse of death too , wherein they part not only with life , but with sinne ; yet after all this doe they want some part of either redemption : as namely to be raised and delivered from that dishonour and corruption , which the last enemie hath brought upon them : and to be admitted into those mansions , and invested with that glory , whereby they shall be totally possessed of their redemption . in a word , the soule is in its separation fully delivered from all enemies , which is the first ; and in a great measure enjoyeth the vision of god , which is the second part or degree of mans redemption . but the body is not till its resurrection , either quite freed from its enemie , or at all possessed of its glory . i meane in its selfe , though it be in its head , who is primitiae & p●…gnus resurrectionis , the first fruits and earnest of our conquest over death . touching the dignity of our bodies , though there be more comfort to be had in the expectation , than curiosity in the enquirie after it ; yet what is usually granted , i shall briefly set down . and first , it shall be raised a whole entire and perfect body , with all the parts best fitted to be receptacles of glory ; freed from all either the usherers in , or attendants and followers on the grave , age , infirmity , sicknesse , corruption , ignominie , and dishonour : and shall rise a true , whole , strong , and honourable body . for though every part of the body shall not have those peculiar uses , which here they have , since they neither eat , nor drink , marry , nor are given in marriage , but are as the angels of god : yet shall not any part be lost : licet enim officiis liberentur , judiciis re●…inentur : though they are freed from their temporall service , for which they were here ordained , yet must they be reserved for receiving their judgment , whether it be unto glory , or unto dishonour . the second dignity is that change and alteration of our body from a naturall to a spirituall body , whereby is not meant any transubstantiation from a corporeall to a spirituall substance : for our bodies shall , after the resurrection , be conformable unto christs body , which , though glorious , was not yet a spirit , but had flesh and bone , as we have . nor is it to be understood of a thinne , aereall , invisible body ( as some have collected ) since christ saith of his body , after he was risen , videte , palpate . wheresoever it is , it hath both its quantity , and all sensible qualities of a body glorified with it . it is a strong argument , that it is not there , where it is not sensible ; and therefore the doctrines of vbiquity , and transubstantiation , as they give christ more thā he is pleased to owne , an immensity of body ; so doe they spoyle him of that , which hee hath beene pleased for our sakes to assume ; extension , compacture , massinesse , visibility , and other the like sensible properties , which cannot stand with that pretended miracle whereby they make christs body ( even now a creature , and like unto ours in substance , though not in qualities of corruptibility , infirmity , ignominie , animality ) to be truly invested with the very immediate properties of the deity . true indeed it is , that the body of christ hath an efficacie and operation in all parts of the world , it worketh in heaven with god the father by intercession ; amongst the blessed angels by confirmation ; in earth , and that in all ages , and in all places amongst men , by justification , and comfort ; in hell amongst the devils and damned , by the tremblings and feares of a condemning and convicting faith. but operation requireth only a presence of vertue , not of substance . for doth not the sunne work wonderfull effects in the bowels of the earth , it selfe notwithstanding being a fixed planet in the heaven ? and why should not the sunne of righteousnesse work as much at the like distance , as the sunne of nature ? why should he not be as powerfull absent , as he was hoped ? or why should the not presence of his body make that uneffectuall now , which the not existing could not before his incarnation ? why should we mistrust the eyes of stephen , that saw him in heaven , at such a distance of place , when abraham could see him in his own bowels through so great a distance of time ? that speech then , that the body shall be a spirituall body , is not to be understood in either of those former senses : but it is to be understood first of the more immediate union and full inhabitation of the vertue and vigour of gods spirit in our bodies , quickning and for ever sustaining them without any assistance of naturall or animall qualities , for the repairing and augmenting of them in recompence of that , which by labour and infirmity , and the naturall opposition of the elements , is daily diminished . secondly , it shall be so called in regard of its obedience & totall subjection to the spirit of god , without any manner of reluctance and dislike . thirdly , in respect of those spirituall qualities , those prerogatives of the flesh , with which it shall be adorned , which are first , a shining and glorious light , wherewithall it shall be cloathed as with a garment : for the iust shall shine as the sunne in the firmament . now , this shal be wrought first by vertue of that communion , which wee have with christ our head , whose body , even in its mortality , did shine like the sunne , and had his cloathes white as light . and secondly , by diffusion and redundancie from our soule upon our body , which by the beatificall vision , filled with a spirituall and unconceiveable brightnesse , shall work upon the body , as on a subject made throughly obedient to its power unto the production of alike qualities . the second spirituall property shall be impassibility , not in respect of perfective , but in respect of annoying , disquieting , or destructive passion . there shall not be any warre in the members , any fighting and mutuall languishing of the elements ; but they shall all be sustained in their full strength by vertue of christs communion , of the inhabitation of the spirit , of the dominion of the glorified soule . there shall be no need of rest , or sleepe , or meat , all which are here requisite for the supply of our infirmities and daily defects , and are only the comforts of pilgrimage , not the blessednesse of possession . for although christ after his resurrection did eat before his disciples , yet this was none otherwise done , than that other , the retaining of his wounds , which was only for our sakes ; that our faith touching the truth of his body , might not be without these visible and inferiour witnesses , by which he was pleased to make his very glorified flesh a proportioned object to our fraile sense and faith , that so wee might thence learne confidently to rely for our selves as well on the benefit of his exaltation , as of his humility . or it was done ( as st. augustine speaks ) non ex necessitate , sed ex potestate : as the sunne is said to draw and suck up standing waters : non pabuli egestate , sed virtutis magni●…adine , not to nourish , but to manifest its vertue . thirdly , the body shall be a strong and beautifull body , throughly able to minister unto the soule any service , wherein it shall imploy it , and shall be no longer , as it is now , the clogge and luggage thereof . it shall likewise be free from all blemish and deformity ( which ever ariseth out of the distemper & discord of the elements ) ( as it is by good probability conjectured ) reduced unto a full , comely and convenient stature , even in those , who were in their death contemptible , infants , lame , dismembred , or any other way dishonoured with the miseries of corruption ; naturae , non injuriae reddimur , we shall be restored to our nature , but not to our shame ; the dust shall still retaine and bury our dishonour , and it shall be one part of our glory to be made fit for it . the last quality of our bodies , which i shall observe , is a perfect subtilty and agility , best befitting their service for the soule in all speedy motion ; which surely shall be there so much the more requisite , than here on earth , by how much heaven is a more ample and spacious country . and thus while the body is made an attendant on the soules glory , it is likewise a partaker of it . unto these , adde the sweet harmony of the affections , the exact and exquisite operation of the senses , the bodily communion and fellowship of the saints , and , above all , the eternall corporeall vision of that most sacred body , whence all ours derive their degrees of honour , whose presence were truly and without any hyperbole able to make hell it selfe a place of glory : how much more that country , and those mansions , where the soule likewise shall be swallowed up with the immediate vision and fruition of divine glory . our soules are not here noble enough to conceive what our bodies shall be there . chap. xxxvi . of that part of gods image in the soule , which answereth to his power , wisedome , knowledge , holines . of mans dominion over other creatures . of his love to knowledge . what remainders we retaine of originall iustice. the other properties or attributes of god , of which mans soule beareth an image & dark resemblance , are those , which according to our apprehension seeme not so intrinsecall and essentiall as the former . and they are such as may be either generally collected from the manifestation of his works , or more particularly from his word . these , which referre unto his works , are his power in making and ruling them ; his wisedom in ordering and preserving them ; his knowledge in the contemplation of them : and of these it pleaseth him at the first to bestow some few degrees upon mans soule . concerning the attribute of power , most certaine it is that those great parts of gods workmanship , creation , and redemption , are incommunicably belonging unto him as his owne prerogative royall . insomuch that it were desperate blasphemy to assume unto our selves the least resemblance of them . yet in many other proceedings of gods works , there is some analogie and resemblance in the works of men. for first , what are all the motions and courses of nature , but the ordinary works of god ? all formes and intrinsecall motive principles are indeed but his instruments ; for by him we live , and move , and have our being . and of all other works , mans only imitate nature : as aristotle observes of the works of art , which peculiarly belong unto man ( all other creatures being carried by that naturall instinct , which is intrinsecally belonging to their condition , without any manner of art or variety . ) the resemblances of nature in the works of art are chiefly seene in these two proportions : first , as nature doth nothing in vaine , but in all her works aymes at some end , the perfection , or the ornament , or the conservation of the universe ( for those are the three ends of nature subordinate to the maine , which is , the glory of the maker ) so likewise are the works of art all directed by the understanding to some one of those ends ; either to the perfection of men , such are all those , which informe the vnderstanding , and governe the life : or to his conservation , as those directed to the furthering of his welfare , and repairing the decayes , or sheltering the weaknesses of nature : or lastly to his ornament , such as are those elegancies of art , and curiosities of invention , which , though not necessary to his being , yet are speciall instruments of his delight , either sensitive or intellectuall . the second resemblance , is betweene the manner and progresse of their workes : for as the method of nature is to proceed , ab imperfectioribus ad perfectiora , and per determinata media ad 〈◊〉 finem ; so art likewise as is plaine in those which are manuall ) by certain fixed rules , which alter not , proceeds to the producing of a more perfect effect , from more tough and unformed beginnings , by the help of instruments , appropriated to particular services . but this , because ●…t limits mans dignity , as well as commends it , i for beare to speake of . though even herein also we doe seeme to imitate god , who in his great worke of creation did proceed both by successi●… of time , and degrees of perfection ; only it is necessity in us which was in him his will. to come therefore nearer , it is observable , that in the first act of gods power , in the making and framing of the world , there was no thing here below created properly , immediatly , and totally , but the chaos and masse , or the earth without forme , and voide , out of the obedience whereof , his power did farther educe and extract those wonderfull , va●…ious , and beauti ▪ full formes , which doe evidently set forth unto the soule of man , the glory and majestie of him that made them . by a small resemblance of this manner of working , man also in those workes of art , peculiar to him from other creatures , doth ex potentia obedientiall ( as the schooles call it ) out of the obedience and subjection of any proposed masse produce , non per naturam , sed per imperium , not out of the nature of the subject , but by the command of reason sundry formes of art full of decency and beauty . and for government , i meane subordinate , and by derivation or indulgence , it is manifest that all creatures inhabiting the world with him were subdued unto man ; and , next unto the glory of the great maker , were ordained for his service and benefit * . and therefore , when ever wee finde any of them hurtfull and rebellious , wee cannot but remember that the occasion thereof was our owne disloyalty ; they doe but revenge their great masters wrong , and , out of a faithfull care and jealousie to preserve his honour , renounce their fidelity and obedience to a traitom * . and indeed how can we looke to have our dominion intire over beasts and inferiour creatures , when by continuall enormities we make our selves as one of them ? continued by the generall providence of god , whereby hee is pleased to preserve things in that course of subordination wherein first hee made them , and like a gracious prince , to continue unto man the use of his creatures , even then when hee is a prisoner unto his justice . renewed , by the promise and grant made againe unto noah . and there is a double promise under which wee may enjoy the creatures , the one a morall promise made unto industry , as , the diligent hand maketh rich ; and , hee that ploweth his land , shall have plenty of corne : the other an evangelicall promise made unto piety , and faith in christ , whereby is given unto christian men both a freer use of the creatures than the iews had , and a purer use than the wicked have . for , unto the cleane all things are cleane . and this grant of god doth sometimes shew it selfe extraordinarily , as in the obedience of the crowes to eliah , the viper to paul , the lyons to daniel , the whale to ionah , the fire to the three children , and the trembling and feare of wilde beasts towards many of the martyrs : alwayes ordinarily , in ordering and dispensing the course of nature so , as that humane society may be preserved , both by power in subduing the creatures which hee must use , and by wisedome in escaping the creatures which hee doth feare . now for the second attribute , * wisedome , there is also a remainder of the image thereof in man : for albeit , the fall and corruption * of nature hath darkned his eyes , so that hee is enclined to worke confusedly , or to walk as in a maze , without method or order ( as in a storme the guide of a vessell is oftentimes to seek of his art , and forced to yeeld to the windes and waves ) yet certaine it is that in the minde of man there still remaines a pilot , or light of nature ; many principles of practicall prudence , whereby ( though for their faintings a man do's often miscarry and walke awry ) the course of our actions may be directed with successe and issue unto civill and honest ends . and this is evident , not only by the continuall practise of grave and wise men , in all states , times , and nations ; but also by those sundry learned and judicious precepts , which historians , politicians , and philosophers have by their naturall reason and observation framed for the compassing of a mans just ends , and also for prevention and disappointment of such inconveniences as may hinder them . lastly , for the attribute of knowledge , it was doubtlesse after a most eminent manner at first infused into the heart of man , when hee was able by intuition of the creatures to give unto them all names , according to their severall properties and natures ; and in them to shew himselfe , as well a philosopher , as a lord. he●… filled them , sayth siracides , with the knowledge of vnderstanding . and herein , if wee will beleeve aristotle , the soule is most neerely like unto god , whose infinite delight is the eternall knowledge and contemplation of himselfe , and his works . hereby , saith hee , the soule of man is made most beloved of god , and his minde , which is allied unto god , is it selfe divine , and , of all other parts of man , most divine . and this made the serpent use that insinuation only , as most likely to prevaile , for compassing that cursed and miserable project of mans ruine . by meanes of which fall , though man blinded his understanding , and ●…obd himselfe of this , as of all other blessed habits , i meane of those excellent degrees thereof , which he then enjoyed : yet still the desire remaines vast and impatient , and the pursuit so violent , that it proves often praejudiciall to the estate both of the body and minde . so that it is as true now , as eyer , that man is by nature a curious and inquiring creature , of an active and restlesse spirit , which is never quiet , except in motion , winding it selfe into all the pathes of nature ; and continually traversing the world of knowledge . there are two maine desires naturally stamped in each creature ; a desire of perfecting , and a desire of perpetuating himselfe . of these aristotle attributeth in the highest degree , the latter unto each living creature , when he saith , that of all the works of living creatures , the most naturall is to generate the like : and his reason is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . because hereby that immortality ( the principall end ( as hee there supposeth ) of all naturall agents ) which in their owne individuals they cannot obtaine , they procure by deriving their nature unto a continued off-spring and succession . but ( though in regard of life it hold true of all ) man notwithstanding is to be exempted from the universality of this assertion . and of himselfe that other desire of perfection , which is principally the desire of knowledge ( for that is one of the principall advancements of the soule ) should not only in a positive sense , as aristotle hath determined in the entrance to his metaphysicks , but in a superlative degree be verified , that he is by nature desirous of knowledge . this being the principall thing ( to use aristotle his owne reason ) whereby man doth ▪ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , partake of divinity , as i observed before out of aristotle himselfe . and the reason of the difference betweene man and other creatures in this particular is : first , because man hath not such necessary use of that former desire , as others have , in regard of his owne immortality , which takes away the necessity of propagation to sustaine his nature . and secondly , because knowledge , the perfection of the soule , is to man ( as i may so speake ) a kinde of generation , being of sufficiencie to exempt the person , endued therewith , from all injurie of time , and making him to survive and out-live his owne mortality . so that when the body hath surrendred unto each region of the world those elements and principles , whereof it was compos'd , and hath not so much as dust and cinders left to testifie that being , which once it had , then doth the name lie wrapped in the monuments of knowledge , beyond the reach of fate and corruption . the attributes of god , which are manifested more especially in his word , though sundry , yet ( as farre forth as they had ever any image in man ) may be comprized in this more generall one of holinesse . whereby i understand that absolute and infinite goodnesse of his nature , which is in him most perfect , pure , and eternall . of which , though man according to that measure , as it was unto him communicated , was in his great fall utterly rob'd and spoyl'd , as not being able in any thing to resemble it , or to retaine any the least prints of those pure and divine impressions of originall righteousnesse ▪ yet still there remaines , even in depraved and polluted nature fome shadowes thereof : there is stil the opus operatum in many actions of mortality , though the obliquity of the heart , and ignorance of the true end , whether it should be directed , take away the goodnesse and the sanctity thereof . the top and highest pitch of nature toucheth the hemme and lowest of grace . we have in us the testimonies , though not the goodnesse of our first estate ; the ruines of a temple to be lamented , though not the holy places thereof to be inhabited . it is true indeed those great endowments of the most severe and illightned heathen , were indeed but glorious miseries and withered vertues , in that they proceeded from a depraved nature , and aymed at sinister and false ends : yet withall both the corruption of them proves their praecedent losse ( which also the heathen themselves espied in their distinction of ages into golden and iron times : ) and likewise the pursuit and practice of them ( though weak , imperfect , corrupt ) imply manifestly that there was much more an originall aspiring of nature in her perfection to be like her maker in an absolute and universall purity . now in this rectitude and perfect regularity of the soule in this divine habit of originall justice did man most eminently beare the image and signature of god on him . and therefore notwithstanding we continue still immortall , spirituall , reasonable ▪ yet we are said to have defaced that image in us by our hereditary pollution . and hee alwayes recovereth most thereof , who in the greatest measure repaireth the ruines , and vindicateth the lapses of his decayed estate , unto that prime originall purity , wherein he was created . these are the dignities of the soule considered wholy in it selfe . in all which it farre surmounts the greatest perfections , which the body or any faculty thereof are endowed withall ▪ and yet such is the preposterous and unnaturall basenesse of many men , that they are content to make their soules vassals to their owne servant . how do they force their understandings , which in their owne worthiest objects , those deepe and divine contemplations , are as drowzie as endymion , to spend and waste themselves in proud , luxurious , vanishing inventions ? how doe they enthrall that supreame and architectonicall power in mans little world , his will , to the tyrannie of slavish appetite , and sensuall desires ? as if they served here but as cookes to dresse their owne bodies for the wormes ? strange is it that man , conscious to himselfe of immortality and of an heroicall and heavenly complexion , that hath received such immediate impressions of god , and is the very modell of all natures perfections , should so much degrade himselfe , as to doat only on that part , which is the vassall and slave of death . if there were no other mischife which sinne did the soule but to debase it , even that were argument sufficient for noble spirits to have it in detestation . for man being in honour , and which understandeth not , is like the beasts that perish . chap. xxxvii . of the faculty of vnderstanding . its operations outward upon the object , inward upon the will. of knowledge , what it is . the naturall desire and love of it . apprehension , iudgement , retention requisite unto right knowledge . severall kindes of knowledge . the originall knowledge given unto man in his creation . the benefits of knowledge . of ignorance naturall , voluntary , penall . of curiosity . of opinion ; the causes of it , disproportion betweene the object and the faculty , and an acute versatilousnesse of conceits . the benefit of modest hesitancie . now it followes to speak of the parts or principall powers of the soule , which are the vnderstanding , and the will. concerning the understanding , the dignity thereof , though it may partly be perceived in the latitude and excellent variety of its objects , being the whole world of things ( for ens & intelligibile are reciprocall , & omnia intelligit , saith aristotle of the understanding ) yet principally it proceeds from the operations of it both ad extra in respect of the objects , and ad intra in respect of the will. the one is a contemplative , the other a more practique office , whereby the speculations of the former are accommodated unto any either morall or civill actions . those which respect the objects , are either passive , or active operations . passive i call those first perceptions and apprehensions of the soule , whereby it receiveth the simple species of some object from immediate impression thereof by the ministry of the soule ; as when i understand one object to be a man , another a tree , by administration and assistance of the eye , which presents the species of either . another sort of passive operations ( that is of such as are grounded on impressions received from objects ) are mixed operations of compounding , dividing , collecting , concluding , which wee call discourse . of all which to speake according to their logicall nature , would be impertinent . their excellencie chiefly stands in the end whereunto they move and serve , which is knowledge ; of the which , i shall therefore here speak a few things . knowledge is the assimilation of the understanding unto the things which it understandeth , by those intelligible species which doe irr●…diate it , and put the power of it into act. for as the beames of the sunne shining on a glasse , doe there work the image of the sunne : so the species and resemblances of things being convayed on the understanding , doe there work their owne image . in which respect the philosopher saith , that the intellect becommeth all things by being capable of proper impressions from them : as in a painters table , wee call that a face , a hand , a foot , a tree , which is the lively image and representation of such things unto the eye . there is not any desire more noble , nor more naturall unto a man ( who hath not like saul hid himselfe amongst the stuffe , and lost himselfe in the low and perishing provisions for lust ) than is this desire of knowledge . nature dictating to every creature to be more intent upon its specificall than upon its genericall perfection . and hence it is that though man be perfectest of all creatures , yet many doe excell him in sensitive perfection . some in exquisitenesse of sight ; others of hearing ; others of tast , touch , and smell ; others of swiftnesse and of strength ; nature thereby teaching us to imitate her in perfecting , and supplying of our desires , not to terminate them there , where when wee have made the best provision wee can , many beasts will surpasse us : but to direct our diligence most to the improving of our owne specificall and rationall perfection , to wit , our understandings . other faculties are tyred , and will be apt to nauseate , and surfet on their objects . but knowledge as knowledge , doth never either burden or cloy the minde , no more than a covetous man is wearied with growing rich : and therefore the philosopher telleth us that knowledge is the * rest of the vnderstanding , wherein it taketh delight as a thing in its naturall place . and so great is this delight , that men have ventured on much trouble to procure it . * as pythagoras , plat●… , democritus , travelled into remote countries to gather knowledge , as salomon sent to ophir for gold. and as it makes adventurous to undertake troubles , so it helps men to beare them . a true lover of knowledge will hardly be over-borne with any ordinary distresse , if it doe not violate , and restraine that particular appetite . if hee may enjoy the delights of learning , hee will be very moderately affected with his other restraints . archimedes was not sensible of the losse of syracuse , being wholly intent upon a mathematicall demonstration . and demetrius phaler●…us deceived the calamity of his banishment by the sweetnesse of his studies . a man is never afflicted to the quick , but when hee is punish'd in his most delightfull affections , of all which the most predominant in rationall men is this of knowledge . and therefore as the first creature god formed was light ( to shew that all his works were made in wisedome , that they might set forth and manifest his glory ) so the first motion of adam after his creation was towards knowledge . by his exercise of knowledge hee shewed gods image in him , and by the ambition after more hee l●…st it : as no man sinnes easier than in the thing which hee best loves . and for this cause wee may observe that christs frequentest miracles were shewed in opening the eyes of the blind , and the eares of the deafe and dumb. his mercies being perfect , extended themselves on those faculties which are the chiefe instruments of knowledge in men which they most love . and this love of knowledge is seene evidently in this , that men had rather have sober calamities , than mad pleasures , and more freely choose cleare intellectuals with miserie , than disturb'd with mirth . many men better content themselves with but a crazie body , for the fruition of their studies , than to purchase a better health at so great a price as the losse of learning . but the principall excellencie of knowledge is this , that it guideth the soule to god ; and so doth all kinde of right knowledge in divers respects . for first , there is scarce any science properly so called , which hath not its ar●…ana to pose and amaze the understanding , as well as its more easie conclusions to satisfie it . such as are in philosophie , those occult sympathies and antipathies , of which naturall reason can render no account at all : which overcomming the utmost vigour of humane disquisition , must needs enforce us to beleeve that there is an admirable wisedome that disposeth , and an infinite knowledge that comprehendeth those secrets which we are not able to fathome . againe , since the knowledge of things is either of their beings , or of their properties and operations : and nature abhorreth the motion of proceeding a in infinitum : in either of these , necessary it is , that the minde of man b tracing the footsteps of naturall things , must by the act of logicall resolution at last arise to him who is the fountaine of all being , the first of all causes , the supreame over all movers , in whom all the rest have their beings and motions founded . and this the lord in the prophet hath delivered unto us c . i will heare the heavens , and the heavens shall ●…eare the earth , and the earth the corne and wine , and they iezreel . iezreel cannot subsist without corne and wine , shee cries to them to help it . these cannot help without the earth to produce them , they cry to that to be fruitfull . the earth can bring forth nothing of it selfe without influence , benignity , and comfortable showers from the heavens , it cries to them for ayde . d the heavens cannot give raine nor warmth of themselves , without him who is the father of raine , and the fountaine of motion . so that here are three notable things to be observed , the connexion and concatenation of all second causes to one another ; the cooperation of them together for the good of the church ; and the subordination of them all to god , unto whom at length the more accurate inquiry into them doth manuduct us . and this subordination standeth in foure things : . all things are subordinate unto god in a being . hee only hath being per essentiam , by absolute , and originall essence ; all other things per participationem , by derivation and dependance on him . . b in conservation . for god doth not make his creatures as a carpenter doth his house , which can after stand by it selfe alone : but having our very being from him , that being cannot be or continue without his supportance , as light in the house dependeth both in being and in continuance upon the sunne . . in regard c of gubernation and providence ; for all things are by his wisedome guided unto the ends of his glory . and even those creatures which flie out of the order of his precepts , doe fall into the order of his providence . lastly , in regard of d operation . for in him wee live and move , hee worketh our works for us ; second causes cannot put forth any causality till he be pleased to concurre with them . againe , since wee finde that all other creatures have , answerable to the instincts and appetitions which nature hath grafted in them , proportionable objects of equall latitude in goodnesse to the faculties which are carried unto them ; it must needs be reasonable that that be not wanting to the excellentest of creatures , which all the rest doe enjoy . since then the supreame appetite of the reasonable soule is knowledge , and amongst all the creatures there never was yet any found able to fill and satisfie this desire ; but that still there is both roome for more knowledge and inquirie after it : and besides , all the knowledge of them is accompanied with vnquietnesse , and labour ( as the beast first stirres the mudd in the water with his feet before hee drink it with his mouth ) from hence it infallibly followeth that from these lesser objects , the soule be carried at the last to god , the adequate and * vltimate end and object of all our desires , as noahs dove was carried back to the ark , when shee found no place for the sole of her foot to rest on . againe , when wee see things which have no knowledge , work so regularly towards an end , as if they knew all the way they were to goe , wee must needs conclude they are guided by a mighty wisedome , and knowledge without them , as when an arrow flyeth directly to the mark , i am sure it was the hand of a skilfull archer that directed it . vnto the perfection of knowledge , after due and proper representation of objects in themselves , or in their causes , effects , principles , unto the minde ; there are in the subject three things requisite . first , clearenesse of apprehension , to receive the right and distinct notion of the things represented , as the clearenesse of a glasse serveth for the admission of a more exact image of the face that looks upon it , whereas if it be soil'd or dimm'd , it rendreth either none , or an imperfect shape . secondly , solidity of iudgement to try and weigh the particulars , which wee apprehend . that out of them wee may sever for our use the pretious from the vile ; for knowledge lies in things as gold in a mine , or as corne in the straw ; when by diligent inquiry after it , wee have digged it up , and thresh'd it out , wee must then bring it to the fire , and fanne , to give it us purified from drosse and levity . and this in speculation answereth unto the generall vertue of practicall prudence in morality , whereby wee weigh the severall mediums unto the true ends of life , and accordingly select and prosecute the best . thirdly , fidelity of retention ; for hee is not likely to grow rich , who puts up his treasure as the prophet speaks , into a * bag with holes . for as nature hath given to the bodies of men for the furtherance of corporeall strength , and nutriment , a retentive power to clasp and hold fast that which preserveth it , untill a through concoction be wrought ; so proportionably is the faculty of memory given to reason , as a meanes to consolidate and enrich it . and fluxes , as in the body , so in the minde too , are ever arguments and authors of weaknesse . whence it comes to passe that in matter of learning many of us are faine to be day-labourers , and to live from hand to mouth , being not able to lay up any thing . and therefore in the choice of fit persons to breed up unto learning , wee should take a like course as wise architects doe in choice of fit timber for building . they choose first the straitest and that which hath fewest knots , and flawes in it ; which in the mind answereth unto clearenesse , and evennesse of apprehension . for a cleare minde , like strait and smooth timber , will work easiest . next , they take the heart and strongest substance , and cut out the sap : because that is best able to beare the weight that shall be laid upon it : and this answers unto maturity and firmnesse of judgement . lastly , they doe not take sally , or willow , or birch , and such other materialls as are quickly apt to putrifie and weare away , but such timber as is lasting and retentive of its nature , as oake and elme , which may make the superstruction of the nature of the foundation , strong and lasting : and this answereth to that excellent faculty of the minde , a rationall memory : from which one particular ( i think more than any other ) doe arise those vast differences of felicity and infelicity in the mindes of men addicted to the search of knowledge . strange was the unhappinesse of calvisius sabinus in seneca , who being at vast charges in matter of learning , was not yet able to retaine fast the names of achilles , or , vlysses : but , as his parasite was wont deridingly to advise him , wanted a grammaticall attendant to gather up the fragments which his memory let fall . and curio the orator in tully , was wont when hee had proposed three things in an oration , to forget some one or other of them , or to add a fourth ; yea messala corvinus forgat his owne name , as pliny telleth us . and as wonderfull on the other side hath beene the felicity of some others . a seneca the father could repeat two thousand words together in their order . b cyrus and themistocles could call all their souldiers by their names , ( by which one art of curtesie c otho aspired unto the empire ) d adrian could read a book which hee never saw before , and after recite it by memory ; and of the emperour e iulian it is said , that hee had drunk totum memoriae dolium , the whole vessell of memory . to say nothing of f simonides , and apollonius tyanlus , who in their old age , the one at , the other at a yeeres old , were very famous for the exquisitenesse of their memories ; nor of cyneas , charmidas , portius latro , and divers others , who have beene admired for this happy quality . now unto this felicity doth conduce , a methodicall and orderly disposition of minde , to digest and lay up things in their proper places . it was easier for cyrus to remember men in an army than in a throng . and hence hath proceeded the art of memory invented as pliny tells us by simonides , and perfected by me●…rodorus sceptius , consisting in the committing of severall heads of matter unto distinct places , whereof quintilian discourseth in his oratory institutions . of knowledge there are severall sorts , according to severall considerations , with respect to the ends of it . some is speculative for the improving of the minde , as physicall , metaphysicall , and mathematicall knowledge . others practicall for fashioning , and guiding of the manners and conditions of men , as ethicall , politicall , historicall , military knowledge . some mixt of both , as theologicall knowledge , consisting in the speculation of divine verities , and in the direction of divine duties . some iustrumentall , being only subservient unto others , as grammaticall , rhetoricall , dialecticall learning . in regard of order , some superiour , others subalternate , as musick to arithmetick , opticks to geometry . in regard of their originall , some ingrafted , as the supreame principles of verity , and implanted notions of morality , which is called the law of nature , and written in the heart of all men , rom. . . . other acquired , and by search and industry laboured out of those principles , and the others which are taught us . other revealed and divinely manifested to the faith of men , whereof the supreame principles are these two . . that god in his authority is infallible , who neither can be deceived , nor can deceive . . that the things delivered in holy scriptures , are the dictates , and truths , which that infallible authority hath delivered unto the church to be beleeved , and therefore that every supernaturall truth there plainely set downe in termini●… , is an unquestionable principle ; and every thing by evident consequence and deduction from thence derived , is therefore an undoubted conclusion in theologicall and divine knowledge . in regard of the manner of acquiring , some is experimentall , a knowledge of particulars ; and some habituall , a generall knowledge growing out of the reason of particulars . and those acquired either by invention from a mans industry , or by a●…scultation and attendance unto those that teach us . in regard of objects , some supre●…me , as the knowledge of principles and prime verities , which have their light in themselves , and are knowne by evidence of their owne tearmes . others derived and deduced by argumentation from those principles , which is the knowledge of conclusions . in regard of perfection , intuitive knowledge , as that of angels whereby they know things by the view ; and discursive , as that of men , whereby wee know things by ratiocination . in regard of order and method , syntheticall , when wee proceed in knowledge by a way of composition from the causes to the effects ; and analyticall , when wee rise up from effects unto their causes , in a way of resolution . with this noble endowment of knowledge , was the humane nature greatly adorned in its first creation : so farre forth as the necessity of a happy and honourable life , of the worship and communion with god , of the dominion and government over the creatures , of the acquaintance with himselfe , and of the instruction of his posterity , did require knowledge in him . for wee may not think that god , who made man in a perfect stature of body , did give him but an infant stature of minde . god made all things exceeding good , and perfect ; and therefore the perfection naturally belonging unto the soule of man , was doubtlesse given unto it , in its first creation . hee made man right and straight ; and the rectitude of the minde is in knowledge and light ; and therefore the apostle telleth us , that our renovation in knowledge is after the image of him that created us , coloss. . . without knowledge hee could not have given fit names , and suteable to the natures of all the creatures which for that purpose were brought unto him . hee could not have awed and governed so various , and so strong creatures , to preserve peace , order , and beauty amongst them . hee could not have given such an account of the substance and originall of eve. of the end of her creation to to be the mother of all living men as hee did . experimentall knowledge hee had not but by the exercise of his originall light upon particular objects , as they should occurre . knowledge of future events hee had not , it being not naturall , nor investigable by imbred light , but propheticall , and therefore not seene till revealed . secret knowledge of the thoughts of men , or of the counsells of god hee could not have , because secret things belong unto the lord. but so much light of divine knowledge as should fit him to have communion with god , and to serve him , and obtaine a blessed life ; so much of morall knowledge as should fit him to converse in love as a neighbour , in wisedome as a father , with other men ; so much of naturall knowledge as should dispose him for the admiring of gods glory , and for the governing of other creatures over which hee had received dominion ; so much wee may not without notable injurie to the perfection of gods workmanship , and to the beauty and rectitude of our first parent , deny to have beene conferred upon our nature in him . the benefits of which singular ornament of knowledge , are exceeding great . hereby wee recover a largenesse of heart , for which salomon is commended , reg. . : able to dispatch many businesses , to digest and order multitudes of motions , to have mindes seasoned with generous and noble resolutions ; for that disposition is by the philosopher called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , greatnesse of minde . hereby wee are brought to a just contempt of sordid and wormie affections . it is darknesse which makes men grope , and pore , and looke onely on the things before them , as the apostle intimates , pet. . . illightned mindes see a greater lustre in knowledge than in the fine gold , pro. . . . the excellencie of evangelicall knowledge made saint paul esteeme every thing in the world besides as d●…ng , phil. . . as the light of the sunne swallows up all the petty light of the starres : so the more noble and spacious the knowledge of mens mindes is , the more doth it dictate unto them the contempt of those various and vulgar delights which bewitch the fancies of ignorant men. it disposeth men for mutuall communion , and helpfull societie : for without knowledge every man is ferae naturae , like birds of prey , that flie alwayes alone . neither is it possible for a man to be sociable , or a member of any publick body , any further than hee hath a proportion and measure of knowledge : since humane society standeth in the communicating of mutuall notions unto one another . two men that are deafe , and dumb , and blinde , destitute of all the faculties of gaining or deriving knowledge , may be together , but they cannot be said to have society one with another . to conclude , hereby we are brought neerer unto god , to admire him for his wisedome , and power ; to adore him for his greatnesse , and majestie ; to desire him , and work towards the fruition of him , for his light and glory ; because in the vision of him consisteth the beatitude of man. this knowledge is corrupted foure manner of wayes . first , by the contempt of it in ignorance . secondly , by the luxuriousnesse and wantonnesse of it in curiosity . thirdly , by the defect and uncertainty of it in opinion . fourthly , by contradiction and opposition unto it in error . there is a three-fold ignorance wherewith the minds of men may be blinded and defaced . the one is a naturall ignorance , which of divine things , so farre forth as those things are spirituall , is in all men by nature ; for the naturall man neither receiveth with acceptation , nor with demonstration discerneth the things of the spirit of god ; and the reason the apostle gives , because they are spiritually discerned . for as the eye is fitted to discerne light by the innate property of light and cognation which it hath thereunto , without which the eye could no more perceive objects of light than it can of sounds : so the minde cannot otherwise receive spirituall objects , than as it hath a similitude to those objects in a spirituall disposition it selfe ; whence that expression of st. iohn , wee shall be like unto him , for wee shall see him as hee is . spirituall things doe exceed the weaknesse of reason , because they are above it , and so cannot be discerned ; and they doe oppose the corruption of reason , because they are against it , and so cannot be received . there is likewise in many men much naturall ignorance , even in morall and natural things . for as in the fall of man our spirituals were lost , so were our naturals weakned too , as wee finde in the great dulnesse of many men in matters of learning , in so much that some have not beene able to learne the names of the first letters or elements . againe , there is a voluntary ignorance ( of which wee have before spoken ) whereby men doe wilfully close their eyes against knowledge , and refuse it ; and of this there may be a double ground , the one guile , in knowledge that pertaineth to the conscience , when a man chooseth rather not to know his duty , than by the knowledge of it , to have his conscience disquieted with exprobrations of contemning it . the other out of sluggishnesse and apprehensions of difficulty in the obtaining of knowledge . when of two evils , undergoing of labour , or forfeiting of learning , a man esteemeth this the lesser . thirdly , there is a * poenall ignorance of which i shall not speake , because it differeth not from the voluntary ignorance of spirituall things , save onely in the relation that it hath to the justice of god thereby provoked , who sometimes leaveth such men to their blindnesse , that the thing which with respect to their owne choyce of it , is a pleasure , with respect unto gods justice , may be a plague , and punishment unto them . thus the intellectual faculty is corrupted in many men by ignorance . in others it is abused by curiosity , which may well be called the pride , and the wantonnesse of knowledge , because it looketh after high things that are above us , and after hidden things that are denied us . and i may well put these two together , pride and luxurie of learning . for i beleeve wee shall seldome finde the pride of knowledge more praedominant than there where it ariseth out of the curious and conjectural enquiries of wit , and not out of scientificall and demonstrative grounds . and i finde the apostle joyning them together , when hee telleth us of some , who intruded themselves into things which they had not seene , and were vainely puff'd up by a fleshly minde . and hee himselfe complaineth of others , who were proud , and languished about needlesse questions ; as it is ever a signe of a sick and ill-affected stomack to quarrell with usuall and wholsome meat , and to long for and linger after delicacies which wee cannot reach too . when manna will not goe downe without quailes , you may be sure the stomack is cloyed , and wants physick to purge it . i will not here add more of this point , having lately touched it on a fitter occasion . a third corruption of this faculty in regard of knowledge , is in the fluctuation , wavering , and uncertainty of assents , when the understanding is left floating , and as it were in aequilibrio , that it cannot tell which way to encline , or what resolutions to grow unto ; and this is that which in opposition to science , is called opinion : for science is ever cum certitudine , with evidence and unquestionable consequence of conclusions from necessary principles : but opinion is cum formidine oppositi , with a feare least the contrary of what wee assent unto should be true : and so it importeth a tender , doubtfull , and infirme conclusion . the causes of opinion , i conceive to be principally two : the first is a disproportion betweene the understanding and the object , when the object is either too bright and excellent , or too dark and base : the one dazles the power , the other affects it not . things too divine and abstracted , are to the understanding tanquam lumen ad vespertilionem , as light unto a batt ; which rather astonish than informe ; and things too material and immerst , are like a mist unto the eyes , which rather hinder , than affect it . and therefore , though whatsoever hath truth in it , be the object of the understanding ; yet the coexistence of the soule with the body , in this present estate , restraines and limits the latitude of the object , and requires in it , not onely the bare nature and truth , but such a qualification thereof , as may make it fit for representation and impression by the conveyance of the sense . so that as in the true perception of the eye ( especially of those vespertiliones , to which aristotle hath compared the understanding in this estate of subsistence with the body ) there is required a mixture of contraries in the ayre ; it must not bee too light , lest it weaken and too much disgregate or spread the sense ; nor yet too dark , lest it contract and lock it up : but there must bee a kinde of middle temper ; cleerenesse of the medium for conveyance , and yet some degrees of darknesse for qualification of the object . even so also the objects of mans vnderstanding must participate of the two contr●…ries , abstraction and materiality . abstraction first , in proportion to the 〈◊〉 of the vnderstanding , which is spirituall . and materiality too , in respect of the sense , on which the vnderstanding depends in this estate , as on the medium of conveyance , and that is corporall . so that where ever there is difficulty and vncertainty of operation in the vnderstanding , there is a double defect and disproportion : first in the power , whose operations are restrained and limited for the most , by the body : and then in the object , which hath not a sufficient mixture of those two qualities , which should proportion it to the power . this is plaine by a familiar similitude ; an aged man is not able to read a small print , without the assistance of spectacles to make the letters by a refraction seeme greater . where first wee may descry an imperfection in the organ ; for if his eyes were as cleare and well-dispos'd as a young mans , hee would be able by his naturall power , without art , to receive the species of small letters . and next , there is an imperfection and deficiencie in the letters ; for if they had the same magnitude and fitnesse in themselves , which they seeme to have by refraction through the glasse , the weaknesse of his power might haply have sufficient strength to receive them without those helps . so that alwayes the uncertainty of opinion is grounded on the insufficiencie of the vnderstanding to receive an object , and on the disproportion of the object to the nature of the vnderstanding . the next cause of opinion and vncertainty in assents , may be acutenesse and subtilty of wit , when men out of ability , like * carneades , to discourse probably on either side , and poizing their judgements betweene an equall weight of arguments , are forc'd to suspend their assents , and so either to continue unresolved and equally inclineable unto either part , or else , if to avoyd neutrality , they make choise of some thing to averre ( and that is properly opinion ) yet it is rather an inclination , than an assertion , as being accompanied with feare , floating and inconstancie . and this indeed , although it be in it selfe a defect of learning ; yet considering the estate of man , and strict conditions of perfecting the vnderstanding by continuall inquiry ( man being ●…ound in this also to recover that measure of his ●…irst fulnesse , which is attainable in this corrup●…ed estate , by sweat of braine , by labour and degrees , paulatim extundere artes ) i say in these considerations , irresolution in iudgement ( so it be not vniversall in all conclusions ; for that argues more weaknesse , than choise of conceit ; nor particular in things of faith and salvation , which is not modesty but infidelity ) is both commendable , and vsefull . commendable , because it prevent●… all temper of heresie ( whose nature is to † be peremptory . ) and both argues learning and modesty in the softnes of iudgement , which will not suffer it selfe to be captivated , either to its owne conceits , or unto such unforcible reasons , in the which it is able to descry weaknesse . and this is ▪ that which pliny commends in his friend titus ariston , whose hesitancy and slownesse of resolution in matter of learning proceeded not from any emptines or unfurniture ; but ex diversitate rationū qua●… acrimagnoque iudicio ab origine caus●…que primis repetit , discernit , expendit : out of a learned cautelousn●…sse of judgment , which made him so long su spend his assent , till he had weighed the severall repugnancies of reasons , and by that means found out some truth whereon to settle his conceit . for ( as the same pliny elsewhere out of thucydides observes ) it is rawnes & deficiency of learning that makes bold and peremptory : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 demurs and fearfulnes of resolution , are commonly the companions of more able wits . and for the use of doubtings ▪ first , they lessen , the number of heresies , which are ( as i said ) alwaies obstinate . and next it gives occasion of further enquiry after the truth , to those who shall find themselves best qualified for that service . but heresie comming under the shape of science , with shewes of certainty , evidence , & resolution ( especially if the inducements be quick and subtle ) doth rather settle the vnderstanding , and possesse it with false assents , than yeeld occasion of deeper search , unlesse it meet with a more piercing iudgement , which can through confidence descry weaknesse . for questionlesse the errours of great men generally honoured for their learning , when they are once wrapped up in the boldnes of assertions , do either by possessing the judgement with prejudice of the author , make it also subscribe to the error ; or if a more impartiall eye see insufficiency in the ground , the authority of the man frights and deterres from the opposing of his conceipt . whereas when mens assents are proposed with a modest confession of distrust and uncertainty : the vnderstanding is incited both to enquire after the reasons of diffidence ▪ as also to find out means for a more setled confirmation and cleering of the truth . chap. xxxviii . of errours : the causes thereof : the abuses of principles , palsifying them : or transferring the truth of them out of their owne bounds . affections of singularity , and novell courses . credulity and thraldome of iudgement unto others . how antiquity is to be honoured . affection to particular objects , corrupteth iudgement . curiosity in searching things secret. the other maine corruption of knowledge was errour , whereby i understand a peremptory and habituall assent , firmly and without wavering fixed upon some falshood under the shew of truth . it is aristotles assertion in his ethicks , that one man may conceive himselfe as certaine of his errour , as another man of his knowledge : and this indeed is so much the more dangerous aberration from knowledge , by how much it seemes most ●…erly to resemble it . if wee enquire after the prime fundamentall cause , the gate by which errour came first into the world. syracides will tell us in a word , that errour and darknesse had their beginning together with sinners : and the reason is , because sinne being a partition-wall , and a separation of man from god , who is p●…ter luminum , the father and fountaine of all knowledge ; and whose perfections man did at first one principall way by knowledge resemble , cannot chuse but bring with it darknesse and confusion into the soule . but i shall enquire rather after the more immediate and secondary causes ; some whereof , amongst sundry others , i take to be these : a first and most speciall one is the abuse of principles : for the vnderstanding must have ever somthing to rest it selfe upon : and from the conformity of other things , thereunto to gather the certainty and evidence of its assents . for it is the nature of mans minde , since it had at first it selfe a beginning to abhorre all manner of infinity , á parte-ante ( i meane in ascending and resolution ) as well of sciences and conclusions , as of entities and natures , as i before noted . and therefore as the vnderstanding is not quieted in philosophicall inquiries about created things , till it have according to their severall differences ranged them severally within the compasse of some finite line , and subordinated the inferiors of every kinde , sub an●… summ●… genere , under one chiefe ; and rests not in the resolution of effects into their causes , till it come to aliquid primum , in time , in motion , in place , in causality , and essentiall dependance : so likewise it is in knowledge & truth , notwithstanding a parte post , downward , our pursuits of them seeme infinite and vnlimited , by reason of our owne infinities , and aeviternity that way ; yet upward in the resolving of truth into its causes and originals , the vnderstanding is altogether impatient of proceeding in infinitum , and never rests till it finds a non ●…ltra , an utmost linke in the chaine of any science , and such a prime , vniversall , vnquestionable , vnprovable truth , from whence all inferiour collections are fundamentally raised , and this is the truth of principles : which if it be traduced and made crooked by the wrestings of any private conceipt , mishapes all conclusions that are derived from it : for if the foundation be weak , the whole edifice totters ; if the root and fountain bee bitter , all the branches and streames have their proportionable corruptions . now the abuses of principles , is either by falsifying and casting absurd glosses upon them within their owne limits ; as when philosophicall errours are falsly grounded upon philosophicall axiomes , which is error consequentia , or illationis , an errour in the consequence of one from the other : or else by transferring the truth of them beyond their owne bounds , into the territories ( as i may so speake ) of another science , making them to encroach and to uphold conclusions contrary to the nature of their subject ; which is error dependentia , or subordinationis , an errour in the dependance of one on the other . for the former , it hath been alwaies either the subtilty or modesty of errour to shrowd it self under truth ; & that it might make its fancies the more plausible , to fasten them upon undenyable grounds , & by a strange kinde of chimistry , to extract darknesse out of light . † fraus sibi ex parvis , ( said fabius maximus in livy upon another occasion . ) i will alter it thus , error sibi ex principlijs fidem prastruit , ut cum magnâ mercede fallat . * vnreasonable and groundlesse fancies alwaies shelter themselves under a plausible pretence of truth and ostentation of reason . † as praxitiles the painter drew the picture of venus by the face of his minion cratina , that so by an honourable pretext he might procure adoration to a harlot . * thus as plat●… is said , when he inveighed chiefly against orators , most of all to have played the oratou●… ( making a sword of ●…loquence to wound it selfe : ) so they on the contrary , never more wrong knowledge , than when they promise to promote it most . it was the custome of that scipio , honoured afterward by the name of his punicke conquest , alwaies before he set upon any businesse , as livy reports of him ) to enter the capitoll alone , pretending thereby a consultation with the gods about the justnesse , issue , and successe of his intended designes ; and then , apud multitudinem , plerumque velut mente divinitus monitâ agebat : hee bore the multitude in hand , that whatsoever exploits hee persuaded them to attempt , had all the approbation and vnerring iudgement of their deities . what were the ends of this man , whither an ambitious hope of fastning an opinion of his owne divinenesse in the midst of the people , or an happy and politicke imposture , the better to presse those people ( alwaies more inclinable to the perswasions of superstitions than reason ) to a free execution of his designes , it is not here necessary to enquire . sure i am ▪ even in matters of greatest consequence , there have never been wanting the like impostors , who boldly pretend unto truth , when they cunningly oppose it : as iacob in esa●…'s cloathes , robbed esau of the blessing : or as the ivy , which when it embraceth the oake , doth withall weaken and consume it . and this is a very preposterous and perverse method , first to entertaine corrupt conceits , and then to * wrest and hale principles to the countenancing and protecting of them . it being in the errors of the mind , as in the distempers of the palate usuall with men to find their owne rellish in every thing they read . concerning the other abuse , it is an often observation of aristotle , that principles and con clusions must be within the sphaere of the same science ; and that a man of learning ought al waies to be faithfull unto his owne subject , and make no excursions from it into another science . and therefore he saith that it is an equall absurdity for a mathematician ( whose conclusions ought to be peremptory , and grounded on principles of infallible evidence ) only to ground them on rhetoricall probabilities , as it were for a rhe●…oritian , whose arguments should bee more plausible and insinuative , to leave all unsaid that might reasonably be spoken , except it may bee proved by demonstrative principles . this leaping a genere ad genus , and confounding the dependancies of truth , by transferring principles unto sciences , which they belong not unto , hath been ever prejudiciall to knowledge ; and errour hath easily thereby crept upon the weakest apprehensions , while men have examined the conclusions of one science by the principles of another . as when religion which should subdue and captivate , is made to stoop & bow to reason ▪ and when those assents which should be grounded upon faith , and not on meer humane disquisition , shall be admitted according to the conformity which they have with † nature , and no farther . and hence it is that so many of the philosophers denyed those two maine doctrines , of the creation and resurrection ( * although in some of them the very sight of nature reacheth to the acknowledgement of the former of those ) because they repugned those maine principles of nature ( which are indeed naturally true , and no farther ) that ex nihilo nihil fit ; nothing can be made of nothing . and a privatione ad habitum non datur regressus ; that there is no regresse from a totall privation to the habit l●…st . and this reason was evidently implyed in that answer , which was given by him , who knew the root of all errour , unto the obstinate opposers of the resurrection : erratis nescientes scripturas , neque potentiam dei. where are intimated two maine principles of that mystery of the resurrection ; the word , and the power of god. this later commanding our assent that it may be : that other , our assurance , that it will be . so that wherever there is an ignorance of these two , and we goe about to examine this or any other mystery , rather by a disputing , than an obeying reason , the immediate consequent of such peremptory and preposterous course , is errour and depravation of the vnderstanding . pythagoras and his schollers , out of a strong conceipt that they had of the efficacy of musicke , or numbers , examining all the passages of nature by the principles thereof , fell into that monstrous errour , that number was the first and most essentiall element in the constitution of all creatures . thus as men which see through a coloured glasse , have all objects , how different soever represented in the same colour : so they examining all conclusions by principles forestalled for that purpose , thinking every thing of what nature soever to be dyed in the colour of their owne conceipts , and to carry some proportion unto those principles : like antiph●…ron ▪ orites and others in aristotle , who did confidently affirme every thing for reall , which their imagination faneied to it selfe . but tully hath prettily reprehended this abuse in that satyricall reprehension which he gives to aristoxenus the musitian , who needs out of the principles of his art , would conceipt the soule of man to consist of harmony ▪ h●…c magistr●… concedat aristoteli ; canere ipse doceat . let him leave these things to aristotle , and content himselfe with teaching men how to sing : intimating thereby the absurdity of drawing any science beyond its owne bounds . another cause of errour may be affectation of singularity , and a disdaine of being but an accession unto other mens inventions ▪ or of tracing their steps : when men shall rather desire to walke in wayes of their owne making , than in the beaten paths which have been troden before them ; to be guilty of their owne invented errors , than content with a derived and imputed learning ; and had rather be accounted the purchasers of heresie , than the heires of truth , quase nihil fuisse●… rectum , quod primum est ; melius existiman●… quicquid est aliud , as quintilian spake elegantly on another occasion : as if nothing had been right , which had been said before ; they esteeme every thing therefore better , because new . another cause may be the other extreme ( for a man may lose his way , as well by enclining too much to the right hand , as to the left ) i mean a too credulous prejudice and opinion of authority ; when wee bow our judgements not so much to the nature of things , as to the learning of men . et credere , quàm scire , videtur 〈◊〉 , we rather beleeve , than know what we assent unto . t is indeed a wrong to the labours of learned men to read them alwaies with a cavilling and sceptical mind ; and to doubt of every thing , is to get resolution in nothing . but yet withall , our credulity must not be peremptory , but with reservation . wee may not captivate and resigne our judgements into another mans . hand . beleefe , without evidence of reason , must bee onely there absolute , where the authority is vnquestion●…ble , and where it is impossible to 〈◊〉 , there onely it is impious to distrust . as for mens assertions , quibus possibile est subesse falsum , what he said of friendship , sic ama tanquam os●…s , love with that wisedome as to remember you may be provoked to the contrary , is more warrantable and advantagious in knowledge : sic ▪ crede tanquam dissensurus , so to beleeve , as to be ready , when cause requires , to dissent . it is a too much streightning of a mans owne vnderstanding , to inthrall it unto any : or to esteeme the dissent from some particular authorities , presumption and selfe-conceit . nor indeed is there any thing which hath bred more distempers in the body of learning , than factions and sidings . when as seneca said of cato , that hee would rather esteeme drunkennesse a vertue , than cato vitious : so peripateticks and platonists , scotists , & thomists , and the rest ( if i may adventure so to call them , of those learned idolaters , in deifying the notions of mortall men ) shall rather count errour , truth , than their great masters erroneous . but yet i would not be so understood , as if i left every man to the unbridled reines of his owne fancy : or to a presumptuous dependance onely on his owne judgement with contempt or neglect of others . but i consider a double estate of the learned ; inchoation and progresse . and though in this latter there be requisite a discerning iudgment , and liberty of dissent ; yet for the other , aristotl's speech is true , oportet discentem credere , beginners must beleeve . for as in the generation of man , hee receiveth his first life and nourishment from one wombe , and after takes onely those things , which are by the nurse or mother given to him ; but when he is growne unto strength and yeares , hee then receiveth nourishment not from milke onely , but from all variety of meats , and with the freedome of his own choise or dislike : so in the generation of knowledge , the first knitting of the ioynts and members of it into one body is best effected by the authority and learning of some able teacher ( though even of his tutors , gate being a childe , was wont to require a reason ) but being growne thereby to some stature and maturity , not to give it the liberty of its owne iudgement , were to confine it still to its nurse or cradle . i speake not this therefore to the dishonour of aristotle , or any other , stom whose learning , much of ours , as from fountaines , hath bin derived . antiquity is ever venerable , and justly challengeth honour , reverence , and admiration . and i shall ever acknowledge the worthy commendation which hath been given aristotle by a learned man , that he hath almost discovered more of natures mysteries in the whole body of philosophy , than the whole series of ages fince hath in any particular member thereof . and therefore he , and all the rest of those worthy founders of learning do well deserve some credit , as well to their authority , as to their matter . but yetnotwithstanding there is difference betweene reverence and superstition ; we may assent unto them as antients , but not as oracles : they may have our minds easie and inclinable ; they may not have them captivated and fettered to their opinions as i will not distrust all , which without manifest proof they deliver , where i cannot convince them of errour : so likewise will i suspend my beleefe upon probability of their mistakes : and where i finde expresse reason of dissenting , i will ●…ather speake truth with my mistresse nature , than maintaine an errour with my master aristotle . as there may be friendship , so there may be honour with diversity of opinions : nor are wee bound therfore to defie men , because we reverence them . plura s●…pe peccantur dum demeremur , quam dum off endimus ; wee wrong our auncestors more by admiring than opposing them in their errours ; and our opinion of them is foule and without honour , if we thinke they had rather have us followers of them then of truth . and we may in this case justly answer them as the young man in plutarch did his father when he commanded him to do an unjust thing . i wil do that which you would have me , though not that which you bid mee . for good men are ever willing to have truth preferred above them . aristotle his commendation of his middle aged men , should be a rule of our assent to him , and all the rest of those first planters of knowledge . wee ought neither to overprize all their writings by an absolute credulity ; because they being men , and subject to errour ; may make us thereby liable to delusion ; neither ought we rudely to undervalue them , because being great men , and so well deserving of all posterity , they may challenge from us an easines of assent unto their authority alone ( if it bee only without and not against reason ) as t●…lly professed in a matter so agreeable to the nature of mans soule , as immortality : vt ration●…m nullam plato afferret , ipsa authoritate me frangeret : though plato had given no reason for it ; yet his authority should have swayed assent : i say , not slavish , but with reservation , and with a purpose a l●…vaies to be swayed by truth , more than by the thousand yeares of plato and aristotle . another cause of errour , may be a fastning too great an affection on some particular objects , which maketh the minde conceive in them some excellencies , which nature never bestowed on them : as if truth w●…re the hand-maid to passion : or camelion like could alter it selfe to the temper of our defires . every thing must be vnquestionable and authenticall , when wee have once affected it . and from this root , it is probable did spring those various opinions about the utmost good of mans nature ( which amounted to the number of two hundred eighty eight , ●…s ●…as long ago observed by varro ) which could not ●…ut be out of every particular philosophers con ●…ipt , carrying him to the approbation of some particular object , most pleasing and satisfactory to the corruption of his owne crooked nature : so that every man sought happinesse , not where it was to be found , but in himselfe , measuring it by the rule of his owne distempered and intangled iudgement ; whence could not possibly but issue many monstrous errours , according as the minds of men were any way transported with the false delight , either of pleasure , profit , pompe , promotion , fame , liberty , or any other worldly and sensuall objects . in which particular of theirs , i observe a preposterous and unnaturall course ; like that of the atheist in his opinion of the soule and deity : for whereas in nature and right method , the determinations of the vnderstanding concerning happines should precede the pursuit of the will : they on the contrary side , first love their errour , and then they prove it ; as the affection of an atheist leads him first to a desire , and wish that there were no god ( because ●…e conceiveth it would goe farre better with him in the end , than otherwise it is like to doe ) and then this desire allures the vnderstanding to dictate reasons and inducements , that may persuade to the beleefe thereof ; and so what was at first but a wish , is at last become an opinion : qu●…d nimis volumus facile credimu●… , we easily beleeve what we will willingly desire . and the reason is , because every man ( though by nature he love sinne ) yet he is altogether impatient of any checke or conviction thereof ; either from others , or himselfe ; and therefore be his errours never so palpable , his affections never so distempered , his minde never so depraved and averse from the rules of reason , he will notwithstanding easily persuade himselfe to thinke he is in the right course , and make his iudgement as absurd in defending , as his will and affections are in embracing vitious suggestions , viti a nostra , quia amamus , defendimus . when once our minds are by the violence and insinuation of affection transported into any crooked course , reason will freely resigne it selfe to bee perverted , and the discourse of the vnderstanding will quickely bee drawne to the maintaining of either ; so easie it is for men to dispute , when they have once made themselves obey . and another reason hereof is , because as a body distempered and affected in any part , especially those vitall ones , which diffuse their vertue into the whole , the weaknesse spreads , and over-runnes all the other , though remotest from it ▪ so likewise the violent motion of partiall and unruly appetites ▪ which do any waies miscarry by the delusion of objects , which they fasten upon , immediately derive themselves upon the higher pa●…s of mans soule ▪ out of the naturall harmony & consent which they desire to have amongst themselves ; but especially doe they labour to winne over the iudgement unto their side , and there hence to get unto themselves warrant and approbation . for as where the vnderstanding is regular , the chiefe dominion thereof , is over-affection . and therefore we see alwaies , that men of the most stayed and even iudgements , have the most unresisted power in the government of passions : so on the other side ; when the affections are strongly enclined to any , either enormous motion in morality ; or object in nature , the first faculty whereon they strive to transferre their prejudice in the reason ▪ since without the assent and approbation thereof , they cannot enjoy it with such freedome from distractions and feare , as if they were warranted thereto by the sophistry and disputes of that power . thus as it is usuall with men of deceitfull palates ( as before i touched ) to conceive in every thing they taste the same disagreeing rellish , wherewith their mouth is at that time distempered : so it is with mens minds prepossessed with any particular fancy : intus existens prohibet alienum . they cannot see it in its own proper colours , but according as their conceipts are any way distempered and transported by the violence of their affection . and hence in naturall philosophy sprang that opinion of aristoxenus the musitian ( which i spake of before ) that the soule of man consisted in harmony , and in an apt concord , velut in cantu & fidibiu , between the parts ; and tully intimates the reason i speake of very prettily : hic ab artificio suo non recessit : this man knew not how to leave his owne art ; & more expresly of the same in another place : ita delactatur suis cantibus , ut etiam ad animum transferre con●…tur . hee was so affected with musicke , that he transferred it upon the soule . another reason , which i conceive of corruption of the vnderstanding by errour , is curiosity and pushing it forward to the search of things clasped up and reserved from its inquiry . t is the naturall disease of mankinde to desire the knowledge of nothing more than what is lest attainable . it a naturâ comparatum est ( saith pliny ) ut proximorum incuriosi longinqua sectemur ; adeo ani 〈◊〉 rerum cupid●… languescit , cum f●…ili occasio est . it is the vanity of man , as well in knowledge , as in other things ▪ ●…o esteeme that which is far fetched ( as we say ) and deare bought most pretious ; as if danger and r●…rity were the only argument of worth . the enquiry after the estates of spiri●… , and separated soules , the hierarchies of angels ; and ( which is more ) the secret counsels of god , with other the like hidden mysteries , doe so wholly possesse the minds of some men , that they disappoint themselves of more profitable inquiries , and so become not onely hurtfull , in regard of their owne vanity and fruitlesnesse ; but also in that they hinder more wholsome and usefull learnings . and yet ignorance is of so opposite a nature unto mans soule , that though it be holy , it pleaseth not ; if there be but evill ( the worst of all objects ) unknowne . the devill persuades adam rather to make it by sinning , than not to know it . but wee are to remember that in many things , our searchings and bold speculations must be content with those silencing , more than satisfying reasons . sic natura jubet , sic opus est mund●… : thus god will have it , thus nature requires . we owe unto natures workes , a●… well our wonder , as our inquiry ; and in many things it be●…ooves us more to magnifie than to search . there are as in the countries of the world , so in the travels of mens wits ; as well praecipitia ▪ as via ; as well gulfes and quicksands , as common seas . hee that will be climing too high , or sayling to farre , is likely in the end to gaine no other knowledge , but only what it is to have a shipwrack , and to suffer ruine . man is of a mixed nature ; partly heavenly ; partly morall and earthly ▪ and therefore as to be of a creeping and wormy ▪ disposition , to crawle on the ground , to raise the scule unto no higher contemplations , than base and worldly is an argument of a degenerous nature : so to spurne and disdaine these lower inquiries as unworthy our thoughts . to soare after inscrutable secrets ; to unlocke and breake open the closet of nature , and to measure by our shallow apprehensions the deep and impenetrable counsels of heaven , which we should with a holy , fearfull , and astonished ignorance onely adore , is too bold and arrogant sacriledge , and hath much of that pride in it , by which the angels fell ▪ for ero similis altissimo , i will be like the most high , was ( as i●… beleeved ) the devils first sinne : and eriti tanquam dij , ye shall be like unto god , was i am sure his first temptation , justly punished both in the author and obey or with darknesse ; in the one , with the darknesse of tophet ; in the other , with the darknesse of errour . chap. xxxix . the actions of the vnderstanding , invention , wit , iudgement ; of invention , distrust , prejudice , immaturity : of tradition , by speech , writing : of the dignities and corruption of speech . hitherto of the more passive operation of the vnderstanding , which i called reception or knowledge of objects . now follow the more active ; which consist more in the action of reason , than in its apprehension ▪ and they are the actions of invention , of wit , and of iudgment . the former of these hath two principall parts ; the discovering of truth ; and the communicating of it . the former only is properly invention ; the other a consequent thereof , tradition : but both much making to the honour of the faculty . for the former , i shall forbeare any large discourse touching the particular dignities thereof , as being a thing so manifestly seen in contemplations , practises , dispatches in the maintaining of societies , erecting of lawes , government of life ; and generally , whatsoever enterprize a man fastens upon , this one faculty it is , that hath been the mother of so many arts ; so great beauty and ornament amongst men , which out of one world of things have raised another of learning . the corruptions then which i conceive of this part of invention , are , first , a despaire and distrust of a mans owne abilities : for as corruption and selfe opinion is a maine cause of errour : so dissidence and feare is on the other side a wrong to nature , in abusing those faculties which she gave for enquiry , with sloath and dulnes . multis rebus inest magnitudo ( saith seneca ) non ex naturâ suâ , sed ex debilitate nostrâ : and so likewise , multie rebus inest difficultas ; non ex natura sua , sed ex opinione nostrâ ▪ many things seem hard & involved , not because they are so , but because our suspition so misconceives them . thus as in an affected and ill disposed body , ●…very light weaknes is more felt than a more violent distemper , where the constitution is stronger . so with fearfull and despairing wits , every inquiry is estimated , not according to the nature of the object , but according to the disopinion & slender conceipt which they have of their own abilities . non calcant spina●… , sed habent . it were but ridiculous for a blind man to complaine of dark weather , when the fault is not in the aire , but in the eye . another prejudice to this faculty , is that which i observed before on another occasion , an over-reverend opinion of those who have gone before us . for when men shall so magnifie the gifts of others , that they sleight and neglect their owne ; when out of a prejudicate conceipt that the antients have sufficiently perfected the body of more serious learnings , they shall exercise their wits ( capable of greater imploiments ) in degenerate and unusefull studies ; knowledge must needs be hindred from attaining that maturity , to which by their owne inventions it might be raysed . thus as it fals out amongst men of thirstlesse minds in their fortunes : divitiarum abundantia inter causa●… paupertat is est . their profusenesse out of their present store , with a negligence to recover and new make their estates , drawes them quickly beyond their fortunes ▪ or as it was in the like case amongst the romanes in those times of publique luxury , and effeminatenesse , the valour of their auncestors procuring unto them large wealth , and securing them from forreigne hostility , did also by the means of that wealth and ease soften and melt their valour , so that their weaknesse was principally occasioned by the invincible spirit of their predecessors : so it is in the matter of learning , when we spend our time onely in the legacies that our fathers have left us , and never seeke to improve it by our owne inventions , the large measures of knowledge which we receive from them , is by our preposterous use made an occasion of a large measure of ignorance in other inquiries , where in their labours offer greater assistance , than discouragement . there was not i perswade my selfe amongst the ancients themselves , a greater means of disclosing so large a measure of truth , than the freedome of their owne opinions . for notwithstanding this liberty was often the occasion of many prodigious births ; yet this disadvantage was coun●…vailed with many fruitfull and good ly iss●… ; all which might haply have been undi scovered , had men laboured only in traditions , and contented themselves with learning upon trust. and those more errours being still examined , were lesse pernicious than fewer beleeved . and even of them i make no question but there hath been good use made by those that have enquired into truth . for first , there are very few errours that have not some way or other truth annexed unto them , which haply might not otherwise have been observed . it is an errour in that man which shall presume of gold hid in his land , to dig and turne it up for no other end , but to find his imaginary treasure ; yet that stirring and softning of the ground is a means to make it the more fertile . lastly , this use may bee made even of errours , when discovered in the in quiry after truth , that they let us know what it is not : and it is speedier to come to a positive conclusion by a negative knowledge , than a naked ignorance : as hee is sooner likely to finde out a place , who knowes which is not the way , than hee that only knows not the way . the last cause of disability in the invention may be immaturity and vnfurniture for want of acquainting a mans selfe with the body of learning : for learning is a tree or body , which in one continued frame , brancheth it selfe into sundry members : so that there is not onely in the object of the will : which is the good of things ; but in the object of the vnderstanding also , which is their truth , a certain mutuall concatenation , whereby every part hath some reference unto the other . ▪ insomuch that in the handling of particular sciences , there are often such occurrences , as doc necessarily require an insight into other learnings : so that of tully is generally true , difficile est pauca esse e●… nota , cui non sint , aut pleraque aut omnia . all that addresse themselves either to the invention of arts not known , or to the polishing of such as are already found out , must ground their endeavours on the experiments and knowledge of sundry kinds of learning . for the other part of invention , which i call tradition , communication , or diffusion , i comprehend it within that perfection peculiar to man from all other creatures , oration , or speech . wherin i consider a double ministerial reference ; the one to the eye ; the other to the eare : that is vox scripta , a visible voice ; this vox viva , an audible voice . to which purpose scaliger acutely : est quidem recitator liber loquens , liber recitator mutus . the dignities which this particular 〈◊〉 on man , and wherein it gives him a preheminence aboue other creatures , are taken from the ends or offices thereof ; for the worth of every service able or ministeriall instrument is to bee gathered from the regularity of its function , whereunto it is naturally instituted . the end whereunto living and organicall speech was principally ordained , is to maintaine mutuall society amongst men incorporated into one body . and therefore tully well cals it , humana societatis vinculum , the ligament and sinnew , whereby the body of humane conversation is compacted and knit into one. it would be a long and large labour to speake of the honour which god hath bestowed upon our nature in this noble gift of speech , making our tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as the poet calleth it , the messenger of reason , and as it were the pen of the minde which cloatheth our conceits with characters , and makes them obvious unto others . i shall not engage my selfe on so great an argument , which hath already filled the volumes of so many learned men , who have written some rhetoricall , others morall institutions and precepts touching speech . i shall therefore content my selfe with but naming some few particulars , by consideration whereof we may acknowledge the bounty of god , and excellency of our nature , which is attended on by so noble a servant . ●… for the dignity hereof it appeares in this , that whereas in other lesse considerable perfections , other creatures have an exquisitenesse above man , yet in this man excelleth all other inferior creatures , in that he is able to communicate the notions of reason cloathed in sensible characters unto others of his owne kinde . for though some melancholy men have beleeved that elephants and birds , and other creatures have a language whereby they discourse with one another ; yet wee know that those narrow and poore voices which nature hath bestowed on them proceed onely from the impression of fancy , and sensitive appetite to serve themselves , but not to improve one another . and therefore speech is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , by the name of reason , because it attendeth onely upon reason . and as by this the soule of man differeth in excellency from all other creatures : so in two things amongst many others ( both subservient unto reason ) doth his body excell them too . first , in the vprightnesse of his stature , whereby he is made to looke up to heaven , and from his countenance to let shine forth , the impression of that light which dwell●…th within him . for the face is the window of the soule ▪ pronáque cum spectent animalia caetera terram , os homini sublime dedi●… , caelumque tueri iussit ▪ & erectos , ad sydera tollere vultus . whil'st other creatures downward fix their sight , bending to earth an earthly appetite : to man he gave a lofty face ; might looke vp to the heavens ; and in that spatious booke , so full of shining characters , descry why he was made , and whether he should fly . next in the faculty of speech , which is the gare of the soule , through which she passeth , and the interpreter of the conceits , and cogitations of the mind , as the philosopher speaks . the uses whereof are to convey and communicate the conceptions of the mind ( and by that means to preserve humane society ) to derive knowledg to maintaine mutuall love and supplies ; to multiply our delights , to mitigate and unload our sorrows ; but above all to honour god , and to edifie one another , in which respect our tongue is called our glory . psal. . . act. . . the force & power of speech upon the minds of men , is almost beyond its power to expresse , how suddenly it can inflame , excite , allay , comfort , mollify , transport , and carry captive the affections of men . caesar with one word quiets the commotion of an army . menenius agrippa with one apologue , the sedition of a people . flavianus the bishop of antioch with one oration ; the fury of an emperour . anaximenes with one artifice , the indignation of alexander ; abigail with one supplication , the revenge of david ; pericles and pisistratus even then when they spake against the peoples liberty , over ruled them by their eloquence , to beleeve and imbrace what they spake , and by their tongue effected that willingly , which their sword could hardly have extorted . pericles and nicias are said to have still pursued the same ends , and yet with cleane different successe . the one in advancing the same busines pleased ; the other exasperated the people ; and that upon no other reason but this , the one had the art of perswasion which the other wanted . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one spake the right with a slow tongue , another fluently spake wrong . he lost , this stole the cause , and got to make you thinke , what you thinke not . and this power of speech over the minds of men is by the poet , in that knowne passage of his thus elegantly described : — magn●… in popule cum sapè coorta est seditio , savitque animus ignobile vulgus ian●…que faces & saxa volant , furor arma ministrat . tum pietate gravem , ac merit is si fortè virūquem conspêxere , silent , arrectisque auribus astant : ille regit dictis anim●…s & pectora ●…ulcet . when in a multitude seditions grow , and vicerated minds do overflow with swelling ire ▪ when stones & firebrands fly , ( as rage doth every where weapons supply ) then if some aged man , in honor held for piety , and prudence , stand to wield , and moderate this tumult : strait wayes all rise up with silent reverence , and let fall their angry clamors ; his grave words do sway their minds , and all their discontents allay . the vertues of speech ( whereby it worketh with such force upon the minde ) are many , which therefore i will but name , some grammaticall , as property , and fitnesse , and congruity , without solaecismes and barbarousnesse , some rhetoricall , as choice , purity , brevity , perspecuity , gravity , pleasantnesse , vigo●… , moderate acrimony and vehemency ; some logicall , as method , order , distribution , demonstration , invention , definition , argumentation , refutation . a right digesting of all the aydes of speech ; as wit , learning , poverbs , apologues , emblemes , histories , lawes , causes , and effects , and all the heads or places which assist us in invention . some morall , as gravity , truth , seriousnesse , integrity , authority ; when words receive weight from manners , and a mans speech is better beleeved for his life than for his learning . when it appeares , that they arise esulce pectoris , and have their foundation in vertue , and not in fancy . for as a man receiveth the selfe same wine with pleasure in a pure and cleane vessell , which he lo●…ths to put unto his mouth , from one that is soule and soiled : so the selfe same speech adorned with the piety of one man , and disgraced with the pravity of another , will be very apt accordingly to be received , either with delight or loathing . — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . a speech from base men , and men of respect , though 't be the same , works not the same effect . and therefore the spartan princes when they heard from a man of a disallowed and suspected life , an opinion which they approved , they required another man of reputation to propose it : that the prejudice of the person might not procure a rejection of his iudgement . for wee are apt to nauseate at very good meat , when we know that an ill cooke did dresse it . and therefore it is a very true character which tully and quintilian give of a right oratour . that he must be vir bonus dicendi peritus , as well a good man as a good speaker . otherwise though he may speake with admirable wit , to the fancy of his hearers , he will have but little power over their affections . like a fire made of greene wood , which is fed with it as it is fewell , but quencheed as it is greene . lastly , some are civill in causes deliberative , or iuridicall , as wisedome , pertinency and fitnes to the nature and exigence of the end or matter whereupon we speake . for in that case we are to ponder and measure what we say , by the end whereunto we say it , and to fit it to all the circumstances incident thereunto . paul amongst the philosophers disputed with them from the inscription of their altar , from the authority of their poets , and from confessed maximes of reason , by these degrees convincing them of idolatry , and lending them to repentance . but amongst the iewes hee disputed out of scripture . with felix that looked for money , he disputed of righteousnesse and iudgement to come , but amongst the pharisees and sadduces , of the resurrection , that a dissention amongst themselves might procure a party for him . it is not wisedome for a man in misery to speake with a high stile : or a man in dignity with a creeping . the same speech may be excellent in an umbratile exercitation , which would be too pedanticall , and smelling of the lampe in a matter of serious and weighty debate ; and that may be dainty meat i●… one place for the fancy , which in another would be too thinne for the conscience . nature hath guarded and compassed in the tongue with the lips , like a folding gate , and with the teeth like a double hedge , that wee might be admonished to weigh and ponder our words before we produce them . these are the principall vertues . and in opposition unto these , wee may easily collect the principall corruptions of this faculty , which i will content my selfe with but the naming . the vices in grammer , are solaecismes , barbarismes , obsoletenesse , impropriety , incongruity of speech . in rhetoricke , sordidnesse , tediousnesse , obscurity , flatnesse of conceit , argutenesse , and minutiae , gawdinesse , wordinesse , and empty ostentation . in morals , the vices may be comprised under these two generals , multiloquium and turpiloquium , garrulous and rotten communication . lastly in civill respects , levity and impertinency , like the advices of thersites , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many and to little purpose . but besides all these , there is one thing which seemeth to be the most proper corrupter of this ornament of speech , and that is a lye. for a●… every thing is then most regular when it retains the purity of its first office and institution : so on the other side it is most depraved , when it deviates from that service , whereunto it was principally ordained . thus a picture , though it be never so much in the frame abused , crackt , spotted , or made any other way unvaluable ; yet if the resemblance which it beares , be expresse and lively , we still call it a true picture : whereas if that be a false and deceitfull resemblance ( be all other adventitious ornaments never so exquisite ) wee still accompt it false and corrupt : so it is with the speech of man , which though of never so great weaknesse and insufficiency in other respects ; yet if it retain that one property of shaping it selfe to the conceipts of the mind , and make levell and proportionable the words with the thoughts , it may still be said to be ( though not a good ) yet in some respect a regular speech , in that it is conformable to the first institution : but be all other excellencies never so great ; yet if it be a false image of our intentions , nature is diverted from her prime end , and the faculty quite depraved , as for saking its originall office : and indeed , other morall duties of the tongue do necessarily presuppose this adequation and conformity to the thoughts , which i speake of , without which they are but hipocrisie , and come within the compasse of the noted corruption , a lye : for every hipocrite is a lyer . i confesse there are sinnes of speech greater than a lye , in the intention and degrees of their owne guilt : but herein is the difference : the tongue may in it ( whether morally religiously considered ) beare a double irregularity ( wherein it differs from other powers . ) first it may be vnconformable to the law of right reason , as in all manner of vitious and unsavory speeches . and the corruption which hereby it incurres , is common to it with other faculties , as the disproportion betweene evill thoughts and reason dictating the contrary , worketh corruption in the thoughts . and then secondly it may be disproportioned to the conceipts of the mind in proposing them otherwise than they are inwardly 〈◊〉 , and this is properly a lye. which i therefore call the principall corruption of speech , not ( as i said ) because i conceive in it a greater measure of heinousnesse and guilt , than in any other speeches ( because all guilt followes the incomformity and remotion from the law of god and reason ; and therein other speeches , as blasphemy , and sedition , may have a greater measure of wickednes ) but because in a lye i finde both the forenamed irregularities , it being a speech not only uneven to the conceipts of the mind ; but repugnant also to the will of god , and the law of na ture . the next kind of active operations were those of wit. the use whereof is so much the more excellent , by how much the wrestings and abuse of it is the more dangerous ▪ i shall sufficiently declare the worth of it , by shewing what it is : for i take not wit in that common acceptation , whereby men understand some sudden flashes of conceipt , whether in stile or conference , which like ●…otten wood in the darke , have more shine than substance ; whose vse and ornament are like themselves swift and vanishing ; at once both admired and forgotten : but i understand a setled , constant , habituall sufficiency of the vnderstanding , whereby it is inabled in any kinde of learning , theory , or practise , both to sharpnes in search , subtilty in expression , and dispatch in execution . as for that other kinde seen in panegyricks , declamatory discourses , epigrams , and other the like sudden issues of the braine , they are feats only and sleights , not duties and ministeries of the wit , which serve rather for ostentation than vse : and are onely the remission of the mind and vnbending of the thoughts from more severe knowledge : as walking for recreation is rather exercise than travell , although by the violence of the motion , or length of the way there may ensue sweat and wearinesse . now for the corrupters of the wit , though there be diverse ; yet none so immediate and certaine as it selfe , if alone : for wit , though it bee swift , yet is often blind . and therefore the faster it hastens in errour , the more dangerous it is to it selfe . and hence it is , that as learning was never more bound to any , than those men , who have been emment in this faculty , if they swayed it by moderation and prudence : so none have been more pernicious and violent oppugners of truth , than men best furnished with acutenesse , when they turned the use of it to the strengthning of their owne fancies , and not submitted it to iudgement and examination . as the fattest soiles in greece caused the greatest troubles ; and the beauty of helena , the ruine of troy. wit like wine is a good remedy against the poison of the minde ; but being it selfe poisoned , it doth kill the sooner . there ought to be●… for the right disposing of our inventions , a mutuall reference and service between wit and iudgement . it is a vexation of mind to discerne what is right and profitable , and have no inablement to attaine it : and that is iudgement without wit. and to have a facility of compassing an end , and a working and restlesse fancy , without direction to fasten it on a fit object , is the onely course to multiply errour , and to be still in motion , not as in a path , but as in a maze or circle , where is continuall toyle , without any proficience or gaine of way ; and this is wit without iudgement . they ought therefore , i say , to be mutuall coadjutors each to other . wit is the spurre to stirre up and quicken the vnderstanding : and iudgement is the bridle to sway and moderate wit : wit is the hand and foot ▪ for execution and motion ; but iudgement is the eye for examination and direction . lastly , wit is the sayle and oare to further the progresse in any inquiry ; but iudgement is the ballace to poise , and the steere to guide the course to it s intended end. now the manner of the iudgements operation in directing either our practise or contemplation is by a discourse of the mind , whereby it ●…educeth them to certaine grounds and principles , whereunto they ought chiefly to be conformable . and from hence is that reason which quintilian observes , why shallow and floating wits seeme oftentimes more fluent than men of greater sufficiencies : for , saith he , those other admit of every sudden flash or conceipt , without any examination ; but apud sapientes est ●…lectio & modus : they first weigh things before they utter th●…m . the maine corruption of iudgement in this office , is prejudice and prepossession . the duty of iudgement is to discerne between obliquities and right actions , and to reduce all to the law of reason . and therefore t is true in this , as in the course of publique iudgements : that respect of persons , or things , blind the eyes , and maketh the vnderstanding to determine according to affection , and not according to truth though indeed some passions there are , which rather hood-winke then distemper or hurt the iudgement ▪ so that the false determination thereof cannot bee well called a mistake , but a lye : of which kind flattery is the principall , when the affections of hope and feare debase a man , and cause him to dissemble his owne opinion . chap. xl. of the actions of the vnderstanding upon the will , with respect to the end and means . the power of the vnderstanding over the will , not commanding , but directing the objects of the will to bee good and convenient . corrupt will lookes only at good present . two acts of the vnderstanding , knowledge and consideration . it must also be possible , and with respect to happinesse immortall . ignorance and weaknesse in the understanding , in proposing the right means to the last end. hitherto of the actions of the vnderstanding , ad extra , in regard of an object . those ad intra , in regard of the will : wherein the vnderstanding is a minister o●… counsellor to it , are either to furnish it with an end , whereon to fasten its desires : or to direct it in the means conducible to that end . for the will alone is a blind faculty ; and therefore as it cannot see the right good it ought to affect without the assistance of an informing power . so neither can it see the right way it ought to take for procuring that good without the direction of a conducting power . as it hath not iudgment to discover an end : so neither hath it discourse to judge of the right means , whereby that may be attained . so that all the acts of the will necessarily presuppose some precedent guiding acts in the vnderstanding , whereby they are pro portioned to the rules of right reason . this operation of the vnderstanding is usually by the schoole-men called imperium , or mandatum , a mandate or command ; because it is a precept , to which the will ought to be obedient . for the rules of living and doing well , are the statutes ( as it were ) and dictates of right reason . but yet it may not hence be concluded that the vnderstanding hath any superiority , in regard of dominion over the will ; though it have priority in regard of operation . the power of the vnderstanding over the will , is onely a regulating and directing , it is no constraining or compulsive power . for the will alwaies is domina s●…orum actuum : the mistresse of her owne operation : for intellectus non imperat , sed solumm●…dò significat voluntatem imperantis . it doth only intimate unto the will , the pleasure and law of god : some seeds whereof remaine in the nature of man. the precepts then of right reason are not therefore commands , because they are proposed by way of man date ; but therfore they are in that manner proposed , because they are by reason apprehended to be the commands of a divine superior power . and therefore in the breach of any such dictates we are not said properly to offend our vnderstanding ; but to sinne against our law giver . as in civill policy , the offences of men are not against inferiour officers ; but against that soveraigne power , which is the fountaine of law , and under whose authority all subordinate magistrates have their proportion of government . besides , ejus est imperare , cujus est punire : for law and punishment being relatives , and mutually connotating each the other , it must necessarily follow , that from that power only canbe an imposition of law , from which may be an infliction of punishment . now the condition under which the vnderstanding is both to apprehend and propose any either end , or means convenient to the nature of the will , and of sufficiency to move it , are that they have in them goodnesse , possibility ; and in the end ( if we speak of an utmost one ) immortality too . every true object of any power , is that which beareth such a perfect relation of convenience & fitnes therunto , that it is able to accomplish all its desires . now since malum is destruct●…vum all evill is destructive . it is impossible that by it selfe , without a counterfeit and adulterate face , it should ever have any attractive power over the desires of the will. and on the other side , since omne bonum , is perfectivum ; since good is perfective , and apt to bring reall satisfaction along with it , most certainly would it be desired by the will , were it not that our vnderstandings are clouded and carried away with some crooked misapprehensions ; and the will it selfe corrupted in its owne inelinations . but yet though all mans faculties are so depraved , that he is not able as he ought , to will any divine and perfect good ▪ yet so much he retains of his perfection , as that he cannot possibly desire any thing , which he apprehends as absolutely disagreeable & destructive to his nature ; since all naturall agents ayme still at their owne perfection . and therefore impossible it is , that either good should be refused , without any apprehension of disconvenience ; or evill pursued , without any appearance of congruity or satisfaction . that it may appeare therefore how the vnderstanding doth alwaies propose those objects , as good to the will , which are notwithstanding , not only in their owne nature , but in the apprehension of the vnderstanding it selfe knowne to be evill . and on the contrary , why it doth propose good objects , contrary to its owne knowledge , as evill . we may distinguish two opposite conditions in good and evill : for first , all evill of sin , ( though it have disconvenience to mans nature , as it is destructive ; yet ) on the other side , it hath agreement thereunto , as it is crooked and corrupt . as continuall drinking is most convenient to the distemper of an hydropticke body , though most disconvenient to its present welfare . now then as no man possessed with that disease , desires drinke for this end , because he would dye , though he know that this is the next way to bring him to his death ; but only to give satisfaction to his present appetite : so neither doth man follow exorbitant and crooked courses , onely that hee may therby come to destruction ( though he is not ignorant of that issue ) but onely to give way to the propension of his depraved nature . in the same manner likewise goodnes , though it have the most absolute convenience to man , as it is perseclive , & in respect of his finall advancement thereby ; yet 〈◊〉 hath as great a disconvenience toward mens corrupt faculties , as it is a strait rule to s●…uare them by , & in respect of its r●…ctitude . as light , thou●…h it be in its own property , the perfection of the eyes ; yet to distempered eyes , it works more trouble than delight , because as in philosophy ▪ quicquid recipitur , recipitur ad modum recipientis so , quicquid appetitur , appetitur ad modum appetenti●… . so that if the 〈◊〉 it selfe bee by inherent pollution depraved and evill , it cannot but desire every thing that beares proportion & conformity to its own distempers . and this i take to be the maine reason , why men of corrupt and irregular desires , oftentimes fasten delight on those objects which they know to be evill , and are quite averse from those which yet they assent unto as good. to which i may adde another , namely , the resolution of a corrupt will to yeeld unto it selfe all present satisfaction , and not to suffer it selfe to be swayed with the preoccupation of a future estate : insomuch that the small content which mans nature receiveth from the actuall fru●…ion of some instant-conceited good , prevailes more to draw on appetite , then the fearfull expectation of ensuing misery , can to deterre from it . and the present irksomnesse of pious duties , have more power to divert the corrupt minde from them ; then the fore-conceipt of eternall blisse can have to allure the mind unto a delight in them . hence then it appeares , what i understand by that first condition , wherewith reason is to propose any end or means to the will , that it may be desired ; namely , sub ratione boni , under the condition of good , not alwayes true and morall ; but somtimes as it is so apprehended by a depraved vnderstanding , sub conceptu convenientia : as it beares conformity to the present crooked estate of mans will : a deprâved vnderstanding i say , and not alwaies properly and precisely a darkened vnderstanding ; depraved by neglect and inconsiderablenesse ; not darkned by ignorance and blindnesse . for there may bee an irregular will with a iudgement rightly informed by truth . otherwise there could not be any offence of presumption and knowledge . we are therefore to consider that there is in a well-stayed reason , a double act in the directing of the will. the one respecteth the nature and quality of the object : the other , more peculiarly the circumstance of time : the one is properly knowledge ; the other circumspection , arising out of meditation , and more close pressing of the object , which is knowne as good to the will , against insinuations of sensitive desires , which aime onely a●… the fruition of pleasure present . first , the vnderstanding proposeth to the will felicity , as an absolute and eternall good , which cannot but be desired . next , it proposeth means for the attaining of it ; namely , the practise of these precepts , which are revealed unto us as necessary for purchasing the end desired . the will being , besides its own corruption , transported by the sensitive appetite , finds great irksomnesse in those means . a re●…raint of al those present ioyes , delights , satisfactions , which it instantly pursues : it perceiveth that great trouble is to be expected , many prejudices and difficulties to be grapled with ; a severe hand to be held over passions ; a narrow restraint to be observed towards mutinous and rebellious eruptions of the minde , fewer inablements for advancing our fortunes , and infinite other the like bars of present contentment ; which withdraw the will , and make it renounce courses so severe and disagreeable to the liberty it desires . hereupon comes the second act of the vnderstanding , efficacy and weight of consideration , whereby it compares the circumstances of that difficulty of good to the will in regard of the small time , they shall continue ; with the consequent and unspeakable good , that will in the end ensue there from , and also with the unsufferable torments that follow the vilenesse of present pleasures . whence the will is made more inclinable ( by the assistance of greater power than its owne ) to goe along rather through thornes with vertue , than with adulterate and painted pleasures to daunce towards ruine . now of these two , the defect of the former works properly a blinded vnderstanding ; but the defect of the latter , namely , an insufficiency and inefficacy of pondering the circumstances , and pressing the endlesse consequence of good or evill , works properly a depraved vnderstanding , in regard of practicall or applicative direction . as a man walking in some deep contemplation by a ditch ; though his eyes be open to see a present danger before him , yet may happly fall into it ; not out of blindnesse , but out of inconsideratenesse , as not fixing his conceipt thereon ; but being wholly possessed with other thoughts . in like manner , the vnderstanding being taken up by the imposture of the affections , with the conceit of present good , or present ill in any object , and thereby being diverted from a serious inquiry , after the true rectitude and obliquity therof , suffers the will fearfully to plunge it self in danger and misery . another condition , under which and end or means are to be proposed by the will , is sub rationo eossibilis , as a good possible . for if once the vnderstanding discover impossibility in any object , the will cannot fasten any desire upon it : since all appetite is only terminated by that which can replennish and satiate the power . now all satisfaction is by fruition ; all fruition necessarily presupposeth a possibility of acquiring : so that where this is taken away , the will is left hopelesse , and therefore desirelesse ; and therefore we see that the neerer any things comes to impossibility , the more averse is the will of most men from it : as is plaine in these things that are perplexed and difficult to ateaine . and if here the wish of him in the poet be objected : o mihi praeteritos refer at fi iupiter ann●…s ? o that iove would me restore , the yeares that i have liv'd before . it may be answered that this was a wish only , and not a will. since that which a man willeth , he doth really endeavour to obtaine . the last condition ( which is restrained onely to the utmost end of mans desire ) is that it bee proposed , sub ratione immortalis , as an immortall good. the endlesnesse of happinesse is that only which maketh it a perfect end. for the mind of man naturally is carried to an immortality of being ; and therefore also consequently to an immortality of happinesss ; it being a necessary desire of all naturall agents , to attaine a perfection proportionate to the measure of their continuance . so then mans end must not be only good , but for ever good , totally and eternally : not onely a fulnesse of ioy in the nature of it ; but a fulnesse of perpetuity in the continuance . most perfect in proportion in the spirituality ; most infinite in proportion to the immortality of mans soule . the frailty and languishing of any good , and a foresight of the losse thereof , with the ablest mi●…ds doth much weaken the desire of it . and the reason is , because providence and forecast is a certaine companion of the humane nature ; and he which is most a man , is most carefull to contrive the advancement of his future estate . it is beastiall to fasten only upon present good ; this being a maine difference between the vnderstanding , and the sensuall appetite , that this respecteth only the present ioy that is at hand ; but that being secretly conscious of its owne immortality , fastens it selfe upon the remotest times , yea outrunnes all time , and suffers it selfe to bee ever swallowed up with the meditation and providence of an endlesse happinesse . and therefore the reason that aristotle brings against his masters ideas , argues an vnderstanding lesse divine in this particular than plato's was , when hee saith that eternity doth no more perfect the nature of good , than continuance doth the nature of white . for though it be true , that it is not any essentiall part of goodnesse in it selfe ; yet it is a necessary and principall condition to make goodnesse , happines ; that is , an adequate obiect to mans desires ; there is not then the same proportion between eternity and good , as there is between continuance and white : for continuance is altogether extrinsicall and irrelative in respect of white ; but the happinesse of man hath an intrinsicall connection with immortality , because mans vtmost and adequate good must be proportioned to the nature of his minde ( for that is no perfect good that doth not every way replennish and leave nothing behind it that may be desired ) so that man himselfe being endlesse , can have none end able to limit his desires , but an infinite and immortall good ; which hee may enjoy without any anxiety for after-provision . i dare say there is not an a theist in the world , who hath in his life be-beasted himselfe by setting his desires onely on transitory and perishable goods , that would not on his death-bed count it the best bargain he ever made to change souls , with one of those whose diligence in providing for a future happinesse , hee hath often in his beastly sensuality impiously derided . now of these two directions of the vnderstanding to the will , in desiring the end or means , the corruption is for the most part more grosse and palpable in assistance to the means , than in the discovery of the end ; and farre oftner fayles the will herein than in proposing an object to fix its desires upon . for we may continually observe , how a world of men agree all in opinions and wishes about the same supreme and immortall happinesse , the beatificall vision ; every balaam fastens on that ; and yet their means unto it are so jarring and opposite , that a looker on would conceive it impossible that there should be any agreement in an end , where is such notable discord in the wayes to it . the reason which i conceive of this difference , is the severall proportion , which the true end and the true means thereunto beare unto the will of man. for it is observable , that there is but one generall hinderance or errour about the right end , namely the ignorance thereof . for being once truly delivered to the vnderstanding , it carries such a proportion to the nature of the will ( being a most perfect fulfilling of all its wishes ) that it is impossible not to desire it ; but the disproportion betweene man and the right means of a true end is farre greater . for there is not only errour in the speculation of them , but reluctance in other practique faculties , proceeding from their generall corruption in this estate , and nayling the affection on the present delight of sensuall objects . first , for the vnderstanding , i observe therein a double hinderance concerning these means : ignorance and weaknesse ; the one respects the examination of them ; the other , their presentation or inforcement upon the wil. for the former of these , there seemes to bee an equall difficulty between the end and the means , as proceeding in both from the same root . but in this very convenience there is a great difference ; for the ignorance of the end is farre more preventable ( considering the helps we have to know it ) than of the means . not but that there are as powerfull directions for the knowledge of the means , as of the end ; but because they are in their number many , and in their nature repugnant to mans corrupt minds . there is therfore more wearinesse , and by consequence ▪ more difficulty in the inquiry after them , than after the end , because that is in it selfe but one ; and besides , beares with it ( under the generall notion of happinesse ) such an absolute conformity to mans nature , as admits of no refusall or opposition : insomuch that many that know heaven to be the end of their desires , know yet scarse one foot of the way thither . now besides this ignorance , when the knowledge of the means is gotten , there are many prejudices to be expected before a free exercise of them . for ( as aristotle observes ) amongst all the conditions required to morall practise , knowledge hath the least sway . it hath the lowest place in vertue , though the highest in learning . there is secondly in the vnderstanding weaknesse , whereby it oftentimes connives at the irregular motion of the will , & with drawes it from examining with a piercing and fixed eye , with an impartiall and bribelesse iudgement , with efficacy and weight of meditation , the severall passages of all our actions , with all the present and consequent inconveniences of crooked courses . it were a vaste labour to runne over all the oppositions , which vertuous means , leading to an happy end , doe alwayes finde in the severall faculties of man : how the will it selfe is stubborne and froward ; the passions rebellious , and impatient of suppression ; the senses and sensitive appetite thwart and wayward , creeping alwayes like those under-coelestiall orbes into another motion , quite contrary to that which the primum mobile : illightened reason should conferre upon them . sufficient it is , that there is a disproportion between the means of happinesse , and the generall nature of corrupt man. for all goodnesse is necessarily adjoyned with rectitude and streightnesse ( in that it is a rule to direct our life ) and therefore a good man , is called an vpright man ; one that is every where even and strait . to which aristotle perhaps had one eye , when hee called his happyman , a foure-square man , which is every where smooth , stable , and like himselfe . but now on the other side , mans nature in this estate of corruption , is a distorted and crooked nature ; and therfore altogether unconformable to the goodnesse which should as a cannon , direct it to the true and principall end it aymeth at . and this is the reason , why so many men are impatient of the close and narrow passage of honesty . for crooked and reeling movers necessarily require more liberty of way , more broad courses to exerise themselves in : as wee see in naturall bodies , a crooked thing will not bee held within so narrow bounds as that , which is strait . chap. xli . of the conscience ; its offices of direction , conviction , comfort , watchfulnesse , memory , impartiality . of consciences ignorant , superstitious , licentious , sleeping , frightfull , tempestuous . there remaines yet one higher and diviner act of the practicall vnderstanding , of most absolute power in man , and that is conscience . which is not any distinct faculty of the soule , but onely a compounded act of reason , consisting in argumentation : or a practique syllogisme , inferring alwaies some applicative and personall conclusion , accusing or excusing . the dignities whereof are to bee gathered from the offices of it , and from the properties of it . the maine offices are three ; direction , conviction , consolation , whereof the two last alwayes presuppose the first with a contrary qualification of breach and observance . the direction of conscience consists in a simple discourse : or ( as i may so speake ) in a direct ray of vnderstanding , gathering morall or divine conclusions from a presupposed habit of principles , either from the reliques of our originall knowledge naturally imprest , or by concurrence of religion and theologicall precepts spiritually iuspired into the practique iudgement or hearts of men . the observance of which conclusions it imposeth upon all those executive powers , which each particular conclusion doth most immediately concerne upon paine of hazarding our owne inward peace , with that sweet repose and security of minde which followes it ; and also ( as the heathen●… themselves have observed ) upon feare of i●…curring the displeasure of that god , concerning whom the very light of nature hath revealed thus much , that as his penetrating and s●…arching eye is able to read our most retyred thoughts : so his impartiall and unpreventable iustice hath thunder and fire in store for the rebellions against this faculty , which he hath made to be , as it were , his officer and herauld in all mens hearts . the two latter of those offices consist in a reflection of that former discourse upon mens actions , and according as is discovered in them , either an observance or neglect of those imposed duties : the heate of that reflection is either comfortable or scorching . now of these two ; that of conviction is nothing else but a performance of that equivocall killing promise made by the serpent to our seduced parents ; i meane an opening of their eyes , to know with desperate sorrow the good they had irrecoverably foregone ; and with feare , shame and horrour , the evill which they plunged themselves and their whole posterity into . this one act it is which hath so often confuted that opinion of aristotl●… touching death , that it is of all things most terrible ; in that it hath it pursued many so farre , as that it hath forced them to leap out of them selve , and to preferre the terrour of death and darknesse of the grave , before the grisly face of a convicting conscience . the chiefe dignity hereof consisteth in consolation , whereby it diffuseth into the whole man , from a secret assurance of divine favour ( for nothing can throughly calme the conscience , but 〈◊〉 ) a sweet tranquillity , silent peace , setled stayednesse , and ( which is highest of all , a ravishing contemplation , and ( as it were ) pre-fruition of blisse and immortality . the prop●…rties of the conscience ( whereby i understand the ministeries , which it never fayles to execute in man ) are as i conceive , principally three ; watchfulnesse , memory , impartiality . it keeps alwaies centin●…ll in a mans soule●…and like a register , records all our good and ill actions . though the darknesse of the night may hide us from others , and the darknesse of the mind seem to hide us from our selves ; yet still hath conscience an eye to looke in secret on whatsoever we●… doe , whether in regard of ignorance or hardnesse . though in many men it sleep in regard of motion ; yet it never sleeps in regard of observation and notice : it may be hard and seared , it can never be blind . that writing in it which seemes invisible and illegible , like letters written with the juice of lemmon , when it is brought to the fire of gods iudgement , will be most cleere . and for the next ( if we observe it ) there is nothing so much fastened in the memory , as that which conscience writes : all her censures are written with indelible charact●…rs , never to be blotted out . all or most of our knowledge forsakes us in our deaths ; wit , acutenesse , variety of language , habits of sciences ; our arts , policies , inventions , all have their period and fate : onely those things which conscience imprinteth , shall be so far from finding any thing in death to obliterate & raze them out , that they shall be thereby much more manifest ; whether they be impressions of peace or horrour . the testimoni●…s of comfort ( if true ) are fastened in the heart with such an hand as will never suffer them finally to bee taken out : and if they be accusatory and condemning , the heart is so hard , and they so deep , that there is no way to get them out , but by breaking or m●…lting the table they are written in ; that only course can be taken to make conscience forget . then thirdly it is a most bribelesse worker , it never knows how to make a false report of any of our w●…yes . it is ( if i may so speake ) gods historion , that writes not annals , but iournals ; the words , deeds , cogitations of houres and moments ▪ never was there so absolute a compiler of lives , as conscience . it never comes with any prejudice or acceptation of persons , but dares speake truth as well of a monarch , as of a slave . nero the emperour shall feele as great a fire burning in his breast , as he dare wrap the poore christians in to light him to his lust. there is scarse one part in man , but may be seduced , save his conscience . sense oftentimes conceives things which are not ; appetite and imagination can transport the will , and themselves both may be drawne by perswasion contrary to their owne propensions ; this onely deales faithfully with him , whose witnesse it is , though it bee to the confusion of it selfe and him , in whom it lodgeth . it may i know erre sometimes and mistake ; but it can never by any insinuation be bribed to contradict its owne iudgement , and register white for blacke . the corruption of conscience arises principally from two extremes ; the one occasioned by ignorance ; the other by sinne ( for i oppose these two here , as concurring to the corruption of conscience after a different manner ) the o●…e is when the want of due knowledge drawes the conscience , to sinister determinations , either in practise or forbearance . the other when evill habits and actions defile the conscience . now both these containe under them sundry degrees of corruption . from ignorance ▪ first , comes a ●…ettered and restrained conscience , fearfully binding it selfe to some particular acts , without sufficient grounds . next a licentious and indulging conscience , giving freedome to it's selfe in such course , as whereunto it hath no warrant upon unacquainting it selfe from either . then from the other root there comes : first , a dead , secure and sleeping conscience by common and customary sinnes . a pale , sweating , and affrighted conscience by atheisticall and vnnaturall sinnes : — tum frigida mens est criminibus ; tacitâ s●…dant prac●…rdia culpa . the guilt which from unseen pollution springs , cold-sweating horrour on their bosome brings . a desperate , tempestuous and ravening conscience from blasphemous and open sinnes . not but that any of these may come from any sinne ; but that the quality of some sinnes doth for the most part carry with it some particular dispositions and kindes of a distempered conscience . but because all these , as also this whole discourse pertaines to a highe●… science , i shall here forbeare to speake more of it . chap. xlii . of the will : it 's appetite : with the proper and chiefe objects thereof , god. of superstition and idolatry . of its liberty in the electing of means to an end. of its dominion coactive and perswasive . of fate , astrology . satanicall suggestions . of the manner of the wils operation . motives to it . acts of it . the conclusion . i proceed to the last faculty of mens soul , his will. which doth alone governe , moderate , and over-rule all his actions . the dignity whereof consisteth in three peculiar perfections ; appetite , liberty , domination . the former respecteth an end ; the two latter , the means thereunto conducing . the desires are fixed on some good throughly proportion to the widenesse of the heart : then the liberty of the will grounded on the direction of the iudgement , makes choise of such means , as are most proper for attaining of that good : and lastly , the dominion imployes all inferiour faculties for the speedy execution of those means . sundry ends there are , which may bee desired upon particular and conditionall occasions : but the true vltimate , utmost and absolute good is god. all other ends are ministring and subordinate ; he only is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . as aristotle cals his felicity , the supreame & overruling end ; the fountaine of all other goods : from the remote participation of whose perfections all other receive that soantling of satisfaction & proportion , which they beare unto mans will. and therefore some philosophers have simply called him bonum & bonum superessentiale the only self . sustaining , and selfe . depending good , that is onely able throughly to satiate and replenish the unlimited desires of the soul of man. the corruptions of the desires fastened on him , are the two extremes of excesse and defect . the extremes of excesse are supers●…itlon and idolatry ; a worshipping of false gods , or a false worshipping of the true. both proceeds from the confused mixture of originall blindnesse , with the reliques of naturall knowledge . this latter gives us a sight in the thesis and generall , that a god there is to be desired : but touching the hypothesis , who that god is , with the circumstances and manner of his worship , nature leaveth the soule by occasion of the latter in a maze of of darknesse and unavoydable doubting and vncertainty . so that nature gives light enough to discover the necessity of a duty ; but not to cleere the means of execution . light enough to enjoyne a walking ; but the way being a narrow way , is on every side hedged up from her view . the other extreme of desect , is either atheisme , in not acknowledging , or ignorance in not seeing , that god whom wee ought to serve and desire . both which ( if affected and voluntary , as usually they are ) proceed either from guilt ; or a consciousnesse of fearefull crimes , which make men study to flatter their distracted spirits in the perswasion that no iudge sees them ; or else from a sensuality and a desire and purpose to give indulgence to themselves in their evill courses ; thinking like that foolish bird , that there is no fowler to catch , no snare to intrap them , if their eyes be but seiled up , and their heads thrust into the hedge of their owne darknesse : though herein both the atheists discovers divinity , and the ignorant person knowledge enough to convince their owne consciences , and condemne themselves . the dignity of mans will in regard of liberty , consisteth in the freedome , which it hath to chuse or reject means ordained for the compassing some proposed end , according as the vnderstanding shall finde them more or lesse conducible for the attainment of it . it is , i say , a chusing of the means : for election ( as aristotle determines ) is never of the end. wee doe not chuse , but necessarily desire to be happy . the matter of our happinesse being proposed without appearance of present inconvenience : because every thing is naturally prone to its owne perfection , where there are no intervenient discommodities to affright it . and yet neither is the freedome of the will any whit impaired by such a necessity . for as wee say in divine attributes , that god hath perfect power , though he cannot sinne : so wee may conclude of the will , it shall in the state of glory ( for then only shall our utmost good be chosen without any shadow of disconvenience ) have perfect liberty ▪ notwithstanding it shall never be able to will an absence from the vision of god ; since the liberty of such a desire would be no liberty , but imperfection and v●…naturalnesse . now of all other perfections , this hath , in respect of the utmost end , bin quite depraved , being now in corruption , without the assistance of spirituall or new infused grace , throughly disinabled from seeking means , which may truly lead to the fruition of god , and utterly cap●…ivated and inthr●…lled to the tyranny of sin. so that this liberty is left inviolated , onely in naturall , morall and in civill actions ▪ concerning which , there is a law in nature , even the reliques and indeleble foot prints of mans first innocency , which moderates the elections of the will for its owne and others temporall good. the dominion and supreme command of the will is onely over those powers to the production of whose operations , it doth by its 〈◊〉 ▪ authority concurre as an absolut●… efficient , or a least , as a moving agent . it reacheth not therefore so farre as to the command of the vegetative power : for we cannot command our stomacks to digest , or our bodies to grow , because the vegetative faculties , which were instituted not for the proper service of reason , but of nature ; neither reacheth it to an vniversall command of the senses ; but onely by the mediation of another faculty , over which it hath more soveraigne power : as it can hinder seeing , not immediately , but by the locomotive power , by closing the eyes . and the same is true of the inward senses ; for the memory and imagination often fasten upon objects , which the desire of the will is , should not be any way represented unto those powers : so likewise in the sensitive appetite , when once objects belonging thereunto , creep upon the fancy ▪ irregular motions oftentimes violently resist the will and the law of the members , carrieth men captive from the law of the mind . lastly , the will hath no dominion absolute and soveraigne over those apprehensions of the vnderstanding , which depend on necessary and demonstrative principles : it can require it not to discourse about such objects , and divert it ; but it cannot make it assent unto them contrary to the evidence of truth demonstrated . briefly then , the dominion of the will is partly mandatory , and partly perswasive . the one is absolute , working on meere passive and obedient faculties ; the other more conditionall , and upon supposition of regularity or subjection in the inferior powers . for the will hath both an oeconomicall government in respect of the body , and the moving organs thereof , as over servants : and it hath a politique or civill government towards the vnderstanding , affections , and sensitive appetite , as subjects , with which by reason of their often rebellions , it hapneth to have sundry conflicts and troubles : as princes from their seditiou●… and rebellious subjects . so that the corruption of this power in the will , is either tyranny in it selfe , or vsurpation in another ; an abuse of it , and a restraint of it . the abuse , when the will absolutely gainsayes the counsels , lawes , and directions of the vnderstanding , which is wrought by the allection , inticing & insinuation of the sensitive appetite , secretly winning over the will to the approbation of those courses , which are most delightfull to sense : for since the fall , the sweet harmony and subordination of sense to reason , and of reason to god is broken ; and the highest faculties of the soule become themselves sensuall and carnall . and the restraint when the will is desirous to obey the dictates of reason , or of grace ; and lust by her tyranny overbeares the soule , and leads it captive to the law of sinne , so that a man cannot do the things which he would . as a bird whose wings are besmeared and intangled with some viscous slime , though hee offer to flye , yet falleth downe againe . now touching the corruption of the will in regard of desire , liberty and dominion ▪ there have been heretofore some who ascribed them to naturall and divine causes , and so make the will to be corrupted only , ab extrinseco , and that necessarily . the stoicks , they framed a supreme swaying power , inevitably binding it , as all other agents to such particular actions by an eternall secret connexion & flux of causes , which they call fate . astrologers understanding by fate nothing but the vniforme and vncha●…gable working of those beautifull bodies , the heavenly orbes , and their influencies upon inferiours , annexed unto them a binding power necessarily , though secretly over-ruling the practises of men . inquire the reason , why one man lives conformably to the law of god and nature , another breakes out into exorbitant courses ? anne aliud , quàm — — 〈◊〉 , & occulti miranda potentia fati ? what is it else , but stars malignity , and wondrous power of secret destiny . it is not to be denyed , but that the heavens having strong and powerfull operations on all sublunary corporall substances may in altering the humours of the body , have by the mediation thereof , some kind of influence ( if it may bee so called , upon the manners ; but to ascribe unto them any dominion , is as much repugnant to philosophy , as it is to piety . for by binding , the actions of mans will to such a law of destiny , and making them inevitably to depend upon planets , houses , constellations , conjunctions , &c. wee doe not onely impiously take away the guilt of sinne , in that we make all mens lapses to be wrought without free principle in himselfe ( and so d●…rogate from the iustice of god , in punishing that , whereunto wee were by other of his creatures unavoydably determined ) nor onely rob god of his mercy , in ascribing those vertuous dispositions of the mind ( which are his immediate breathings into man ) unto the happy aspect of the heavens ) but withall wee deny to the soule both naturall motion and spirituality . naturall motion first ; since that alwaies flowes from an inward principle , that is essentiall to the mover ( which in the will must needs be free and voluntary ) and not from violence or impression made by some extrinsicall worker . and then spirituality likewise ; since the heavens , being corporall agents , can therefore extend the dominion of their influence no farther than over bodily substances . others there have been yet more impious , which seeke to fasten all the corruptions of their wils on somthing above the heavens , even the eternall foreknowledge and the providence of god : as if my foreknowledge , that on the morrow the sunne will rise ; or that such men as these shall one day be brought to a severe doom , were the cause working necessity of the next day , or the last iudgement . it is true indeed , gods prescience imployes a necessity of our working after that manner , as he foreknowes : but this is necessitas onely infallibilitatis , in regard of his vndeceivable knowledge , which ever foresees things as they will certainly come to passe by the free or naturall workings of the agents , whence they proceed . it is not necessitas coactionis , or determinationis , whereby the will of man is without any other disposition or propension in it selfe , inforced or unspontaneously determined to the producing of such effects . the actions of our will are not therefore necessarily executed , because they were foreknowne , but therefore they were foreknowne , because our will would certainly execute them , though not without freedome and election . and for providence notwithstanding there be providentia permissiva , whereby god hath determined to suffer and permit men to sinne ; and moreover a disposing providence in ordering all things in the world unto his owne glorious ends , yet we may not presume to think that god doth determine , or actuate , impell , and overrule the wils of men to evill . it is true indeed that nothing is done which god in all respects dothwill , shall not be done with the secret will of his good pleasure ( for who can withstand his will ) and that his purposes are advanced by all the operations of the creature : but yet hee doth not so worke his will out of mens , as thereby to constraine and take away their 's ( for indeed the constraint of a liberall and free faculty , is ( as it were ) the extinction thereof ) this were an argument of weaknesse , as if hee were not able to bring his owne ends about , but by chaining and 〈◊〉 his oppugners from exercising the freedome which he first gave them ; nor doe his owne will , but by taking away his owne gifts . but herein is rather magnified the power of his providence , and the great wisedome of his power , that notwithstanding every man worketh according to the inclination of his owne heart , and that even rebelliously against him ; yet out of so many different , so repugnant , so contrary intents , hee is able to raise his owne glory ( the ▪ end whether we will or no , of all our actions ) and even when his will is most resisted , most powerfull to fulfill it . for as sundry times gods revealed will is broken , even by those , whose greatest desires and endeavours are to keep it : so alwaies his secret will is performed . eve●… by the free and selfe-moving operations of those who set themselves stubbo●…nly to oppose it . there is not ▪ then any supreame destiny , extri●…sically moving , or necessarily binding any inferiours to particular actions ; but there is only a divine providence , which can , as out of the concurrence of differing and casuall causes ( which we call fortune ) so likewise out of the intrinsicall operation of all inferiour agents ( which we call nature ) produce one maine and supreame end , without strayning or violating the proper motions of any . lastly , many men are apt in this case to father their sinnes upon the motions of satan , as if hee brought the necessity of sinning upon them ; and as saint paul said in faith , not i , but sinne in me : so they in hipocresie , not i ▪ but evill motions cast into me ; and because the devill is in a speciall manner called the tempter , such men therefore ▪ thinke to perswade themselves , that their evill commeth not from any willingnesse in themselves , but from the violence of the enemies power , malice , and policy . it is true indeed , that the devill hath a strong operation on the wils of corrupt men first , because of the subtilty of his substance whereby he can winde himselfe and his suggestions most inwardly on the affections and vnderstanding . secondly , because of the height of his naturall vnderstanding and policy , whereby he is able to transfigure himselfe into an angel of light , and so to method and contrive his devices , that they shall not misse of the best advantage to make them speed . thirdly , because of the vastnesse of his experience , whereby he is the better inabled to use such plots as have formerly had the best successe . fourthly , because of his manner of working , grounded on all these , which is violent and furious for the strength ; and therefore he is called a strong man , a roaring lyon , a red dragon . and deep for the subtilty of it ; and therefore his working is called a mystery of iniquity , and deceivablenesse of iniquity . which is seene : first in his accommodating himselfe to our particular humours and natures , and so following the tyde of our own affections . secondly , by fitting his temptations according to our vocations and personall imploiments , by changing , or mixing , or suspending , or pressing , or any other the like qualifying of his suggestions , according as he shall find agreeable to all other circumstances . but yet wee doe not find in any of these any violation of mans will , nor restraint of his obedience ; but rather the arts that are used to the inveagling of it . the working then of evill angels , are all by imposture and deceit towards good men ; and in respect of evill men , they are but as those of a prince over his subjects ; or of a lord over his slaves and captives ; which may w●…ll stand with the freedome of mans will , and therefore his temptations are in some place called the methods , in others , the devices ; in others , the s●…ares of s●…tan : all words of circum●…ention , and presu●…pose the working of our own ▪ wi●…s : though then satan have in a notable manner the name of tempt●…r ▪ belonging to him ; yet wee are told in another place , that ▪ every man is tempted when hee is drawne away of his owne conc●…piscence , a●…d intic●…d ▪ so that the devill hath never an 〈◊〉 temptation ( such an one as carryes and overcomes the will ) but it is alwaies ioyned with an inward temptation of our owne , proceeding from the decei●…fulnesse of our owne lusts . so that in this case every man may say to himselfe as apollodoru●… in plutarch dreamed of himselfe , when he thought he was boyled alive in a vessell , and his heart cried out unto him , i am the cause of all this misery to my selfe . many more things might be here added touching this faculty , which i wil but name . as first for the manner of its operations . in some cases it worketh naturally and necessarily , as in its inclination unto good in the whole latitude , and generall apprehension thereof . for it cannot will any thing under the gener●…ll and formall notion of evill in others voluntarily , from it selfe , and with a distinct view and knowledge of an end whe●…unto it work●…th . in others freely , with a liberty to one thing or another , with a power to elicite , or to suspend and suppresse its owne operation . in all spontaneously , without violence or compulsion . for though in some respects the will be not free from necessity , yet it is in all free from coacl●…on . and therfore though ignorance & eeare may take away the complete 〈◊〉 of an action proceeding from the will ( because without such feate or ignorance it would not have been done . a●… when a man casteth his goods into the sea to escape a sh●…pwracke . and when oedipus slew laius his father , nor knowing him so to be ) yet they can never force the will to doe that out of violence , which is not represented under some notion of good thereunto . secondly for the motives of the will. they are first naturall and internall . amongst which , the vnderstanding is the principall , which doth passe iudgement upon the goodnesse and convenience of the object of the will , and according to the greater or lesser excellency ther●…of , represent it to the will , with either a mandatory , or a monitory , or a permissive sentence . the will likewise doth move it selfe . for by an antecedent willing of the e●…d , she setteth her selfe on work to will the means requisite unto the obtaining of that end. and the sensitive 〈◊〉 doth indirectly move it too . by suppressing or bewitching and inticing the iudgment to put some colour and appearance of good upon sensuall things . and then , as the sunne seemeth red through a red glasse : so such a●… a mans owne affection is , such will the end seeme unto him to be , as the philosopher speaks . next supernaturally god moveth the wil●… of men . not only in regard of the matter of the motion ▪ for in him we live , and move , and have our being ; but in regard of the rectitude and goodnesse of it in actions supernaturall , both by the manifestation of heavenly light. they shall be ●…ll taught of god ; and by the infusion and impression of spirituall grace , preventing , assisting , enabling us both to will and to doe of his owne good pleasure . lastly , for the acts of the will , they are such as respect either the end , or the means for att●…ining of it . the acts respecting the end are these three . . a loving and desiring of it in regard of its beauty and goodnesse . . a serious intention and purpose to prosecute it in regard of its distance from us . . a fr●…ition or enjoying of it , which standeth in two thing●… . in assec●…tion or possession , whereby we are actually joyned unto it : and in delectation or rest , whereby we take speciall pleasure in it . the acts of the will respecting the means , are these : . an act of vsing or imploying the practicall iudgement . an application and exercising of it to consult & debate the proper means conducible unto that end. which consultation having passed , and by the practicall iudgem●…nt , a representation being made of the means discovered , there next followeth an ●…mbracing of those means , and inclining towards them with a double act. the one an act of consent , whereby wee approve the means dictated , as proper and possible : the other , an act of election , whereby , according to the different weight of reasons , we adhere unto one medium more than unto another , either as more proper , or as more seasible . thirdly , because the means do not bring us unto the end by being chosen , but by being executed . hereupon followeth another act of mandate to all the faculties interested in the execution of those means , to apply and put forth their forces with vigor and constancy , till the end be at the last by the due execution of those means attained and enjoyed . now whereas the philosopher doth often distribute the things belonging unto the soule , into affections , faculties and habits . for the faculties are moved by the passions , and the passions are regulated and managed by the habits . the habits procured for facility and constancy of action , and the actions directed to the obtaining of an end. this method of the philosopher would now lead us to speake further . first of the habits of the reasonable soule , and they are either rationall only , and in the minde , as the habits of wisedome , of principles , of conclusions , of art and prudence ; or besides that vertuous and vitious , conversant about good or evill morall . which are first the habits of practicall principles , called synteresis ; and next the habits of particular vertues , whereby the will is inclined and facilitated unto well doing . vnto the felicity of all which are required these foure conditions . iustice and rectitude disposing the will to render unto god , unto our selves , and unto all others that which is theirs , and which of right wee owe unto them . prudence , discovering that which is in this manner right , iudging of it , and directing unto it . fortitude , enabling the will firmely to persist in her vertuous purposes , according to the instructions of practicall prudence , notwithstanding the labour it must undergoe , the delaies it must sustaine before it can obtaine the end , and the difficulties , impediments , discouragements it shall meet withall . temperance , suppressing and subduing those sensuall appetites , which would stagger , inter rupt , divert us from these constant resolutions . next , because all habits , as i said , are directed to the facility and determining of actions , wee should thereby be led on to the consideration of humane actions , fortuitous , violent , naturall , voluntary , involuntary , mixed . as also , to the grounds of the goodnesse or illnesse of actions , taken first from the rule of them unto which they are to conforme . secondly , from the principles of them , from whence they are to proceed , to wit , knowledge and faith to see , will to purpose , love to doe , subjection , to obey strength , to finish and fulfill what vertue leads us unto . thirdly , from the manner and measure of their perfection . and lastly , from the ends unto which they should be directed . by which consideration , we should be led to take a view of the right end , and ultimate felicity , unto which all these actions should leade and carry us ; not as the causes of it , but as the way , and antecedents unto it . but these pertaining to a nobler science , and being without the limits of the subject which i proposed to speake of , i shall follow plinies counsell , and looke backe to the title of my booke : which having ( as well as my weaknesse was able ) endeavoured to goe through , it now cals upon me to goe no further . finis . faults escaped by reason of the authors absence . pag. . l . read , sut●…ro imminentium , p. . l. . r. g●…wing , ●… . . l. r. this , ●… . . l. . r. likenesse , p. . l. . r. dep●…avation , l. . r. 〈◊〉 re , p. . l. . r. in , ●… . . l. . r. contracteth , p. . l. . r. the con , ●… . ●… . 〈◊〉 r. lucation , p. . l. . r. contact , p. . l . r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ? . l. . 〈◊〉 the●… , p. . l. r. all these things , p. . l. . r , or other , l. r , concita●…ion , p. . l. . r , heart , l. . r , to an union , p. l. . ●… , the , ●… . . l. . r , this , l. . r. worke out of , p. . l. . r , con●…innation , l. ●… . r , passion , p . l . ●… in , r , is , p. . l. . r , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. . l. . r , 〈◊〉 , p. . l. . r , principall , 〈◊〉 . l. . r. had , p. . l. . r , done another wrong , . l. . r , wh●… it is naked , p. . l. . r. apprehension , p. . l. . r. seasonable p. , l. . r , were , p. . l. , , ha●…rius , l. . r , alike occasion , p. . l. . r , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . . l. . ●… . 〈◊〉 , p. . ●… . l. . dele which , p. . l , r , numbred , l. . r. with but , p. ●… . l. . r , proverb , ●… . . l. . r , 〈◊〉 . p. . l. . r. philozen●… , p. . l. . r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ ●… . . l. . r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. . l. . r , ne're , p ▪ . l. . r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ p. . l. . ●… . i●… , ●… . is not , p. . l. vl●… . r , though the philospher , p. . l. . r , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. ●… . l. . r , revieweth , p. . l. . r. diformity , p. ●… . l. 〈◊〉 in , p. . l. . ●… . never , r , ever , p. . l. ●… . r. 〈◊〉 . l. . r. 〈◊〉 , p. l. . r , will , p. . l. . r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , l. dele , 〈◊〉 , p. . l. . r. the end . p. . l. . r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , p. . l. . ●… , other , r , after , l. . r. ti●…inum . p . l. . ●… , in , is . p. . l. . dele and common , p. . l. . r , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. . ●… . and , r , but , p . l. . r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ p. . l . r , 〈◊〉 , p. . l. . r , ●…na , l. . r , couched , l . ex●…idit , p. . l. . r , and number , p. ●… . l. , . r , unsubordinate . p. . l. . r , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , p. ●… . l. r , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , p. ●… . . aquas , p. . l. . del●… fo●… , p. ●… . r. desperate , . l. . r , the ●… , p. l. . l. . r , frowa●…d , l. . end the pe●…od at the word , law , p. ●… . l. ●…●… dele them , p. . l. , r. 〈◊〉 , p. . l. . r , 〈◊〉 danger , ●… . . ●… . ●… . and , r , as , p. l , ●… , ominum , p. . l. . r , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p . l. r , ●…vated , p. . l. . r , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. . l. r , 〈◊〉 , ●… . l. 〈◊〉 , reviewed , p. . l. . m●…nisteries , p. . l. . 〈◊〉 , p. . l. 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 l. dele the , p. . l. v●… . r , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , p. . ●… . . ●… , to r , in , . . l●… ●… . ●… . th●…ugh l. . after sharpe anger , put in these words , a bitte●… anger , l. . r , formally , . l. . ●… , or , r , for , p. . l. dele no●… , p. . l . ●… , wa●… p. . l. . ●… , insidia●… , l. . r , 〈◊〉 ▪ p. . l. . r , the va●… , ●… . 〈◊〉 . ●… . now , r , no●… . p. . l. . ●… , yet , r , th●…t . l. ●… , inquiry , r , inju●…y . p. ●… l. . r , each to other , p. . l. ●… . r , into p. . l. . ●… . the p. . l. . 〈◊〉 is , r. ●…s it , p , . r , morality p. . l. . a●…ectation . p. . l. ●… . ●… . de●…ie , r. deifie p. . l. . dele will p. . l. , ●… 〈◊〉 , ●… , 〈◊〉 p ●… . l. . r , mortall p. . l. . ●… corruption , r confidence p. ●… . l. . ●…lesse l. r measu●… . p. . l ●… . r. proportionate . errata in the margin . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e aristot. polit . lib. , cap. . * amo●… dixit 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ●…l . r●…dig . l. . 〈◊〉 . . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ●… . . notes for div a -e a iob c●…p . , , , . psa. ●… , . b 〈◊〉 . . cap. . c et q●…em de communibus sensibus ●…re in 〈◊〉 , sed in 〈◊〉 ●…um 〈◊〉 , non i●… 〈◊〉 falsi . tertul. de resur . carn●…s . cap. . 〈◊〉 . ●…iam apol. cap. . & 〈◊〉 . alex. screm . l●… . p. . ●… . . a.e. . d ●… , . ▪ . & lib. . p. ●… . . . iustin. martyr . apol. . aug. confesse l. . c. . christianu domini sus esse intelligit , ubicunque invenerit vt ritatem . aug. de d●…ctri . chri. l. . c. , . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 iustin. apol. . v●…d . aug. de ci●… . de●… . l. . c. . greg. nezian . orat. ●… . ●… ex●…cl . . . a chron. . b deut. . . c sam. . vid. pet. 〈◊〉 no●… . decret . l. . tit. . ●… . . d sam. . . a mat. . b act. ▪ . ▪ . c iac. . ▪ tim. . d ex. . . c de 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . d 〈…〉 a vi●… . notas conradi rit●…sij i●… isid. pelus . ep. . l. . tertul. 〈◊〉 script . c. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . c. . 〈◊〉 , marc. l. . c. 〈◊〉 . b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ●… . . notes for div a -e cic. de div. lib. . plin. lib. . ep . . cic. d●… nat. deor. lib. . sen. qu. nat. lib. . c. . sen. de 〈◊〉 . lib. . c. . sen. ep. . solirus de 〈◊〉 ●…esert quid accepto 〈◊〉 in ●…ccipitio ad tantam devenit ignorantiam ut ●…esciret se ha●…isse nomen . honori●… 〈◊〉 . de philosoph . m●…di , lib. . c. . sen. de clem. lib. . cap ▪ . xenop ▪ cyrop . lib. . & arist. polit. lib. . c. . arist. polit. lib. . arist. de anim●… ▪ lib. . de anima , lib. . notes for div a -e i v●…ngel . non in deget sylle●… vid. arist. ●…ic . lib. . c. . ●…ic . l. . c. . sa●… . , , caesar com. ●… . iustin. notes for div a -e lib. de spirit . & anima . metaph. lib. . sen. contr●… . l●…b . . ●…n 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . lib. . c. . quintil. lib. ●… . c. . pol●… . ep. l. . ad ●…ic . mi●…d . arill . rhet. lib. . c. . de benef. lib. c. . qui●…til . lib. . c. . notes for div a -e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ar●…st . prob●… . c. . hosea ●… . . a cor. . . ●…ant . . , . hag. . . rom. . ●… . ephes. . tim. . . l●…t . lib. . plut. de edu●… cal . liberorum . iudg. . . . hos. . . s●… . sub●…il . . . vid. a. gell. lib. . c. . aug. de civ . dei , lib. . c. . aug. epist. . ad n●…brid . a●…l ●… rob . sect. . ●… . , 〈◊〉 . ●…b . . c. ●… . 〈◊〉 d●… 〈◊〉 . co●…a . aug. in gen. 〈◊〉 . vid. 〈◊〉 , ●…n 〈◊〉 . e●…th . l●…b . . c. . & w●…tn . de p●… ▪ q. g. d●…m . l. . c. , , . & l. . ●… . . fran. mi●…nd . ●… . de i●…g . c. . aug. de civ . de●… , ●… . c. de divi●… . daemon . c. , . numb . . . ioel ●… . . arist. pro●… . sect. . lu●…ian . in ●…uciosive asin●… . apul. in asin●… . ●… lin . lib. . c ▪ ●… . ola●… . magnus de region . 〈◊〉 . l. . c ▪ ▪ , . 〈◊〉 de ●… 〈◊〉 . l. . c. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad littus ●… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , credidit ap●…d 〈◊〉 . virg. eclog. . notes for div a -e cor. . . plutarch , de o●… , a●…llu , & de esu ca●…nium , orat. . ar●… . problem . §. . qu. . aquin. part . . qu. ●… . art . . arist. de hist. animal . lib. . ca●… . . l. . p●…r ●…otum diogen . l●…rt . lib. . in zenon . odyss . s. ser. de i●… , ●…ib . . c. . vid. aristot. ●…ic . l. . ●… . . mag. m●…r . l. . ●… . . eadem , l , . c. . & ethic. lib. . cap. . 〈◊〉 . l. . c. . aquin. part . . q. . art . . notes for div a -e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ theador . ser. ●… . denatur . hom. ●…sal . . ●… ▪ * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. clem. alex. stro●… . l. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 ▪ & ta●… ▪ orat . ad grat. libic . l. . c. ●… . vid. plutarch . lib. devir●…ute morali . plutarch . de audit. notes for div a -e * intellectio qui●…s intellectu●… . arist. phy●…it . l. . c. . ●…bic . l. . c. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ &c. clem. alex. stro●… . lib. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 arist. problem . §. . qu. . ani●… commo●…lo aversa ●… recta ratione , & contra naturam , cit. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . ap●…d lacr●…ium . hist. lib. . * heb. . . heb. . . . . mark. . . luk. . . io●… . . . luk. . . mark. . . mat. , , . hieron . in math. . magist. sent. lib. . dist . . aquin. part . . q. . art . . isa. . . a lactant. l. . c. . aug. de clv. dei , l. . c. . l. . c. : aul. gell. l. . c. . cic. tusc. qu. lib. . sen. ●…p . . & de ira. l. . c : . b aquin. . q. . art . , . cic. de sin . l. . c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 clem. alex. strom. lib. . & vid. in p●…g . lib. . cap. . vid. sen. ●…p . , . & . diog. laert. in zenon . l. . a carist . ethic. lib. ●… . cap. . b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ethic. l. . c. . & cl●… . alex. strom. lib. . c plutarch . contr . stolc●…t . plutarch . lib. d●… vi●…loso p●…dort . ●…ble . l. . c. . lib. . c. . mar●… . . hist. lib. . 〈◊〉 . . . plut. ●…rat . . de 〈◊〉 . alexandri . ●…st . lib. ●… . iliad . ●… . . iliad . ●… . . a c●… cal●…ribus o●…erando deprimimus , & sanguinis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v●… 〈◊〉 , tertull. b cl●… . alex. padag . l. . c. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p●… . d●… a●…ic . multitud . an●…charsis apud latr●… . l . illad . . . plutarch . de multie . a●…ic . notes for div a -e acad. quest . lib. ●… . 〈◊〉 . q●… . li. . plutarch . lib. de vir . mo●… . ethic : lib. . cap. . aeneid . l●…b . . aeneid . lib. . aeneid . lib. . rom. . aris●… . rbe●… . l. c. . quin●…l . lib. . cap. . rom. . ●… . prov. . . ●…ccles . . . ●… tim. . . i●…m . . , , . pet. . . io●…n . aegrotantes medici al●…s medicos ad se 〈◊〉 , & mag●… p●… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ar●… . 〈◊〉 . lib. . cap. . tertull. contr . valen●… . cap. . ●… tim. . . tertu●… . de 〈◊〉 . isid. pelut . l. . cp . . h●…rod ▪ th●…lia . ae●…cid . lib. . . pet. . . rom. . . eurip. medea . vid. clem. alex . st●…m . l. . p. . edi●… . he●… . a●…ria . 〈◊〉 . lib. . cap. . aristot. e●…hic . l. l. . ●… ▪ malunt nescire quta ●…am oderunt . tertull. ap●…l . c. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . iusti●… . ●…ib . qu. & ●…sp . q. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . clem. alex. . ethic. l. . c. . in consinio concupiscenti●… & poenitentia as●…ra & 〈◊〉 gand●… . p●…tarch . lib. philosophand . cum princip . ethic. lib. . cap. . ethic. lib. . cap. . ezech. . . hos. . . iliad . ●… . . . ier. . . psal. . . eccles. . . luk. . . senec. medaea . notes for div a -e arrian . epist. lib. . c. . aeneid . lib. . p●… . crini●… . lib. . c. . * graeci eni●… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vocant . cor. . . ephes. . . ethic. li●… . . iliad . ●… . ●… . notes for div a -e arist. probl. sell. . sect . . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * amor non nisi donum 〈◊〉 in ama●…um . guil●…el . paris . de legibus , c. . matth. . . vid. august . de doct. christ. l. . c. . & l. . c. . & de tr●…uitat . l. . c. . & l. . c. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 arist. lib. cap. . ethic. lib. . cap. . . lib. . cap. . . aristot. ethic. lib. . c. . . arist. mag●…r . mo●…al . lib. . c. . aelian . lib. de anim. . c. . lib. . c. . lib. . c. . lib. . c. . lib. ●… . ●… . . plu●…ch . de 〈◊〉 . anim●…l . & de amore. aristat . hist. 〈◊〉 . lib. . c. . ●… . sophocles in electra , & ibl sc●…oltast . p. th●…loss . de repub. lib. . c. . sect. . iliad . . . statius . theb. lib. . aelian . l. de animal . ●… . cap. . & lib. aelian . lib. de anim. . cap. & lib. . cap. & lib. . c. . & lib. . c. . plutarch . de solert . animal . aristoph . in avibus . plin. lib. . c. . & lib. . cap. . iliad . ●… . . aenead . lib. . tim. . . ●…lian . v●…r . hist. l. . c. . eccles. . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ 〈◊〉 ▪ thirsit is viti●… , 〈◊〉 al●…ter indicat ho●… qu●…m quod esle●… viris praestantissim is achilli & vl●…ssi invis●… ▪ i●…iad . vid. aristot. prob. §. . q. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. 〈◊〉 . id●… . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . s●… apud d●…og . lat●…i . in zenon . l. . m●…im ▪ tyriu●… 〈◊〉 . . iliad . . . plutarch . de adulat . & a●…icis . pl●…●…gyr . hesiod . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ 〈◊〉 . a. ●… 〈◊〉 . ●… . b. ●… . c. . b rbe●… . l. ●… . c. c de nat ▪ d●…or . lib. . s●… . epi●… . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . . ●…iad . r. . vid. plutarch . de animi ●…ranquil . ci●…r ▪ ad a●…icum ▪ lib. . ●…p . 〈◊〉 . quintil. lib. . cap. . & li. . c. ●… . plutarch . de adulat . tim. . . gal. . . ethic. l. . cap. ●… & lib. . cap. statius the b●…id . 〈◊〉 causam meam hodie●… p●…tas s●…it ▪ prorsus ●…cens , quicunque visus tam b●…no seatrie●… nocens . senc●… . i●… 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ●…st 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , si 〈◊〉 imp●…ndere , 〈◊〉 re●…endere . aug. de c●…te . b. ●…dib . c. . ●…ol . . . luke . . theocri●… . 〈◊〉 ameris ? am●… . martial . 〈◊〉 . lib. . cap. . * an●…mus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , sicu●… corpus ponde●…c . 〈◊〉 . de civi●… . 〈◊〉 . lib. . c. ●… . pond●…um a●…or ●…eus , co 〈◊〉 quocu●… . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . confe●… . lib. . cap ▪ . & epist. . * 〈◊〉 . sympos . l. . q. . aen●…id . l. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in cor. . . ioh. . . cor. . . e●…hic . lib. . c. * plutareb . l. de invidia & od. aristot. po●…it . lib. . c. . cor. . . apolog. l. c. . tim. ●… . . matth. . ▪ ioh. . . psa. . . ●… . ●… . rom. . . rhe●…or . l. . c. . notes for div a -e arist. rh●…r . lib. . cap. . di●…ger . la●…t . in zenon . ●… . amor hedera plutarch . de aud. scalig. de subtititate . arist. polit. lib. . c. . vel pr●…sentem desid●…mus . pli●… . pantg . odyss . ii. . odyss . x. . g●… 〈◊〉 theol. aenead . l. . plutarch . in amatori●… . ●…ucret . apud p●…tr . 〈◊〉 . lib. . cap. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 diogenes apud laert. lib. laert. lib. . iob . . ●… c●…r . . . o●…d . 〈◊〉 . ●…b . . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ 〈◊〉 ●… . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 〈…〉 . nam . . exod ●… . s●…nec . in here o●… . vid. pluta●… . 〈◊〉 . no●…●…atiar me 〈◊〉 sc●…re de eo quem imem . pl●…n . epist. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eur●…pid . helen . plutarch . apothegus . l●…con . vid. plutarch . symposiac . l. . ●… . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 &c. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . . gen. . ●…g . . . sam. . cant. . . can. . . . . aenead . . notes for div a -e arist. hist. anim. l . c. . see plan. n●…t . hist. l. . c. . . . lib. . c ●… . l . c. . . lib. . c. . l. . ●…n pro●…m . lib. ●… . c . lib. c. . aelian . de animal l. . c. . l. . c ●… . l. . ●… . . . l. . c. . , ●… . plutarch s●…mpos . lib. . . plutarch . de odio & ●…vid . iliad . ●… . . martiall . vid. arist. ethic . lib. . c. . aenead . . arist. politic. lib. . c. . frat●…rno pri mi maduerunt sanguine muris l●…an . lib. . plutarch . de amore frat . eurip. medea . probl. sect. . sect. . proprium humani inge●…ii odisse quos laser●… . ●…acit . vit . agri. & senec. de ird l. . c. . ethic. lib. . cap. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . scholiast . in ●…ophecl . ●… dip . ty●… . iuvenal . hist. animal . mallem bic primus esse , quàm rom●… secundu●… . caesar de 〈◊〉 quodam dum alpes transi●…t pluiarc●… . plutarch . de g●…rund : rep. a zeph. . . if. . , b matt●… . . c 〈◊〉 de neur●… in m●… 〈◊〉 ▪ pl●… . lib. c. ●… . 〈◊〉 eclog . 〈◊〉 . m●…la de situ orb●… l. ●…erus de prae●…g . d●…mon . l. . c. ●… . 〈◊〉 . de civ . dei. l. . c. . olaus 〈◊〉 de reg. septen●…r . lib. . c. . . . lu●… . in asine . d dan. . . e ci●…r . de ami●… . & lib. . tuscul. quaest . suidas in timon . ●… lutarch 〈◊〉 in al●…ibiade & a●…tonie . la●…t . in timone . 〈◊〉 . adve●… . l. . cap. . f so●… . l. . c. . 〈◊〉 . l ▪ . cap. . 〈◊〉 . lib. . c. . g 〈◊〉 . polit . lib. . cap. . notes for div a -e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sophoc . a●…ax . notes for div a -e quod de 〈◊〉 obs ●…vavit . plutar●… lib. de será nu minis ▪ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aliq●…n lo pro remedi ●…uit . sen de bene●… . l. . c. . plutarch . de capiend . ex hostibus ut●… lit . coel. khodigin . antiq. lect . l. . cap. . florus . lib. . sam. . ●… . iliad . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . . rb●…r . l. . c. . plutarch . 〈◊〉 . la●…on . vide sen●… . epist. . tacit. a●…al . lib. . anal. lib. . sta●…it 〈◊〉 odium donet impetus 〈◊〉 ●… savor 〈◊〉 langueret d●… do●…n ▪ in vita . agric. iliad x. . dieg. la●… . l. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ●…ripid . med●…a . . senec. traged . med●… . a●…erta odia pal●… de pell●… , 〈◊〉 & do●…um obscu●… , ●…eque in●…vita bi●…ia . tacit. hist. lib. . plutarch . a. pop●…ib . & in fabi●… . aristotle , & ●…venal . v●…ndicta mal●…m quo non 〈◊〉 ull●… . aelian . de a●…imal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sophoc . in aiai . iliad . ●… . . salust . in ●…il . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . soph●… . ●…bid . a. gilli●… . lib. cap. . plutarch , de capium ex h●…st ▪ bu●… 〈◊〉 . hom●…●… a. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 t●…ogn . au●… g●…ll . l. . c. . liv. li●… . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in hadrian . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * d●…g . 〈◊〉 . lib. . clem. alex. padag . l. . c. . cle●… . alex. strom. lib. . & lib. . iliad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 tiber. c. . 〈◊〉 ▪ de ca lig . & in 〈◊〉 . ●… . ●… . ib. in calig . senec. de ir●… . lib. . c. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . aiax . taci●… . hist. lib. capita hostiu●… in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , apud i●…st . lib. . vir●… . 〈◊〉 ▪ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ & . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . pe●… . cri●…it . lib. . cap. . pl●…tarch . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . se●…t . titi●…s quod habuit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ 〈◊〉 d●…mi s●…a ▪ 〈◊〉 . ci●… . pro rabini●… . tacit. ana●… . lib. . . su●… ▪ tib ●… . ●… . anal. lib. . plutarc●… . de cap. ex ●…st . 〈◊〉 . q. curt. lib. . i 〈◊〉 de adul●…t . & ami●… . 〈◊〉 . in 〈◊〉 . sop●…oc . in aiac . forsan ●…uturus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 patris . senec. 〈◊〉 . s●…asinus apud clem. alex. str●…m . . hom. odyss . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . . odium etiam ti●…or sp . rat . tertul. ap●…l . cap. . vlc●… 〈◊〉 ●…x 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consu●…um . am. marc. l. . & a●…ist . 〈◊〉 ▪ lib. . 〈◊〉 . de i●…a lib. . c. . maximè 〈◊〉 esse sotent morsus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . flor●… lib. . c. . su●…t . tiber c. ●… tacit. anal. i. pet. c●…init . lib. . c. . martin . apud 〈◊〉 . in vit . p●…nt . . salust . in cat. florus lib. . dion . lib. . plut. in lice●… . & in poplico ●…d . 〈◊〉 t●…nere in ●…o dissi●…ile est quod b●…num esse 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . ep. . plut. de isi●… . & o●…od . 〈◊〉 . a●…ist . rbe●…or . lib. . cap. . plut. de odi●… & i●…vidia . aelian . de animal . lib. c. . lib. c. . tacitus . plutar. lib. de r●…p . gerendâ . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l●…er . l●… zen. lib. . plutarch . de c●…riosit . arist. ethic. lib. . cap. . mag. mor. cap. ●… . prov. . . ●… . . * culi●… rhod. antiq. lect . lib. . cap. . di●…g . l●…rt . l. ●… . * ecclz●… . math. . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v●…rtunt . . reg. . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a●…d pa●…san . lib. . & clem. alex. in protreps . myiode●… v●…cat plin. l. . cap. . tacit. a●…al . lib ●… . rbet . l●… . . ●… . . prov. . . notes for div a -e i●…b . . math. . . ●…abac . . . 〈◊〉 . nat. qu●…st . ●…p . . rom. . , . i●… . . . 〈◊〉 . . . is●… . . . phil. . . h●…g . . . iohn ●… . ps●…l . ●… . . arist. 〈◊〉 . lib. . cap. . heb. . ●… . . cor. . . col. . . prov. . . . tim. ●… . . ps●… . ●… . . * vid. soc●…at . lib . cap. ●… . euseb. lib. . c. . l. . c. . ●…ren . l. . c. . tertul. adv . psy●… c. c. . epiph. t●… . . l. ●… . vid. g●…l . st●… . a●…iq . comm. lib. ●… . cap. , . clem. al. pad . lib. . cap. , . 〈◊〉 . lib. ●… . adv . 〈◊〉 megarens●… obsonan●… , quasi crasti●…d die ●…rituri . tert. apol. cap. . diog. l●…ert . l. . prov . . pl●… . de audi●…one . 〈◊〉 . l. . c. . rom. . . . thess. . . ●…de ve●… . . vid. eus●… . de pr●…p . evang. lib. . cap. . hierom. lib. . contr. iov●… . the●…d . serm. . de l●…b . c●…l rodingin . antiq. lib. . cap. . . p●…n . lib. . cap. . . & lib. . cap. . ethic. l. . c. . c●…l . r●…dig . lib. . cap. . uid . stephan . & 〈◊〉 ●…n voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . deb●… & iucund●… vid. philosoph . r●…e . cor . lib. . ge●… . . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dam ●…seen de 〈◊〉 . s●…d . l. . ●… . . 〈◊〉 etiam & qu●… non poss●… sen. de l. à ▪ lib. . c. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 arist. ethic. lib. . c. . vid. de volitione & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aquin. . . qv. . 〈◊〉 . & valen●… . to. . disp . . q●…st . p. crescit a●…or nu●…i quantum ipsa pecu nia cresc●… . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui 〈◊〉 ●…abet 〈◊〉 . s●… . . aristot. lib . politic. c. ●… ▪ plutarch . lib. de cupidi●… . diviti●… . se 〈◊〉 . ●…p . . m●… . . ●… . arist. ethic. lib. . cap. . eadem lib. . c. . problem . ¶ . quast . . sujd●…s in 〈◊〉 . aelian . var. hist. l. . . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 diog. latri . in 〈◊〉 : l. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 arist. ethic. lib. . cap . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cl●…m . alex. str. l. . si q●…id deterit ida nobis petierimus . sen. epist. . vid. plutarch . de curiosit . cae ius ●…oodig . lib. . cap. . iudg. . . i●… , . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 arist. de g●…netatio an ma , lib. . cap . vivunt , non quomodo volunt ; sed quomodo cap●…runt . sen. de tran. cap. . plut. sympos . lib. . quast . . tacit. phil. . , . heb. . . namque lab●…nt cur●… 〈◊〉 sint ponder●… navet . perq , mare instab les nimi●… levitate seruntur . ov. met. lib. . i●…ven . sat . pli●… . l . c. . stuck . l. . c. ●…ol . ●… plat. de solart . 〈◊〉 . sapien●… est divi●…iarum naturalium qu●…sitor acerri●… sen epist. exod . . phil. . . arist. ethic. lib. . cap. . ●…rv . . . ●…heophylact . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . luke . i●…me . . iob . . ●… . reg. . . vide 〈◊〉 . d●… mensuri●… , lib. . cap. . & a●…g ●…●…ani ●…ium de pane quot●…d . ad 〈◊〉 i●…stit . ●…yria ▪ s●…uck . convival . lib. . cap. . pl●…t . apop●… . rbet lib. . luk●… . 〈◊〉 acbin●… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 invis●…rus plut de curio●…it . . reg. . plat●… aegypt●… italia●… , 〈◊〉 pe●…jt philosophiae c●…sd ▪ vid. throd . oral . : de ●…ide . zeph. . . greci●… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 arist●… . tom. . 〈◊〉 de pace p●…ster .. graciae , graecia . ●…hycidides uide coel. ●…bod . l. . c. . acts . . plut. in solon , & de curiosit . & lib. . cod. quares export●…ri non debeant . aristid . to. . ora●… . . aelius spart . in piscen . n g. epist. . 〈◊〉 infaelix angust●…i mite mundi . vt gy●…ae inclusus sco●…ulu , & ●… . ●…uv . 〈◊〉 . . sen. de ●… n●…fic . l. . c . p. . & . ecclet . . p●…ov . . ●… l●…t . de cu●… . 〈◊〉 qu●…q , m●…o semper sugi●… . luc●…t . ●…pud s●…a . de ▪ trauq l. c. . non horam ●…ecum esse potes , ●… non etia re●… 〈◊〉 , &c. 〈◊〉 . . reg. . . notes for div a -e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . arist. e●…hic lib. . c. . maximum in dicium est m●… la mentis fluct●…atio . sen. ep. . vid. ep . . & de tranq . cap. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . aristid . tom. o●…at . . vid. etiam plutarch ▪ de 〈◊〉 . iliad ▪ - ▪ lucret. lib. . lactor , crucior , agitor , ●…lor , versor in amoris 〈…〉 animi habe●… . ibi sum , ibi non sum , ●…b non sum ibi est animus . i●…a mihi ingenia sunt , quod lubet non lubet iam id continuo , &c. plaut . cistellar . nihil tam occupatum ●…am multiforme t●…t ac tam variis motibus concisum ac la●…ratum , quàm mala ment . quin●…il . lib. . c. . non horam ●…cum esse potes , non ●…tia recte pon●…re ●…que ipsum 〈◊〉 fugitivus & err●… . horat. uid . plutarch . de tranquillit . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . arist. ●…bic . lib. . c. ult . 〈…〉 . q●…m q●… in p●… estate ba●…u . it me●…t ●…a a 〈◊〉 . plant. cop . iv . c. . . ●… cor. . . a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . apud 〈◊〉 . lib. . b 〈◊〉 . e●…ectra . plata●…ch . iustit . l. ●…con . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . rb●…s . c homer . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . d aristot. apud la●…rt . lib. . c arist. e●…demi lib. cap. . ●… prou . . † reg. . . 〈◊〉 . . . ●… vsqu●… ad agri●…m deside 〈◊〉 . el. lam. p●…id . in co●… . rom. . . cor. ●… pb●…l . . . . . matth. . . mag. . . . matth. . . isa. . . . psal. . . pl●…tarch . in anton. nazar . orat. pan●…gyr . senec. epist. . abo●…ice savi●…r ib●… . plutarc●… . sympos . l. . ●… . gr●…l . l . c. . tertul. ap●…log . cap. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . l . c. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ib cap. u●… . hos. . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. . vid. c. . . vid. plaut . asinar . act . ●…cen . . cicer. de senectut . 〈◊〉 . . ●… . heb. . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lib. . cap. . pl●…tarch . in lysander . persi●… sat. . vid. arria●… . epict. l. . ●… . . se●… ▪ de benef. lib. . c●…p . & l. . c. . na●… serae maxuma par●… movem hunc homines babent , quod sibi volunt , dum id impetran●… boni sunt , sedid ubi jam p●…es sese habeant , ex bonis pessumis & 〈◊〉 pl●…ut . captiv . nihil ●…què est gratum adeptis & concupiscentibus plix . lib. . ep. . senec ▪ de brevi●… , vi●…ae & ep. . 〈◊〉 . apol. cap. . 〈◊〉 cp●…d plutarch . a-apopth . cl●…m . alex. paed. lib. . cap. . vid senec. de tra . lib. . c. . allen is gem●…tibus liben●…er ●…olumenta conquir●… ▪ ammian : marcell . lib. . egreeium ex●…mplum in vidi●… etiam ecclestas●…icae ex cupidi●…atibus 〈◊〉 apud ●…un . dem marcell●… num inter damasum , & vrcisiaum . lib. . ●…pist . . * caelius phodig . lib. c , . lib. . cap. . 〈◊〉 . in anacharsi . lib. . 〈◊〉 de ben. lib. . c. ●… . ni●…il 〈◊〉 ma●…i . uris , imo ●…bus ●…p . cap. . p●…n . lib. ●… . c. . 〈◊〉 . hist. l. . hor●…dot . th●…lia . plutarch . in solon●… . 〈◊〉 . marcel ▪ lib. . eurip. 〈◊〉 . notes for div a -e prov. . . . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . c●…ilo ●…pud 〈◊〉 . lib. . plutarch . in lacull●… . ●… liad . ●… . . senec. de tranq . l. ●… . arian . epict. lib. . ●… . . arist. po●…it . lib. c. cap. . 〈◊〉 . ep. . . de ben●…fit . lib. . c. . extrani●… non augent bonum , sed condi●…nt . senec. epi●… . . nurquam 〈◊〉 invenit ●…ibide . cic●…r . ●…usc . malum ●…nitum . arist. ●…thi ▪ lib. . cap. . p●…it . l. . c. . exig●…um natu●… opinio imm●…nsarium ●…pic . apud sen. . plutarch . in gry●… ▪ & de 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 ▪ . 〈…〉 ▪ 〈…〉 . . 〈…〉 . . s●…n de 〈◊〉 ●… . ●… . . . c. . quod ministe●… suera●… , ars haberi capt●… . 〈◊〉 l. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ethi . ●… . . c. . . ●… . annal. 〈◊〉 . . plut. de tranq 〈…〉 . sen. de bene●… . lib. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . l. . c. . 〈◊〉 . l. . c. . eph. . . pro. . : . . notes for div a -e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 e●…hic . l. . c. . cicer. tusc. l. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . zeno apud lae●… . l. . cum. alex. strom . lib ▪ . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rbe●…o . l. . c. ▪ * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ei●… ▪ l. . c. ul●… . gaudere in sinu . ci●… . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . iliad . ●… . qui sapit in tactio gaudeat ille sin●… . tibul. vid. 〈◊〉 de orthodox . side lib . cap. . & nemes . de anima . c. * a●…bores uecat omnem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lo , &c. 〈◊〉 l. . c . epist. . aug. de civlt . de●… , l. . c. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . nemes . c. . ethic l. . c. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * undes●…ctum ut qu●… ad funera per●…erent in templ●… ventris venderentur . vid. plutarch . qu●… rom. q. . ethic. l. . c. . ioh. . . iob . . isa. . . pet. . . eccles. . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 soph●…c alex. senec. epist. ●… 〈◊〉 . . . notes for div a -e arist. ethic. lib. . cap. . arist. 〈◊〉 . lib. . cap. . arist. rbet . l. . c. . rom. . . ar●… . 〈◊〉 . ●… . ●… . ●… ▪ 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 . ovid. met. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . . plut de audit. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . p●…l . l. ●… . ●… . . 〈◊〉 . l. ●… . c. 〈◊〉 . arrian . epict. l. . ●… . ●… . ethic. lib. . ●… . vl . l. ▪ ●… . . gustata magis quam potata 〈◊〉 . cic. 〈◊〉 ●… . . 〈◊〉 ●…ll . . quaest . . vid. senec. de tranq . c. , . * quod etiam de tibe●…io notavit su●…ton . cap. . qu●… hoc officio s●…ngtbantur dicti ( ut videtur ) ab aelio l-amp●…idio volup●…arij in alex. sever. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 xenoph. ●…nic lib. . est quadam etiam vol●…ndi voluptas . plin. & cic. de sint , l. . arist. rbet . l. . ●… . ●… . notes for div a -e vix sum apud me ita animu●… commotus est m●…tu spe , ●…audio , m●…rando hoc tanto tanque repentin●…●…ono ter●…ent . andr. act. . . 〈◊〉 bar●…lam , animo m●…o 〈◊〉 repenti●…um ●…amquè magnum non concipien●…e gaudium apul . a●…n . aur. lib. . sophocl . a●…tig . a multis mortem attulit gaudium ingens , insperatum interclu●…d animd , & vim magni novis que mo●… non 〈◊〉 . a. g●…ll . lib. . c. . lib. . c. . & cap. . b 〈◊〉 in aug. cap. . c arist. etbect . . d del●…ct at quicquid est admirabile cic. partic . orat. a proximorum incuriosi longinq●…●…mur & 〈◊〉 . lib ●… . epist. . b vid. clem. alex. ●…aedag . ●… . . c. . plin. l. . c. . & lib. . . plutarcb . de 〈◊〉 sanita●…e . c vid. citeron . tusc. qu. l. . a plutarch . de tranquill. c quintil. lib. . cap. , si mibi tranquilla & placa●… omnia suisseun , incredibili qua nunc 〈◊〉 latitia voluptat●… caruissem cic. orat post reditum . mix. tyrius dissert . . plutarch . de pro●…ct . viri●…tem . b quintil. lib. . cap. . horat. epist. lib. . ep. ficta●… sabulas cum volup . a●…em ●…gimus cl●… . de si●… . lib. . vid. plutar●… . de aud. p●…et ▪ & quintil. lib. . ap . . hinc ●…coml stu●…tia . pedic●…li , feb●…um , &c. plaut in au●… . hora●… . l. . sa●… . . 〈◊〉 ▪ lib. . cap. . plutarch . de a●…d . poc●… . c●…l . rhod●…g . lib. . cap. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 names . ex arist. c. . ethic. l. . ●… . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ●… . l. . c. . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ sophoc . 〈◊〉 . ●…lut . in gryllo . annal. l. . latitia 〈◊〉 latitudin●… . pa●…igir . ad tr●…jan . ●… plu●… in p●…ric . * aristid . tom. . orat. in pute●… . aesc●…l . arist. ethic. l. . c. . poli●… . l. . c. . * pl●…t . de ●…om . a. g●…ll . l. . c. . * 〈◊〉 . lib. ●… . clem. a●…ex . ●…trom . l. . pla●…t . casi●… . act. . ●… . 〈◊〉 . lib. . c●…p . . gen. , . psal. , . act. . luke . . aenead . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod ●…sum homines 〈◊〉 ▪ ●…ix satis credere se quisque andiss●… 〈◊〉 somni uanam 〈◊〉 , liv. lib. . 〈◊〉 . ●… . . notes for div a -e h●…b . . . antad . l. . iliad . ●… . pracogliati m●…li m●…llis ictus . 〈◊〉 ▪ epist. . uid . cic. tusc. qu. l. . pl●…t . de 〈◊〉 . consolatio ad helviam . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . l. . odiss . l ▪ ●… . . et quadam etiam dolend , volup●… . plin. l. . ep . c. . clem. alex. paedag. l. . c. . ethic. l. . c. . calamitates remedia . sen de tranq . l. c. . psal. . . psal. . . ier. . . grande 〈◊〉 ●…genium mis●…r sq , ve●…it soler●… reb●… . ethic. l. . c. . sen. de ●…tio , sapient . c. . epist. . ethic. l . c. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ &c. 〈◊〉 . hec. vid. plut. l. de adul●… . & 〈◊〉 co●…sol . ad apo●…onium plut. de a●…d . cor. . . . odyss . ●… . odyss . 〈◊〉 . * plut. de ad. & a●…ic . & de sa●…it . 〈◊〉 . v●… crudum adhuc vul●…s medentium manu●… reformidat , deinde patitur , a●…que ultro requirit . sic recens animi dolor consolatione●… rejici●… atque refugit , mox 〈◊〉 & clementer admoti●… acquiescit . plin. ep. l c. . vid plut. cons. ad apoll. ovid de remed . amor. l . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sophoc . ●…dip . ty●… . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . &c. alexis . of this medicine we read in homer . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . plin. l. . c. . 〈◊〉 . sympos . l. ●… . c. . macr●… . l. . c. clem. ale●… . in 〈◊〉 . nazion . car●…in . 〈◊〉 patris ad ●…ium . geo●…g . ●… . 〈◊〉 . lib. de sol●…t . 〈◊〉 . iliud ●… . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. eurip. h●…cub . 〈◊〉 . . . iob . . and ier. . . is●…i . . . o●…iss . ●… . arist. prob. se●… . . quest. . 〈◊〉 ●… . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dolor cib●… . 〈◊〉 pl●…n . l. . c. . 〈◊〉 . . 〈◊〉 . . c●…nfilium 〈◊〉 ●…egit & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . aen●…ad . . 〈…〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈…〉 〈…〉 . a 〈…〉 . b 〈…〉 . notes for div a -e iliad . ●… . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suida●… . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈…〉 . 〈…〉 . hebr. . 〈…〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pet. . . co. . desperatione●… 〈◊〉 , experiri nolunt quod se ass●…qui possed ffidunt . cic. in oral . ad b●…utum . act. . . spe ▪ 〈◊〉 , si vi●…es , pecu●… , con●…lum , se entiá , apparatió . cic. de invent. ad h●…an . iob . . ●…r . . . psal. . . rom. . . iob . , . notes for div a -e 〈◊〉 . l. c. . e. bi●… . l. . c. . li●… . . ep . . 〈◊〉 . l. . c. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . chilo apud la●… . l. . me●… . l. . c. . ●…liad : ●… . 〈…〉 . 〈…〉 . horace . 〈…〉 . 〈…〉 . iliad ▪ , &c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . . chron. . ●… . . 〈◊〉 . . , . iliad . ▪ . hora●… . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . alex. 〈◊〉 . l. . 〈◊〉 . l. . ●… . ●… . 〈◊〉 . l. . rhet. l. . quintil. l. . in pr●…am . mag●…a indoli●… signum est sperare semper . ●…lor . l. . liv. l . * liv. l. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eur. p hec. difficiliora debent ess●… quae exercent , quò sit levius ips●… illud in quod exercent , quintil. l. . cap. . arist. ethic. l. . c. . ae●…ad . . * ovid. met. l. tutius certe per plana , sed humilius & depressius itur , 〈◊〉 currentibus , quam reptansibus 〈◊〉 , sed his non labentibus nulla laves , illis nonnulla laves etiāsi labā . ●…r . plin. l. . ep . . notes for div a -e philosophi quidom erant , qui a sp●… di●… ▪ sunt , elp●…icisti qui nihil sse pronunciarunt quod vitam sympos . l. q. mag●… 〈◊〉 atque 〈◊〉 , vid. plut. iob . ●… . c. . spe●… inane●… quae in medio spa●…io ●…rangūtur & cor●…ūt & an●…e in ipso curs●… obr●…tur quam po●…tum conspi●…e possu●… . 〈◊〉 ▪ d●… orat. l. . psal. . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈…〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . max. tyr. disser●… . . notes for div a -e plut. in ni●…ia . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 homer . plut. in themistoc . in honnibale plurimum au●… ad capess●…da pericula plurim 〈◊〉 consi●… inter ipsa pericula erat . liv. l. . 〈◊〉 . l. . c. . vid. aque . ●… quast , . art . i●… . . , . arist. eib. l. . c. ●… . . pet. . . see my treatise on the sin●…ulnesse of sin. p. . hos. . ier. . . . . eth. l. . c. . aux 〈◊〉 mag●…a . 〈◊〉 . vi●…ina . 〈◊〉 . l. ●… . ●… . . a●…cid . . io●… . . . 〈◊〉 . , , . ●…am . . . ●…ve . . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . l. . c. . ●… r●…v . . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . l. . ●… . . prad●… 〈◊〉 quam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . liv. lib. . iliad . ●… . plutarch lib. de homero . quàm minimum 〈◊〉 incorpore 〈◊〉 spoliorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quàm operunt . 〈◊〉 . epist. . sue●…on . in iuli●… . a summ●… audaci●… 〈◊〉 , factlosus que●… adperturband●…m remp . in opia , a●… mali 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . b 〈◊〉 . i●… num●… . c saepè 〈◊〉 h●…st is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ●…didit . liv. lib. . spe●… desperati ▪ one quaesita 〈◊〉 . lib. . ig●…aviam necessi●…as acuit , & spei saepè desp●…ratio causa est q. 〈◊〉 . l. . d●…nt animun●… ad loque●…dum liberè ul●…imae miseriae liv. lib. ●… . d maximè 〈◊〉 esse solent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 animalium . flor●… iul●… capitol . in max imino . a impunit●… ge●… est non ●…bere p●… locu●… st●… . b 〈…〉 . ●…ide v●…grt de ●… mili●…ar . l. . c. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 e. ●…s . t. . ●… . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . eur●…p . r●…s ▪ a vel err●…r honestus est magnos duces sequentibus qui●…t . lib . cap. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . l●…●…t i●… 〈◊〉 . ethic. l. . . ▪ & . p●… . l. . ep. . q●… m●…sture 〈◊〉 , ●…ajoraque v●…ribus a●… ? 〈◊〉 ●… inca●…tum 〈◊〉 ●…a ●… . . ●…e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vi●… . va●… . m●… . l. . c . e●…rip . my●…pol . 〈◊〉 . qui●…til . r●…et . l. ●… . c. . q. curt . lib. . de i●…tu animorum divin●…us excitat●… vid plutare●… . in co●… . i●…dg . . . isai. . . ▪ reg. . . ●… sam. . . psal. . . exod. . . sam. . , . sopho●…l . aj●…x vid. ez●…k . . . . aencid . ●… . — priscum de more lati●…is auspi●…um ; 〈◊〉 bell●… parant mentesqu●… deorum explorant super eventu , &c. sil ▪ ital. lib. . prov. ●… . . isai. . vid. iliad . ●… . rhet. l. . c. . val. max. l. . c. . vid. haud dissimile exemplum 〈◊〉 . plutarch . de ●…il . ex hosti●… . capi●…nd . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud h●…merum sapè . ier. . . isai. 〈◊〉 . . ezek. . . o●… ferreum . cic. in 〈◊〉 . iul. 〈◊〉 . l. . c. . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 alcib . vid. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 arist. ethic. l. . cap. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . silentium illud obstinatum , ●…ixi in terram oculi — & pudor 〈◊〉 i●…dicia 〈◊〉 ingentem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex al●…o 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ●…iv . lib. . . sam. . mixtus dolor & pudor armat in hostes. aenead . . tunc ●…ide mal●… , sed contra 〈◊〉 it●… . aenead . l. . arist. ●…ib . l. . c ▪ ●… . qui ad 〈◊〉 callidi sunt , ●… tantum audent quantum excogitant . cic. pro 〈◊〉 . plut. apopb . pl●…t in sylla . ●…nsilium in 〈◊〉 s●…n ca. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . soph. autig . 〈◊〉 facichat a●…or . ovid met. . a. gell. l . c. . a. gell. . c. ●… . vile est corpus 〈◊〉 qui 〈◊〉 gloriam qua●… . ●…iv . l. . cic. tusc. q. l. . arist. polit. l. . c. . plut. in alcib . & arist id . ex nicia . eande virtutē & oderant & mirabantur . liv. l. . 〈…〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈…〉 . a 〈…〉 . a 〈…〉 . b 〈…〉 . d 〈…〉 . notes for div a -e vide laert. in 〈◊〉 . l. . ●…bet . l. . . . diogenes apud l. a●…rt . l. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . menander . prae c●…ris hostibu●…●…imentur r●…ē●…iui . ammian . ma●…c . l. . mala praeviso siunt 〈◊〉 . ci●… tusc. q. l. . annal. l ▪ . dum ed parte qua mu●…us dir●…tus 〈◊〉 stationes arma●…as opponunt : quintiu●… 〈◊〉 ab edpar●…e , quae minimè ●…uspecta er●… ▪ ●…mpetu ●…cto scal●… cepi●…●… l●…v . l. . s●…n . ep. . aenead . . i●… 〈◊〉 & pe●…iculo plura & ma●… viden●… me●…ē●…s cum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ●…um sin●…r 〈◊〉 c●…c . d●… divi●… . . * ne fam●… aut rem in maju●… 〈◊〉 aut 〈◊〉 animo●… rer●… novitate 〈◊〉 . iustin. l. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . clem. alex. cl●…m . l. . 〈◊〉 . l. . c. . arrian epict. l. . c. . n●…m velu●… 〈◊〉 , atque omnia caecu in tenebr●… 〈◊〉 : ita n●…s i●… luce time●…us . l●…r . pli●… . l. ep . . ver●…or omnia , imagin●… omnia quaeque natura 〈◊〉 est , ●…a maximè mitui quae maximè abomi●…or , fingo , . plin l. . ep . vid. sen. ep . . prob. § . ●… . . is●… . . . . . 〈◊〉 . . gen. . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ schol ▪ ●…n s●… . deut. . . in mag●… 〈◊〉 s●… per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tanquam maximè 〈◊〉 . pl●… . 〈◊〉 mario ▪ deut. . . . laert. in ze●… . l. . ovid. de arte amandi . l. . advancement of learning . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . laert. in zenon . l. . pl●…tarch . de a●…d . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . ph . l. . ●… . nat. qu●…st . l. . c , . * i●…l . capit●…l . in max m●… & 〈◊〉 . vid. 〈◊〉 s●…turn . ●…isd . . . 〈◊〉 . anal. lib. . * aelian . var. hist. l. . c. . inven. s●…tyr . 〈◊〉 erit verri qui verrem tempore qu●… valt . accusare p●… test , &c. prov. . . minus time●…ant epaminondem . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . pl●…tarch . de 〈◊〉 . ●…orac . ●… . . s●… . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a●…tst . rb●… . l. . a 〈…〉 . b 〈…〉 . c 〈…〉 . d arist. ●…th c. lib. . cap. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 notes for div a -e tac●… . lib. . a●…al . lib. ▪ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 m●…and . quorum in al●…orius m●…nu vita posita est , saepius ill●…d cogitant quid p●…ssit is cujus in diliou : sunt quà●… q●…id de 〈◊〉 facere . cic. pro q●…inctio . a de timore is ●…o me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de q●…ae d●…m apud al ▪ ●…odig .. . cap. . b quod de 〈◊〉 observani●… ammian marcell . lib. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l'lutar●…bus de medea r●…ipid . in medea . de domitian●… 〈◊〉 quidam 〈◊〉 magu quam cum 〈◊〉 sunt timend●… sunt . sen●… . ep. . c tacit. annal. lib. ●… . vid. plutarch . de superstitione et lib. contra epicur . max. tyrius 〈◊〉 . . clem. alex. strom. lib. . p. ●… . nist . lib. . * themistocles apud l'lut . apo 〈◊〉 . † c●…abrias ib. & o●…t . a de 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . alex. arist. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 &c. ●… . 〈◊〉 . ●…dip . ●…yr . ●…ac . a●… . ●… . . 〈◊〉 . omnia tuta imens . non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suum quā boste●…m tu crun●… 〈◊〉 tanto . liv. l . 〈◊〉 . l. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in q●…m sed usu receptum , quod honesta confilia , ●…ei 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 mala aut pros . pere 〈◊〉 ita velp b●…n tur , vil●… ▪ pre●… . 〈◊〉 . l. . ep . . 〈◊〉 . epict. l. . c. . illad . ●…●… . plut. de ●…up . 〈…〉 . 〈…〉 . † 〈…〉 . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈…〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈…〉 . † 〈…〉 . 〈…〉 . 〈…〉 . notes for div a -e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 arist. eth. l. ●… . c. ●… . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. arist. r●…et . l. . c. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . dama●…ce ▪ de orthod . sid . l , . c. . a. gell. l. c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 iliad . ●… . liv. l. ●… . val . max. lib. . ●… . vid. e●…am lib. cap. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ●…dosed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ●… . ●…p 〈◊〉 . l . c. . sev. ●…p . . & . cydias ●…rator atheniensi●… a●…d aristotele●… . r●…et . l. . cap. . et persae adu●…co 〈◊〉 praeài●… . 〈◊〉 ●…bent quod cy●… 〈◊〉 ●…sset pl●…tarch . apoth . aristid . ●…rat . de 〈◊〉 plutarch apoph . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in ve●…p . c. v●…d . 〈◊〉 apud 〈◊〉 lib. 〈◊〉 b oo●…r . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v●…d . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . pu●… 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v●…d . de ca theophrast . a vid. desid . herald . digres . l c. . b vid. l ti●… . ●…aneg . taci ▪ annal. l. . c hera●… . l. . sat. . vid. pl●…ut . aut. l. ●…ll . , 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 illl●…d ▪ . . o verè 〈◊〉 ▪ eui●… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . . ●…iad . ●… . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vocal lapides quibus ●…dul . 〈◊〉 ex anti●… more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . quam ●…niquè 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ij qui minu●… habent , 〈◊〉 s●…mper 〈◊〉 ●… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . lho●…m . plutarch . a. ●…opi l. ●…con . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 plutarch . & 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . eun ●… . 〈◊〉 act . 〈◊〉 . . a●…l . . 〈◊〉 . & ●… la●…ti ar●… in mil. , glor. a vid. theoph. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pla●…ti mil●… glor arist. eth c. l . c. . val. max. ●… . . c. . plutarch . l. de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b carios jam 〈◊〉 ●…asumq ▪ minorem 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viculu , 〈◊〉 . q 〈◊〉 invenal . eu●…ipid . in hec. m●…gnum do●…oren habet unde cum hono●…e dec●…sseris codem 〈◊〉 ignominia reverti . cic. pro l. muran●… . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , iliad . ●… . ar●…ium peccata artificibus pu●…ori sunt &c. — sen. ep. . cic. tusc. qu. lib. . 〈…〉 . spa●…tian in adrian●… . plutarch . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ●…rnamentum in 〈◊〉 sal●… la●… . de 〈◊〉 . lib. . siden . 〈◊〉 . l. 〈◊〉 . . 〈◊〉 . ●… . vid. vo●… ▪ 〈◊〉 . part . . p. . o 〈◊〉 ▪ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib . c. . ●… . aen●…id . . vid. ●…um lib. . val. max. l. . c. ●… . §. . 〈◊〉 . calig . c. . lips. l. . elect. c. . 〈◊〉 ob 〈◊〉 fixi in terram oculi 〈◊〉 ad omnia 〈◊〉 a●…res & p●…dor 〈◊〉 lu●… , ingentem 〈◊〉 ●…rarum ex alto anim●… 〈◊〉 j●…dicia tran●… . liv. l. . capitol . in m●…x . iuvenal . pet. victor in ar●…ic . rhet. l. . plutarch . l. de capiend . ex 〈◊〉 . utilitate . taci●… . 〈◊〉 . l. . c. . iuvenal . 〈◊〉 . ●… . torent . a. delph . 〈◊〉 . lu casar . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . in diogene . 〈◊〉 ille vul●… & rubo●… quost contra p●…dorem mu●… . 〈◊〉 . in agric. quidam nua●… magis 〈◊〉 ●…uri eru●… timendi sint . quasi omnem v. recundiem essude in t . sylla tu●…e erat violentissimu●…●…uen faciem ejus sanguis o●… viser●…t . sen●…e epist. . plutarch . de vil . puda●…e notes for div a -e a ethic. lib. . cap. . b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . vid domas●… de o●…thod . fid . lib. . ●… . . ●…ale rhodes . lib. . ●… . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inveterata plun . bea , alta mente reposta vindictae occasimem 〈◊〉 expec●… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c no●… tulin 〈◊〉 non verbis commo tion , adeo ivam condiderat . yacit . de libe . annol . l. . d 〈…〉 iliad . ●… . . unde crabr●…net irritare apud plaut . ampbit . nunc in fermento to●…a est , ita t●…rget mib●… . plant. casi●… . c pectora qui 〈◊〉 ple vumque gementes nec copere i●…arum fluctus in pectore possunt . ●… uer . l. . 〈◊〉 . ●… . . a dolor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ●… . immani●…●…lot insecerat ivd claud. multa in ira 〈◊〉 & ridicula . pl●…t . terent. adelph . act. . scen. . iliad . ●… . ●…lv . lib val. max. l. . cap . act. . . . . b herodot . tholi●… . val. 〈◊〉 . l. . 〈◊〉 spirat sa●…guinem sener . thyest. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . hom. v. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 theocrit . idyl . ●… . ira cadat naso vugosque sanna perse 〈◊〉 . . c . § plin lib. . cop . . horay . epo . l. o●… . . plutarch . 〈◊〉 . plutarch . in caesare . suidas in 〈◊〉 . despect●… 〈◊〉 sum , 〈◊〉 qu●… s●…m qu●…ru alexi . a●… ego qu●… d●…t ùm 〈◊〉 regina , iovuque e●… s●… & conjux und ●…umgente 〈◊〉 annot . bellagero , & quisquam nu men iunonu adore●… . praeterea aentad . . q. curt. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so●… . ajex , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈…〉 . † 〈◊〉 ▪ i●… d●… dolor ossibu●… a●… . aeu●…ad . . affectus nunquam sine torment●… sul violentm , qui●… dolorem cum inferre 〈◊〉 , pa●… , &c. val. max. l . c. . dolor addidi●… iram . ovid. met. . * ●…pes addita suscitat iras. aenead . . ejectū , li●…tore ●…gentem . except , & regni dem●…us in par●…e lecavi . amissam classem 〈◊〉 a morte ●…duxi . heu su●…●…ncensaseror , &c. ae●…ad . . quem ego credo manibus . pedibu●…q , 〈◊〉 omnia 〈◊〉 ma●…is i●… ad●…o nisi ut inc●…mmodet quam , &c. 〈◊〉 . a●…d . act. s●… . . annal l. . notes for div a -e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rhet. l. , ●… . ●… ▪ anead . . † 〈◊〉 . r●… . l . ●… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 l . c . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . d●… 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . idyll . . omnes quibus res lunt , minus secundae , magis 〈◊〉 , ne●…cio quo modo 〈◊〉 ad 〈◊〉 omnia accipi●… 〈◊〉 prop●… s●… 〈◊〉 impo●… 〈◊〉 se s●…per credunt n●…gligi . t●…r ▪ adolph . act. . s●… . . 〈◊〉 inter se quam pro levibus noxij●… i●…a 〈◊〉 ? qua propt●…r ? quia caim qui cos guberuat 〈◊〉 insirmum 〈◊〉 . ide . hecyr . act. c. . — . minuti semper , & in●… est animi exiguique voluptas ultio . inv. n. sat. . iracundiores sunt incolumibus languidi saemina maribus , &c. a●…m . mar. lib. . vi●… . causia . de 〈◊〉 . l. . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . sophoc . ajax . sen de 〈◊〉 . l. . c. . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . vid. pl●…t . d●… capiend . ex host . utilitat . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lucian . r●…et . l. . de ira. lib. s●…n . de ir●… . l. . c. . 〈◊〉 . l. c. . corpora mag●… satis est prostrare leo●…l . 〈◊〉 num ●…inem , cum jac●… host is ●…al ▪ 〈◊〉 ovid. trist. li●… . . eleg. . 〈◊〉 . de 〈◊〉 . l. c. . † iob. . z ●…b . . . psal. . . . . illiad . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ vid. quae de hac 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nun●…ius apud 〈◊〉 . an●…g . 〈◊〉 . lib . ira de causa 〈◊〉 iracundia de vitio . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . d●…d m●…●… 〈◊〉 lit. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a lu●…andi 〈◊〉 cobibentes p●…ius dom●… ex●… . iubebant , ut esset deliberandi spatium . vid. ●… lut . qu. rom. q. . vid. l'lutarch . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vid. ene●… . de ●…ra lib. . c. . vos qu●… si ●…edia specul●…m spectetis in irá . cognoscat saciem vix satis 〈◊〉 ●…uam o ●…id . de arte amandl . lib. . vid. plutarch . plumbea●… iras 〈◊〉 plaut . ethic. lib. . vires inijcit ad pericula 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . lib. . ●… . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . vid. cal. rh●…d . l. ●… . c. . l. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . thucyd. lib. . b plutarch . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . sen. de ira lib. . cap. 〈◊〉 . & 〈◊〉 . c ip●… 〈◊〉 qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ●…m . 〈◊〉 s●…t . . pl●… . de ira. d donat & coel. rhod. l. c. . a so crat . lib. . c. . b plutarch . in lyc. c plut. ●…n pericle . * senec. de ira lib. . c. & . plut. de serd num : vidi●…at . sicut aquil●… es 〈◊〉 inter a●… bulandum ungu●… intro 〈◊〉 . vid. plu. de ●…u 〈◊〉 s●…n . de . ●…ra , l●…b . . cap. ●… . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ir●… l. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . plutarch de and. poe●…u . pl●… , a●…opt . s●… . de ●…ra lib. . c. . c●… . ●…od . l. ▪ ●… . . 〈◊〉 d●… i●…a 〈◊〉 ●… . , ●… plu●… . in alex. & l. curiosit . ●… dion . c●…ss . l. . s●… . d●… ira lib. . c , . minimas rerum discordia turbat pac●…m su●…●…●…enent lucan vid. sen. l. . c. . s●…n . de ira l. . c. . . plutarch . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sen●… . l. . c. . sen. de ira l. . cap. . — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . sopb . autig . plut. sympos . ●… . . q●… , . notes for div a -e a phila●…ri de haeres . sel●…uci , &c. b 〈◊〉 tract . ad menam contra orig. hieron . epist. ad m●…cell . & 〈◊〉 theophyl . alex. ep. pasc. ●… . anasta●… . 〈◊〉 anagog . contemp . lib. . c aug. de 〈◊〉 . . cp . de gen. ad lit . l. . c. . tertull. de 〈◊〉 c. . . . . . . d hieron . epist. ad marcelli●…um . 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. . iuciferian apud aug. 〈◊〉 . . e hieron . cp . ●…d ●…am . contra ioan ▪ hi●…us . f hilar. de trin. l. . g ambros. de noah & arc●… . c. . h lactant. de 〈◊〉 . hom. c. ●… . i theod. de curand ●…gr . affect . ser. . k aeneas gaz. in su●… 〈◊〉 . l aug ●…p . . . . & 〈◊〉 . l. c. . de gen. ad li●… . . & de 〈◊〉 . m greg. l. . cp . . eccles. . . h●…eron . ad pammach . & in l. . eccles. . co●…tr . ruffiaum l. . c. . . & dialog ▪ de orig●…n . anim ▪ inter ●…peracjus tom. hilar. de t●…in . l ▪ . & in p. ▪ at ●…ag . d●… res●…r . g●…d . de eccles. dog . ●… . . aug. cp . . aug. de ●…ivit . de●… . l. . ●… . . ma●…ar . ho. ●… . aug. contr . iul. l ▪ . c ▪ . contr. iulian. l. . c. . nihil peccato originals ad praedicandum notius , nihil ad intelligendum secretius . au●… . dc morb . eccles. cap. . notes for div a -e macrob de s●…mno scip. p . c. divine particula 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , philo. a vid. contra 〈◊〉 impietatem d●…cretum con●…il , ●…racar . cap. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . da●…se . de orth . fid . lib . cap. . 〈◊〉 est ollis vigor & c●…lestis origo . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . orig. apud euseb . de praepar . evang. lib. . c. . f●…nxit i●… essigie●… mod●…tum c●…ncta deorum . ovid. met. . in alii●… creatur 〈◊〉 est simili●…udo dei tantùm per m●…dum vest●…i ; in sola rationali creatura per modum imaginis . vid. aquin. part . . qu. . art . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . philo. apud euseb . de praepar . eva●…g . lib. ●… . cap. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . gieg. nyssen . serm 〈◊〉 in verb●… illa s●…amus 〈◊〉 , &c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . arist. ethic lib. ●… c . deorum cognatione ●…enetur . 〈◊〉 . de divin . lib. . & lib. de a●…icit . porphyr . apud euseb. de pr●…p . ev●…g lib. . cap. lib. . clem. alex. in s●… lib. strom●… . ipse etiam c●…c . in somnio scipio . s●…cc . cp . . & . vid. aug. de gen. ad li●… . lib. . c. . a●…bros . hexam . lib. . c. . tertull. lib. ●… . contra marci●… . cap , q. . . clem. alex. in protreptic p. . basil. hexam . hom●… . . * vid. theodored . serm. . de natura hom & nemes . cap. ●… . s●…u , nyssen . lib. de ani●…i . platarch de placitis philosoph . l. . c. . tertul. de anim. senec. nat. qu. l. . c. ●… * vid. nem●…s . de anim. cap. . cl●…udi ●…n . mamercum de statu an●…me . lib . plotin , a●…d ●…u . sib . de praeparat . evang. l. c damisc de orthod . fi . le . l. . c plutarch . lib. de placitis philosoph . lib. ●… . c. . . aug. lib. de quan●…itate anime . lib. . de ani●…a . cap. . ibid. cap. . aris●…t . d●… ani●…a lib . cap. . tuscul. q l. . & lib. de senectut . notes for div a -e * v●…d plutarch . lib. d●… placit . philosoph c. quae ex sen●…a 〈◊〉 u●…um co●…legit dionys. gotho●…td . in lo●…x ipso 〈◊〉 . ti●…l de an mo . cicer. tusc. qu. lib. . ca●…o major , sive de senect . & de ami●…t . ●…●…am ●…riam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . euseb. de praepar . evang. lib. . ex p●…one porpher . &c. n●…mes ae●…rs gaz●…us in 〈◊〉 . erast 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . * ni●… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 esse quod 〈◊〉 a●…um 〈◊〉 quem est : iste 〈◊〉 for●… [ v●…z . sim●… ] n●… possunt perd●…e actum per quem sunt , quia sibi i●… s●… sunt actus . nihil au 〈◊〉 ●…otest se●… perdere . contarenu●… . lib. de immort . animae . * cum de animarum at●… nitate 〈◊〉 , non ●…ve momentun apud no●… habet const●…sus h●…minum aut timentium infer●… ▪ aut colen●…ium . 〈◊〉 . c. ●…p . tus●… qu●…l . tull. tus●… . qu. lib . sen●… 〈◊〉 . ●…acon essay of athe●…sme . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ●…ad . ●… . . diogenc●… vocare shl●…b it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lac. l. lib. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 solon ad ●…oesum . vid. theodoret . ●…om . . de n●…ura hom. & clem. alex. strom. lib. . p. . . edit . hi●…ns . fecisti no●… ad ●…e , & n●…equietum est cor nostrum 〈◊〉 requiescat in ●…e aug. conses . l. . c. . vid. ibid. lib. . cap. . . de trinit . lib. . cap . omni●… mihi copia quae deu●… me●… no●… est , e●…esta est ▪ consess . lib. . c. . vid. ●…iam de civ . dei. lib. . cap. . lib. . c. . l . c . mornay of christian religion . chap. . notes for div a -e vid. cal. rhodig . lib. . cap. . . . aug. de gen. ad lit . l. . c. &c. platonic . ●… sententi●… ca●…cer , apostolic . i templum . tertul. de an●…m . tertull. de carne christi . vid. aug. lib. . de trinit . cap. . aug. de gen ad lit . lib. . cap. . de civ . dei . l. . c. vide quae fuse & erudite disscrit georg. zeem●…n ▪ tract . de i 〈◊〉 . dei. cap. ●… sect . . . . . ●… . eph. . luk. . . luk. . . heb. . ●… . luk. . . rom. . . eph. . . ioh. . . eph. . . t●…ull . vid. aug. de c●…v . dei. lib. . cap. . & . & epist. . de m●…i 〈◊〉 anim●… in corpus , vide c●…l rhodig . lib. ●… . cap. . . de c●…i . dei. lib. . ita 〈◊〉 p●…rum de corpor●… ut nihil deforme mantal in corpore . vid. aug. enchirid . c . & de civ ▪ dei. lib. ●… . cap. ▪ . tertul de resu●…vitia de●…entur , natura ●…rvabitur . aug. de civ . dei. l. . cap. . notes for div a -e ●… v. d. t●…rtul . de 〈◊〉 . c. . ambros. 〈◊〉 l. . c. . 〈◊〉 . o a●… . . 〈◊〉 . muchminem ▪ &c. aug. 〈◊〉 gen. ad li●… . lib. . c . 〈◊〉 . de o th●…d . 〈◊〉 . ●… . . cap . 〈◊〉 his 〈◊〉 men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alta ▪ de 〈◊〉 adhuc , & quod dimina 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 posse●… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 es●… ovid me●… . ●… . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ vit eum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 debuis s●…b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . qu●… esse 〈◊〉 . aug. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . in ●… 〈◊〉 . eus●…b . lib. . c. . ignis polycarpum n●…u 〈◊〉 . eus●…b . l. ●… . c. . * gen . v. ●…lt . eccles. . . col. . . gen . . . * ioh. . . eph. . . . rom. ▪ col. . . prov. . . ethic. l. lib. . de anim. c. . notes for div a -e arist. de anim. lib. . aquin. part . . q. . a. . aristot. de anim . lib. . cap. . & . vid. 〈◊〉 . lib. . i●… 〈◊〉 . et lact●…nt . de opis●… . dei. c. . . et c●…l . rhod●…g . lib. ●… . cap. ●… . * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . arist ▪ physit . l. . c. . text●… ●… . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 clem. alex. str●…m lib. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . clem. alex. prad . lib. c. ●… . * vid. valer. max. l. ▪ c ▪ . th●…odoret . serm. de fide . clem. alex strom. lib. . p. . . cicero de sinibus lib. . 〈◊〉 homines mente lamentari qu●…m la●…ari in amentiâ . aug. civ . dei. l . c. . a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , arist ▪ de generat . animal . lib. . cap ▪ . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . arist. physic. lib. . cap. . text. . b ●…id . iussin . martyr . qu. ad grac. qu. . tertull . apol. cap. . . de res●…arect . carnis cap. . contra marcion ▪ lib. . c p. . . r●…sil ▪ hexam . homi●… . . aug. confess . lib. . cap. . 〈◊〉 . lib. . cap. . theophil . ad antel . lib. . c hos. . . ●… . d ier. . . iob ▪ . ●… . - . a vid. plutarch . l●…b . de 〈◊〉 exod. . . isai. . . act. . . rom. . . cor. . . col. . . . heb. . ●… . b nehem. . . iob ●… . . psal. . . isal. . . c ●…at . . . prov. . . gen. ●… . . act . . . d act . . isai. . . iob . . psal. . . . cor. . . isai. . . * vid. aug. confess . lib. . cap. . & lib. . cap. . ●… ▪ & lib. . cap. ●… de trin. lib. . cap. . dr. f●…ild of the church . lib. . cap. . hooker . ecclesiasticall pol. l. . sect . . representatio reru●… . iudicium de rebus represental ●… . aquin ●… . qu. . art. . mus●… itaque dicta io●…is & m●…cmosynes filia . c●…l . rhod. l. . c. . * hag. ●… . ●… . se●… . ep. . vid. etiam coel. rhod. l. . c. . vt grammatico●… haberet an●…lectas . cicero in b●…uto & in orator●… . pl●… l. . cap. . a m ▪ senec. controvers . lib. ●…n prolog . b plin. l. . c. . qui●…il . lib. . cap. . val. max. lib. . cap. . sect . . c alex. ab alex. lib . cap. . d ali. sp●…rtian . in 〈◊〉 . e ammian . marcell . lib 〈◊〉 . f plin. supr●… . suidas in apoll. voss. instit. orat. c . sect . . g de quibus mentio apud plin●…um & m. senecam & quintil. ut supra . de ist●… materi . ●… sufi●…is d●…sputant schol●…tici ad l. . dist . . & ad part . tho qu. . & perer. in gen. . l. . disput . . de amplitud . & excellent . sci-cut . adami . 〈…〉 . v●…d . aqu. ●… . qu. . art. . i●… c. deum 〈◊〉 ●…nemo potest nisi deo d●…ceute . vid. ir●…n l. . c. . hilar. de trin. lib. . & . in tantum v debimus in quantum 〈◊〉 crimu●… . aug. ep. . v●…i ad profunditatem 〈◊〉 perventum est , 〈◊〉 platonicorum caligavit 〈◊〉 ▪ cypr. de sp. sanct. aug. de pr●…dest . cap. . & de doctr. christian. l. c. . vid. hieron . adve●…s . ●…ov ●… l. . coel. r●…d l. . cap . * math. . . act. . ▪ . rom. . . thess. ▪ ▪ ▪ n●… 〈◊〉 g●…rent 〈◊〉 de ▪ ●…ctorum . 〈◊〉 . apol. cap. . contr . marc. lib. . cap. . cyprian . lib. . ●…p . . percussi sunt caeci●…ate ut n●…c 〈◊〉 delicta n●…c plangant indignan●…is dei major ●…aecira . 〈◊〉 . de lapsis . vid. aug. qu. . ex math. & 〈◊〉 contra iulion . lib ▪ . clem. alex. 〈◊〉 . lib. . sta●…im ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lib. . cap. . vid. quaedam contra 〈◊〉 scicutiae 〈◊〉 apud ter●…ull . de anim l. cap. . contr . marcion . lib. ●… . cap. . aug. ep. & . & . & . 〈◊〉 . lib. . cap. ▪ de gen. ad li●… . lib. . cap. . & lib. . cap. . 〈◊〉 . in my sermon of the peace of the church . pag. . — . aqui●… . ●… . qu. ●… . ar●… . . c. * null●…m unquam in d●…sputationibus re●… de●…endit quam non probarit , null●…m oppugnavi●… quam non everterit . cic. de oratore . lib . non min●…ibus viribu●… contra iustitiam dicitur disser uisse , quam pridie pro iustitia dixe●…at ▪ qui●…til . de 〈◊〉 . lib : . cap. . plin. lib. . cap. . vid. qu●… adve . su●… 〈◊〉 disputat aristocles apud e●…seb . de p●…aepar . evang. l . c . † ad quam cu●…que sunt di●… 〈◊〉 , qu●…st ●…empestate de lapsi ad 〈◊〉 . ●…nquam ad saxum ad haerescunt . ci●… . acad ▪ q. l. . pli●… . ●… . ●… . ●…p . . lib. . ep . . notes for div a -e arist. phys . l. . † liv. l. . * ex bis ea●… impugnat , ex quibus constat . tertull. de baptis . c. ●… . uid 〈◊〉 pras●…r . c. . . sententias per primas com 〈◊〉 argumentis 〈◊〉 ▪ de 〈◊〉 . c. ●… . inde sumentes prasidia , quò pugnant . c. . omnia advers●… 〈◊〉 , de ipsà veritate construct●… sunt . apolog. c. . † 〈◊〉 . alex. in 〈◊〉 . * cic. orat. l. . i●… ir●…idendu oratoribus o 〈◊〉 summu●… . liv. l. . n●… aliter n●…ma simul●…ns sibi cum dea 〈◊〉 no●…nes congressus esse , apud 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . l. . vid. v●… . max. l. . c. . plut. in num●… . * scriptura●…li esse volumus quae nostra 〈◊〉 . aug. vid. qua advers●…●…nc curioscitatis 〈◊〉 p●…ssim occ●…rrunt apud tertull apol. c. ▪ . co●…tr . hermog . c. . ac praescr . c. . , , de r●…surrect c. . de sug . in per●…t . c. . de ●…dic . c. . simplicitatem s●… 〈◊〉 ec 〈◊〉 , ●…d v●…lunt significare , quod ipsi senti●… ▪ epiph. ad ioan . hier●…sol . 〈◊〉 martyr . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . alex. stro●… . l. . p. ●… . d. 〈◊〉 . g. c. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 ●…oe lest . l. . c. . de grate christi . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ clem. alex. ●…erom . . † viderint qui si●…lcum , & plato●…icum , & dial●…cticum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . de pr●…script . c. . * cit. lib. de univers●… . plat. in tim●…o ●…seb . de 〈◊〉 . ●…van . l. . c. ●… . theod. ser. . c●…m . alex ▪ str●…m . l. . q●… & re●… 〈◊〉 philosophis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( 〈◊〉 ●…e ▪ 〈◊〉 doctrin●… ) affirmat . e●…b lib. . c. . . tertull. de resu●…rect . 〈◊〉 . c. . niscio an bu●… etiam per●… illa . s●…n . 〈◊〉 . q●… . l. . c. plut. de pl●…cit . philos. l. . c. . laert. in 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . ●…stic . l. . c. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ▪ lib de 〈◊〉 & reminis . c. non tam a●…thoritas in disputando , quā rationis momenta quarēda s●…t , &c. ci●… . de nat. deor. l. . vid. aug. ep . . lib. de vn●…tat . eccli●… . cap. . c●…tra crescon . gramat . l. . c. . & 〈◊〉 . . cypr. l. . ep . . ad cacilium . vid. theodor. serm . . d●…●…ide & plat●…n . apud ●…seb . l. . c. . plut. lib. de audiend . po●…tit . vid. sen. p. . hooke●… lib. ●… . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . orat. . d●… r●… . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 arist. bible . l. . c. . tacit. u●…ritas nec mt●… est , 〈◊〉 illi 〈◊〉 . ●…ut illi 〈◊〉 . aug. confess . l. . c. . r●… . l. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈…〉 . vid. aug. de civ . dei. l. . c. . aug. de gen. ad li●… ▪ l. . c. . ●…t lib. de ve●… . relig. c. . de c●…v . dei. l. . c. . hier. ep. . ad anton. de modestia , & i●… c. . isai●… ▪ greg. moral . l. . c. . damas. de orth●…d . sid l. . c. . notes for div a -e tus●… ▪ q. l. ▪ arist. polit. l. . c. . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . aug. lib. qu●…●… . ●…x ve●… . 〈◊〉 . ●… . . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . arist. de part ▪ 〈◊〉 l. c. . vi●… 〈◊〉 . anatom . ●… . . c. , . 〈◊〉 in g 〈◊〉 . . disp . de 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . corp ▪ q. . quint. instit. l. . c. . 〈◊〉 . ●…hodig . l. . c. . l. ●… . ●… . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 arist. de interpre●… . c. . greg. n●…ss . de hom opisicio . c. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eu. ●…pid . hec. sutton ▪ ●…n c●…s . cap. . l●…c . l ●… . ●… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 s●…phocl . elec. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vid. 〈◊〉 . de eloq . l. . ●… . . v●…l . 〈◊〉 . l. . c. . pluta●… . l●…b . de praecept . gerend . reip. virg. 〈◊〉 . vid 〈◊〉 orat. 〈◊〉 l. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eliq . 〈◊〉 . . quint. l. . c. . & possim alibi . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . laer●… . 〈◊〉 zen. ●… . . v d. a. gell. l. . c. ●… . . eurip. hecub . plut. lib. de audit. a. gell. l. . c. . quint. l. . c. . — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sophot . aj●…x . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 s●…phocl . aj●…x . petulanti●… verborum co●… 〈◊〉 esse opposit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. a. gell. l. . c. . vid. plut. de 〈◊〉 . & 〈◊〉 . cl●…m . alex. padag . l. c. s●…uck . con●…iv . l. . c. . & . coel. rhodig . l. . c. . de 〈◊〉 . cle●… . al●…x padag . l. . c. . 〈◊〉 spec●…es qu●… plurima extra iustitu 〈◊〉 nostrum , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perjuria , 〈◊〉 dicta , 〈◊〉 , dicteria , ob●… , &c notes for div a -e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . a●…st ●…thic . l. . ●… . . ethic. l. . ignorantia & difficultas . aug. notes for div a -e arist. 〈◊〉 . l. . c. . lib. . cap. . ethic. l. . c. . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . zeno ▪ apud 〈◊〉 . l. . vnde stolel sapientes ; reges appellahant . ibid. ethic. l. . c. . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . l. ●… . c. ●… . l●…ert . i●… zen. pi●…t . de placit . 〈◊〉 . l. ●… . c. , . sen. ep. . a. g●…ll . l. . c. . vid. ●…useb . c●…sariens . de pr●…parat 〈◊〉 . lib. . & max. tyrium dis●… . . plut. advers . 〈◊〉 . tertul. apol. ●… . . & ●…bi no●… herald . aug. de ●…iv . 〈◊〉 . l. . c. , , . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . hom●…r . odyss . ●… . aug. de ●…iv . 〈◊〉 . l. . c. , l. . c. ●… ▪ ●…ab . de 〈◊〉 . c. . de co●…rept . & g●…at . c. . epist. . cap. . de gen. co●…tr . mani●…l ▪ l. . c . de 〈◊〉 . ad 〈◊〉 . l. . c. . de trin. l. . c. octoginta criumque . q. ●… . uid . e●…seb . de praepara●… . evang. l. . c. ●… . 〈◊〉 . alex. contra iul. l. ●… . hin●… et●…am quod saci●…nt contra voluntat●…m d●…i , non 〈◊〉 , visi voluntas de●… . aug. de prad . sanct. l. ●… . c . rom. . . math . . luke . . . peter . . rev. . . ●… 〈◊〉 . . heb. . . rom. . . ep●… . ●… . . eph●…s . . . . 〈◊〉 . . . ep●… ▪ . . . co●… . . . . tim. ▪ . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . vi●…ij a●…thor 〈◊〉 decipientis callidita●… & homini●… consentient is 〈◊〉 . au●… . de p●…ccat . orig. l. . ●… . 〈◊〉 . li●… . de 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 vin . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 ▪ l. . c. . 〈◊〉 . l. c. . 〈◊〉 l. . c. . man without passion, or, the wife stoick, according to the sentiments of seneca written originally in french, by ... anthony le grand ; englished by g.r. sage des stoiques. english le grand, antoine, d. . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing l estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english 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(eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) man without passion, or, the wife stoick, according to the sentiments of seneca written originally in french, by ... anthony le grand ; englished by g.r. sage des stoiques. english le grand, antoine, d. . g. r. [ ], , [ ] p. printed for c. harper and j. amery ..., london : . reproduction of original in cambridge university library. table of contents: p. 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tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng emotions. - tcp assigned for keying and markup - aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images - john pas sampled and proofread - john pas text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion man without passion : or , the wise stoick , according to the sentiments of seneca . written originally in french , by that great and learned philosopher , anthony le grand . englished by g. r. london , ●rinted for c. harper , and j. amery , and sold by them at the flower de luce , and at the peacock , both against st. dunstan's church in fleet-street . . the translator to the reader ▪ it is no small encouragement to read good books , and search out such company as may lead us to the knowledg of our selves , and the practice of vertue and goodness ; ( so much despised in this age ) since happy is the man that getteth ( that ) wisdom , and the man that obtaineth ( that ) understanding : the merchandize of it is better than the merchandize of silver , and the gain thereof than fine gold. she is more precious than rubies , and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her . i am much obliged to a learned divine ( whose company , by accident , i had for some hours , in passing to my house in the country ) for recommending to me a book so full of treasure and advantage ; having received much satisfaction , and ( i hope ) benefit , by the rational & plain instructions which abound in every section : leading to a discovery both delectable and salutary to the vertuous ; but increasing the guilt of men , that forsake the paths of vertue , to walk in the ways of the vicious ; who , though inwardly convinced , will not easily be brought to be publick approbators of such austere principles , which are evidently proved to be natural , by the practice of the heathen , strangers to the written law , and those powerful aids of grace , promised for asking . if nature herself can do so much , what may not be done if grace be called to her assistance . the author , in his excellent epistle dedicatory , * saith , that if profane things might be touched without offence to the sacred , and if there be no danger of incurring the censure of the faithful , by publishing the doctrine of the heathen , he thought it no matter of scruple to set forth the most difficult of their paradoxes ; and to bring a man to light , who , though he had not yet appeared to the world , was nevertheless the wonder of all ages . antiquity paid him reverence , but hardly believed he could ever have birth ; it gave him praises , but ●●nied him honors ; and , ste●fast in unbelief , left posterity in doubt , whether a man could be rendred sociable , that was not subsistible in nature . from whence it came to pass , that some modern philosophers placed him in the rank of fabulous things . the excess of his merit caused their incredulity : and fancying that he could never appear but in imagination , thy would afford him no other subsistance , but such as men assign to idle conceits and chimeras . the common people , who judg of things by outsides , who condemn prodigies because they comprehend them not ; and own nothing for possible , that is beyond their reach , might well be always of the same opinion , if they had not the great example of this wise stoick now on the throne , ( which men despaired to find in the retirement of philosophers ) to undeceive them . reader , thou shalt find in this treatise reason , and examples sufficient to convince thee of the truths therein asserted : howbeit thou must be put in mind , ( i find it in my self too true ) that a curious garden neglected is not only very troublesom to bring into good order , but to keep it well requireth a skilful and diligent hand . nature will be carefully attended and observed by him that will reap her fruits : heaven it self suffereth violence , and the violent enter it by force . all things yield to hard labor , heaven and earth do favour the vertuous , and hate the vicious man ; and he , in his right mind , is odious to himself . what peace , content and glory is it then to be vertuous ? what shame , self-horror and confusion to be vicious ? if it be not in our power to choose whether we will tell a lye , commit adulteries , murders , thefts , debaucheries , &c. we may fairly plead to our conscience and the judg , before whom all flesh must appear , that we could not avoid the commission of those crimes : our laws were also horribly unjust , which punish transgressors , parents ought not to correct their children , and good men are guilty of folly and vanity in giving others wholsom counsel ; and why should not men receive as much content and satisfaction from a vicious as from a vertuous action ? but if it be in our will to live vertuously , and we do not well employ this excellent talent of nature , it is but just it be taken from us , and to be denied the assistance of grace : thus we are left without excuse , and our destruction is of our selves : but if we do what we can , who shall doubt of gods acceptance ? the author's preface : though truth be common to all men , and her beauty create no jealousie ; though she be reverenced of the blind , as well as the clear-sighted , and depend as little on time to be made known , as upon the senses to make herself the beloved of many ; albeit she be infused into the minds of all mortals , and the change of climates alter not her nature , that she be as unvariable at rome as at athens ; * and that customs , which overtop our laws , be not able to abolish her maxims . yet experience teacheth that nothing is less known upon earth ; and that philosophy which ought to conduct us to her , hath disguised her , turning all her resemblances to an idol , and confounding her shadows with her substance , hath caused received opinions to pass for so many truthes . * the stoicks thought it no injustice to be singular , nor the severity of their doctrine an opponent to reason ; and though their sentiments were raised above the common pitch ; that they were not therefore less true : that vertue which they reverence in their wise stoick , seemed to them too just to dishonour their profession . they are not ashamed to defend a party that had all vertuous men on their side ; and they feared they might shew a doubt of his merit , if they made difficulty to engage with that school , which protected him . the peripateticks built their science on the multitude of their scholars ; and , leaning on the opinion of the people , they affirmed that what was generally received could not be faulty . they say , that zeno left them not , but out of caprice ; that his precepts differ not from theirs but in mode of speech ; and that he had never thought of erecting his particular school , but for the envy he bore to polemon , that filled his mouth with those proud words , which caused the separation 'twixt him and other philosophers . so that truth , which cannot be divided by any number of auditors , nor changed by custom of countries , is found unhappily shared between two different sects , and as if she had abandoned her own nature , she is in a manner constrained to countenance an error , because she sought not to be popular ; for the multitude of disciples is no infallible sign to authorize the peripatetick doctrine . a man is not blameable because his antagonist hath a bigger train then himself . the number of adherents is often a mark of error ; and , as some orators ( to their shame ) will defend the worst causes , the most ridiculous opinions have some approbators . truth is sufficiently victorious , when good men receive her ; the number of pretenders augment not her glory ; and , being disinteressed , she seeks not to please many . if the stoicks be not then cryed up , if they seem to be less in the right then their enemies , if they have not that credit that maketh their adversaries insolent , they must attribute this misfortune to the severity of their profession . that vertue which should gain them admiration , hath procured them envy ; and , as the rigor of the gospel hath rendred christians odious to turks and barbarians , the gravity of zeno's school hath made the stoicks despicable to other philosophers . but notwithstanding the strenuous endeavors of malice to discredit their sentiments , yet did they gain some followers ; the wisest of the antients have taken their part , and if we believe a historian of our age , pliny , tacitus , plautus and others profess no other doctrine but what they fetcht from their school . doth not tertullian maintain a great number of their paradoxes ? and our judgment must be grown weak , not to observe that they principally compose a great part of his works : clement of alexandria , is he not a stoick in all his writings ? doth not he render the mysteries of christianity familiar to us by their doctrine ? and doth he not lead the faithful to a vertuous life , by the discourse of these wise heathens ? * being therefore seconded by so many illustrious doctors , i thought i could not go astray by walking in the stoick paths ; and that i might boldly undertake to demonstrate , that a wise man may live without passions ; since those great men have forbid them . if i serve not my self of their arguments in this work , it is because i pretend not to write as a divine , but as a philosopher , and labour to prove my undertaking , rather by reason then authorities . i declare then with seneca , that reason is mans real good , and his only advantage : that the goods of the body , and of fortune , are not in his power , and that without searching for riches out of himself , he may find his happiness in his vertue . after this i descend to the description of passions in general , where i shew plain enough ( i think ) that they are not born with us , that sense and opinion are the principles ; that they are useless to vertue , and that man cannot serve himself of them without becoming their slave : then i come to the particulars , where , after having characterized them , i discover the weakness of pleasure , the ingratitude of desire , the injustice of fear , and the cowardise of sorrow . if i am somewhat prolix in the front of the several discourses , i judged it not needful to say any thing for my self in that point , lest my excuse should not turn to my advantage , by causing others to interpret that to be a perfection , which is the greatest of my defects . discourse i. the stoicks defence against passions . never was calumny more insolent then when she set upon the reputation of the stoicks , discrediting their doctrin , to diminish their innocence , and by a practice as malicious as self-ended , exhibited an information against vertue , that she might the better attack those who pleaded her cause . passions ( which are but the diseases of fools ) were the pretext : and seeing that those famous philosophers went about to suppress them , as the monsters of humane nature . forbiding the wise man ( they intended to represent ) any use of them , as concluding from their disorders did arise all our evils : this backbiteing enemy procured them foes , to take vengeance on those pretended injuries , and dealt with orators to perswade us , that passions were no less then perfections of the soul , making not only apologies but elogies for them ; and of these were formed a party who design'd their ruin . for hardly had this generous sect taken root , their weighty paradoxes made impressions upon the most solid minds , and the most clear sighted grown doubtful that truth might be on their side , seeing they lighted us to her with so much majesty ; but she was surrounded with as many adversaries as philosophers ; all who were not stoicks , became their enemies , and as that hero in the fable , they fought with monsters from their first original . the academia which might be called the mother of good manners was their first persecutor , using them as rebels because their principles were different , and fearing least the growth of these might be their overthrow , they laboured to make them appear to the judgments of men , as persons diseased in the spleen and hypocondrium every apes face in plato's school had a fling at them , all his scholers became masters of art in the mistery of calumny : and as they could not make an accomodation between these mens maximes and their own soft opinions , they represented them for vainglorious extravagancies , as full of guilt , as to them they seemed ridiculous . the lycaeum afforded them as few good offices as the academia , and aristotle by his fox-like war , laboured no less for their ruin then did pythagoras by his bare faced opposition . for although these philosphers agreed not in opinion , their principles different , the thoughts of the younger not agreeing with the tenets of the elder brother , yet may the former boast of routing his enemy by succouring his adversaries , defending his own cause by pleading for the arabes against the stoicks , and passing from the school to the study , imitated those polititians , that cunningly employ the weapons of the factious subject , to suppress the rebels of their government . for although this philosopher gained every where disciples ; drew princes to his school by the curiousness of his discourse , put athens to silence , and all her citizens into a disposition to erect his statues in the chief places of their city : yet did he judge that to affirm his doctrin it was needful to throw down that of his antagonists , the shadow of an enemy being ever dangerous in that state where novelty is affected ; who ever will be absolute in government seeks his own preservation by the rout , his victory by the death , and his safety in the sepulture of his adversaries . if plato were more just then his disciples , and for being more divine could judg more reasonably of their opinions , he was not more valiant . if he shewed less of passion at their defeat , he had not resolution enough either to follow or defend them ; for he that dives deep into the writings of this sublime philosopher , will see , that if he be their panegyrist , he is not of their party : if he reverence their vertue he despairs of ever reaching it . if he be inamoured with their perfections , he is an enemy to that severity that bears them company , and if he have conceived a high esteem of their doctrin , he wants courage to imbrace it , his theater confesses that so high a vertue draws his respect rather then his love , and that she is too severe in her philosophers to make her of the number of his beloved . some other modern philosophers , more zealous for their ruin , are not content with the credit of this acknowledgment , but much more vain then those whom they accuse of vanity , worship their own conceits , esteem their own judgments above their teachers , and as if all their words were oracles , they appeal from their master 's to the esteem of their own opinions , they stick not to say that pride is the soul of all stoick actions . that the praise they expected was the motive , and that the hopes they had to out live their funerals , was the moving cause . now , although i take part with the stoicks , and herein approve only the opinions that have some agreement with seneca's , i forbear not to value socrates , to be a friend to plato , and to honour truth from the lips of her adversaries . nor can i easily believe that these combating authors ever had it in design to blast the stoick reputation , and to purchase glory by their dishonour ; but i rather perswade my self that they preferred their own satisfaction before the truth , seeking to content their own humors rather then their conscience ; and governed by self love , that blinded them , they were less careful to be truths champions , than to appear eloquent disputants : or else ( which is most likely and doth most hide their infirmity ) as satyrical matters are more fertile than elogies , we are ingenious in slanders and tardy in praises , invectives are more pleasing to our minds than panegyricks , so it may be said that they contrived errors where with to charge the stoicks , made formal monsters to assault them , and mixing the art of poetry with the liberty of orators , they invented faults to delight themselves in the publication thereof . for what color was there , that the stoicks should be judged guilty for leaving the academia , and forsaking their masters party , to side with truth ? who can lawfully accuse them of insolence for courting of vertue themselves and procuring her the love and admiration of others ? is it no temerity to proceed against philosophers after the manner of rebels , for taking nature and reason to be their guides ? is it a crime to aspire unto goodness ? and can a man be condemned as unjust , because he endeavours to be more vertuous then his companions ? and yet this is the crime of the stoicks they are guilty because they desired to be better than others , their instructions are suspected , for being too austere : their life is odious for being too much retired , and their disciples at this day are accounted but asses , only because they would approach too near the perfections of angels . it 's true , that those , who discourse of principles from the consequences they produce , and who judg a cause by the number of the counsel that plead it , can hardly figure to themselves that zeno's school was once the most famous , seeing it hath yet brought forth only fantasmes : the felicity wherewith it fed her disciples hath produced but an imaginary happiness ; and the wise man , they promised us , so many ages past , hath only appeared in idaea . they add that this sect was surely ill grounded , since it could not preserve its innocence in its uprightness , since it found the period of its glory in the funerals of its authors , and was constrained to borrow the pen , of one of its disciples , to keep up the memory of it's ancient greatness . it 's true that if seneca's works had not recovered it , and if he had not given it by his eloquence that splender , which time and the malice of the envious ravisht ▪ from it , their precepts had been buried in silence , and their paradoxes had been to us unknown . we might have laboured at this day for the name of him that began it , and all historians had been to seek in teaching us to whom aristotle was obliged for the ground of his quarrels , whether to the modesty of zeno , or the confidence of the cynicks . these reproaches are not without some color of truth , and as those , who form them , are prejudiced by passion , it may be said of them , that they are as wise as these hot heads , that some times utter oracles and think it not . for although i am concerned for the honour of my teachers , and that it be more my advantage to speak after their manner , then to accomodate my self to the weakness of their enemies ; yet i confess with them that the wise man whom they place so near to their gods , and whom the academy sets so little distant from fabulous matters , hath not yet appeared but in their writings , and if some men have built him temples , none are yet found that have loaded his altars , but with wishes , for his birth . also that wise roman , unjustly condemned for comparing his vvise man with iupiter , and for uniting in his person the infirmities of a man with the powers of a god , doth not pretend so much to an original as a copy and he that examineth well the sense of his words , will confess that he proposeth only the idaea , and seeketh to conduct us to the object by the glass of representation . when fabius formes an orator , shews him the art of perswading , teaches the way to enamel his discourse , to swell his periods for the elevation of his meaner thoughts . when he disguiseth truth or untruth by ironie , causeth toombs or statues to speak by apostrophy , runs to pretended revelation for a crafty pratling , wherewith to deceive his auditors , calls for hyperbole to put a gloss upon vices or diminish true vertues ; and inventeth a hundred modes of speech to set out the flourish of his stile . it may be said that he hath attained the art of good expression , is become the father of rhetorick , brought her forth that taught him to speak , and displayed all the artifices of an accomplished orator . nevertheless it must be confest that this good speaker is not yet brought forth , and he that is so well described in his works hath neither yet mounted the pulpit , nor pleaded at the bar. who will then admire that this wise stoick hath not yet appeared , that his glories should forerun his birth ; that he should be at age before he be of years , and that he should become both the favorite and the admirer of vertue , before he could be acquainted with her ; seneca's honour is not small that he raised him to such a pitch as his rivals cannot look up to , without envy , and made him the shame of the peripatick , after he had been the wonder of the cynicks . a conquerour is not accounted rash for projecting designs which he could not bring to pass ; or for imploying heroick vertues in the gaining of an ordinary victory : valour would be disrobed of splendor , if limitted ; if her endeavours were restrained by the laws of prudence , and she always obliged to walk within the circle which morality hath prescribed her . how convincing soever this reason be , yet doth it not satisfy the most obstinate , and although the peripateticks agree with us , that it is not more impossible for seneca to bring forth his wise man , then for fabius or cicero to form a perfect orator , yet can they not comprehend how this wise man can be without passion ; that he should be a man and not pertake of his faults , and be ingaged in the body , and not feel it's infirmities . they affirm , as do their masters that these motions are natural to us , that it is not in our power to hinder their birth , that they are the seeds of vertue , and that as speech and gesture make the best parts of an orator , passions are the auxiliaries that nature hath given us to make us active and virtuous . that whilst the spirit shall be united to the body , whilst the angelical part shall share with the bestial , and the soul be constrained to negotiate with flesh and blood ; she will find disturbances . that these infirmities of the soul are the subject of her merit , and victories , and that it is necessary that man should fret and fear , rejoyce and be afflicted , if he will be just , and prudent , temperate and valiant ; for by their discourse vertue would be without employment if she had not these monsters to fight with , and this illustrious habitude that may be termed the life of wise mens actions , would languish if she had not these insurrections of the sensitive appetite to exercise her vertue but who sees not at first that this discourse striketh at the principles of morality , abaseth vertue to a dependance upon her slaves , and permitteth rebels to intrench upon her power by insinuating the utility of enemies , that destroy , under pretence of ayds and succours , and i am of socrates mind , and dare affirm with him that whilst the soul informs the fools head , she will be forced to conceive passions , and whilst she hath no higher apprehensions then the common people , she will be constrained to fear an ill accident , to form enterprizes , to hope well of them , desire wealth , and to regret its loss . but if she view all these objects with indifference , receive fortunes ill looks with as much constancy as her good offices . if without trouble she see death represented on the face of that body she animates , if she consider her own goods with the same eye that she beholds the wealth of her neighbour , if she care not for pain , and place her contentment in the possession of vertue , what service shall passions do her ? to what end shall she desire treasures since they make her not happy ? why fear evils since she owns not that there is any evil but vice , whose arrival she may prevent by the bare acts of her will ? why should death afright her , since she finds her advantage in it ? why should she call anger to the vengeance of an injury , since she slights it ? and why should she draw joy from fortunes smiles , since she places her happiness in a good conscience ? passions are then of no use to the wise , it is the weak and sensless that resent them , and if we consult those very people that have shewed them any countenance , they will confess with us , that they are rather friends to vice then vertue , more guilty then innocent , and more proper to foment then to allay the disorders of our soul. and yet will any believe that vertue must be idle unless she proclaim war against monsters ? and that this noble faculty must pine away , unless she fight to subject the rebellious , and to range the factious into reason ? she is , without doubt , too generous to derive her glory from the destruction of so weak enemies . she judges her self well enough employed , when forming the ornaments of our soul , and slighting the insolence of her slaves , she is busied about making us accomplished and vertuous : when the sun finisheth his course , when he withdraws from our horizon , that his absence causeth our nights , and seeking another part of the world to enlighten , he is not less powerful then when making our shadows to fly away , he guildeth the tops of our hills , and produces the enamel of our gardens and meddowes . but as he draws not his light from our darkness , it is hot in other parts though we feel it not ; and he is as absolute a monarch in the antipodes as in affrica . so vertue forms not her glory from our disorders , nor is she less active when she treats with her lovers then when she combats vice , and dissipateth passions . discourse ii. that it is mans happiness to live according to the law of nature . the oracles of old have so little coherence with their name and the events that followed them , are so different from their promises , that it may be doubted whether the divels that pronounced them , ever really aspired to divine revelations , whether they strove not to appear more malicious then powerful ; and whether they had it not as much in design to flatter the credulity of the supersticious , as to chastize the vanity of philosophers . for who so examineth well all their proceedings shall easily see that their words are void of sincerity : and as the fox that puts the changes upon hunters , they wind us into their uncertainties , and lead us into danger , when they make shew of carrying us from it . if they promise the husband-man a happy harvest , if they flatter conquerors with the rout of an enemy , if they assure lovers of a reward for their constancy , and if they engage the merchants to seek strange lands to gain estates , they are then as much impostures as when they instruct philosophers ; teach the proud to moderate their ambition , prescribe rules to the covetous to satisfy their avarice , and show men vertues which themselves cannot practice . in short all they reveal is faulty : and nothing hath yet departed from apollo's temple , which became not a lye or was a kin to impossibility . the pythians were the ruin of most monarchs , those oracles weakened the most proud empire of europe , and their predictions were more destructive to romes common wealth , then the revolt of her subjects , the faction of the seditious , the ambition of her generals , or the oppositions of her enemies for relying upon the fidelity of their words ; their captains neglected the advantages they usually had upon their adversaries , and taking the victory for granted , they disposed themselves more to triumph then to fight , to be masters of the field , then to contest for it . those philosophers that consulted them , for the conduct of their affairs succeeded no better then the chief commanders , and those who boasted of having peeped into all the secrets of nature , discovered the rules of policy and unfolded the paradoxes of morality ; were astonished to find themselves novices in the school of wisedom , and though they remembred all their instructions they could not comprehend their meaning , or give an assured interpretation to words that seemed to them at first so intelligible . but of so many maxims as proceeded from the mouth of these apes of the diety , they judged none more dark then that which commanded them to know themselves : these two words run them into despair : they saw all their knowledg limited by those few syllables , they readily confest their ignorance since they were strangers to themselves , and that they ceased to be philosophers whilst they had neglected to learn how they should become such . it 's true that physick came to succour the academia , and by an undertaking that surpast her strength , did endeavour to teach what had been long unknown ; for as if truth had lain hid in the entrailes of our body , and to discover its parts were a sufficient information of its defects and prefections , she invented the diffection of this wonderful fabrick , she found out the instrument to sound its sores ; she opened the veins to draw out the corruption of the blood : employed the lance to scale its vlcers , and to get the stone from the reins , she thought that by observing our diseases , the nature of our constitutions would be discovered , that the knowledg of the pains that beset us would be their cure , that learning would be attained by sight of our maladies : and it would be sufficient to know that the gout prickt the nerves , ophtalmy ( or inflammation ) fixt it self in the eyes , the quinsey swelled the throat ; the stone raged in the bladder , the colick rended the inward parts , and the feaver discharged its fury upon the radical moisture ; to discover from so many miseries the state of his condition . but finding these endeavours of none effect , that this was but the unfolding of the meanest part of man , that there was in this house of flesh a heavenly guest undiscovered , and that this body , so much considered , was but the instrument of his operations ; the design of thus knowing our selves she soon laid aside , the diseased whose sickness could be but half discovered , was given over and much ashamed that so much had been undertaken , she resolved that a knowledg which was dispaired of being found out by anatomy , should be turned over to the philosophers . but these insted of reflecting on our corporal disorders , to study the traffick held between the body and the mind , to consider that the more noble part of themselves was clogged with mire , that the chains by which they were united made their miseries common to both , and that contrary to natures order the slave did often invade the soveraignes right . they busied themselves in observing the advantages of the soul : they left the maid to court the mistress ; and wholy dazled with her perfections , they made her a temple , and therein placed their chiefest good . hence arose all the disputations that separated the philosophers , for each one exercised his reason upon this , according to his own apprehension , and built a felicity as himself fansied : and as they were ignorant of themselves they made war against each other , without knowing the ground of the quarrel they sought for happiness , but could not find it . they writ her praises , and knew not wherein she consisted , and if they did discover that she was grafted in some part within them , they knew neither the name nor the nature of it . epicurus who imagined that his soul was terrestrial , her nature not different from that of his body ; and though her operations were more excellent , yet that she proceeded from the same matter , sought amongst the beasts wherewith to render himself happy , and making an idol of his body , placed his felicity in voluptuousness . aristotle , who is politick in all his works , and so well knew how to reconcile philosophy to the humor of the monarchs of his time , did fancy that mans felicity was not separable from the goods of the body and of fortune : that his happiness was unperfect if he were not as healthy as powerful ; and that content consisted in friends to converse with , subjects to command , and children that were as well heires of our vertues , as of our estates . if it be no school treachery not to side with so learned a master , and if a man run not the hazard of being censured by his schollars for taking reasons part , and pleading senecas cause , i think it may be said such thoughts are too mean to form a disciple of christ , and that his words are too little generous to make an ordinary philosopher . for who shall imagin that things out of our power should make us happy ? and that fortune , which is but a chimera should dispense the favours which are the recompences of vertue . wherefore should we build our happiness upon riches ; since our minds are the magazines of true wealth , and why should we expect that from strangers , which we may bestow upon our selves ? nature is too liberal to deny us our desires : she is too noble to refuse us a gift which she preserves for us in the cabinet of our soul : and her guide is too faithful to carry us astray from that good to which we aspire . those that so much cry it down have not known the advantages of it : and had they studied to become as reasonable as eloquent , they would have confessed with us , that she is not less a teacher of the faithful then a soverain to the polititians , and the mistress of philosophers . vertue is her workmanship , born in her bosome , and so obedient a daughter , that she followes her counsels in all her actions . just men own her for their mother , they pay respect to her orders , when ever she commands ; and as her laws are descended from heaven , they fear to offend him that ruleth there , by hearkening to other counsels then hers . morality which boasteth of governing men in their actions of aiding them in their needs ; of defending them against evil accidents , of combating vice , of teaching us vertue , and of making continency and modesty familiar to us mortals , is useless to them that observe nature , all the precepts of morality have yet produced but paper vertues ; and if they have at any time formed a philosopher or a monarch , the success is more to be attributed to their own good inclinations then to the soundness of those maximes . there are some nations that avoid vice and follow vertue , without the help of this moral guide ; who having not instructed them , are yet so wise as to conquer their passions , root out voluptuousness , limit desire , resist sorrow , and despise riches . our country people may lawfully dispute the reward of constancy with the most cloudy browed philosophers , and i know not whether those disciples of nature do not inspire those famous doctors , with the love of temperance and justice . they are vertuous without art , they laugh at fortunes disgraces , they look for death without terror , and being perswaded that it is but a passage to life , they receive it contentedly . they endure poverty without complaint ; they practise vertue without violence , they bear sickness with patience , and without runing to morality for advice , they become patient , just and couragious . if their valour be not so splendid as that of conquerors , it is not therefore less real ; and if their sobriety be less published then that of our strictest monasticks ; it produceth not fewer chast and continent persons . and even st. austin , though an enemy to the vertues of the heathen , attributing ( with much heat ) all to grace , and seeming to grant nature nothing , that all might be owned to the assistance of jesus christ , is astonished that sin which brought all our senses into a cloud of error , darkened our minds , depraved our wills , and poured into our souls the seeds of all vice , could not choak the inclination we have for that which is good : that we should be naturally just after our fathers revolt , and guilty as we are , we should retain a love for vertue , and a hatred for her contrary . some of his disciples doubted his arguments , they could hardly comprehend how that which makes the fountain of our crimes , should be the original of our good deeds , and that , against those inclinations which he maintains , she often brings forth perfections instead of monsters . they admired that the first men that succeeded in adams sin , should become righteous by conversing with nature , that they should put laws in practice which they never read off , and by consulting this prudent mother , they should conceive a reverence for their creator , compassionate care of their subjects , and an affection for their equals . methinks it is not very hard to clear all these doubts , and without stumbling at the difficulties they lay down , it may suffice to propose them a dilemma , to shew them the truth by day light . for after adam's fall it must be , that either god forsook his works , or that he knew nature potent enough to do well , without the aid of written laws . if to augment the guilt of the first man ; or diminish the rigor of his punishment , you represent god infinitely offended ; who justly denies his assistance to adams descendants , be careful that you do not equally question both his providence and his mercy , and remember , that you cannot take from him the care of his creatures without offending his bounty . but if you believe , that nature is impotent in the exercises of vertue without particular grace . that man in the state of sin hath more inclination for vice , then vertue , that the one is natural to him and the other a stranger . where are those commandments that brought him back to his duty ? where are the written laws that decided his doubts ? where the promises and threats for reward of the righteous , and punishment of the wicked ? it must then be concluded , that nature is not so corrupted , but that we may draw some advantage from her . that though we be guilty , there remains something of our innocence , and , with a little labour to keep her in breath , we may avoid vice , practice vertue , and triumph over our passions . discourse iii. continuation of the same subject , and of the advantages of reason . though nature be the common mistress of philosophers , though the cynick sect , morose as they are , court her as well as the academia ; and may boast that plato was her lover and the wise roman her slave ; nevertheless they that carress her , set her out in such different shapes , and the formes they give her , are so disproportionable the one to the other , that it may be doubted whether they knew what they describe , or whether they do not imitate those jealous suitors that disguise the perfections of their beloved , to divert their rivals . some have thought her gentle and easy to be intreated , that much art was not needful to gain her ; that such as were faithful to her obtained her , and that a constancy of life was the way to possess her . they affirm that to keep her laws , we need but an even temper and that contrary to the humor of vicious men , that delight in change , it was enough to will and not to will the same thing . some others , a little more elevated , derive her original from heaven , they distinguish not her author and her self , and mistaking the effect for the cause , perswaded themselves , that following her documents , they might become the children , rather then the slaves of the gods whom they worshipped . they changed the name of god into that of nature , adored his power in his shaddow , and imagining the world to be eternal , they mixt the creator with the creature . these were the two opinions of the ancients , and consequently suspicious to those that esteem their good works but splendid sins , and the greatest part of their thoughts matters of crime . nevertheless they are not very far distant from the truth , and by a little light brought in to unmist them , they may easily pass for articles of our faith , and maximes of our religion . saint ambrose explains the former , to be of the number of the faithful , he wills us to have but one resolution . that our endeavours correspond with our first undertaking , and that we learn of the painters not to varnish without preservation of the first lineaments . the other seemeth so reasonable to them of that party , that they think it needs no authority to support it , and if clement of alexandria had not laid forth his eloquence to render it probable , it is sufficient to know that nature is a law more ancient then adam , that men reverence her decrees , that it is she that governs the universe , directs the inhabitants , and that all creatures found therein , own her for their soveraign , to judg that she merits not a meaner title then the daughter of the diety . if the novelty of these opinions put doubt upon the truth of them , if we could run the hazard of becoming infidels by favouring the sentiments of the heathen , yet should i not be afraid by embracing the doctrin of chryssippus , to stray from the common consent of divines or by reserving to nature her own benefits , think my self injurious to the religion i profess ; for placeing the felicity of man in his own nature , viz. his reason i concern my self in the glory of god and the honour of nature , and as i shew her to be so obedient to her father that she observes all his laws , i make it appear that reason is so submissive to her mother that she followes all her dictates . so that it may be said without offence to those grand doctors , that reason composeth mans real good , that his felicity consisteth in the use of it , and that to live happily , a man need but be conformable to the councels of reason . to apprehend this learning well , we must suppose ( with seneca ) a great difference between the reason of the wise , and the judgment of other men : for as this is but a bare opinion that ariseth from our flesh , which erects her empire in the senses , and hath no other considerations but what proceed from the meanest part of a man , she seeks nothing but sensuality , and prefers the desires thereof , before those of the soul , and as a grateful child , speaks ever well of the parent , opinion is a thing so much fixt to the earth , that her desires are limited there , and her thoughts are so little generous , that she seeks for no other goods but what our common sense hath set a price upon . the honour she pretends to , is fickle and vain , her resolutions uncertain , her counsels dark , and she passeth judgment expertè . if some times she have good intervals , and being hurried by the vanity of the objects which she pursueth , she wing her self towards heaven yet those agitations are so short and inconstant , that they last but a few moments . she is presently stagering , if what she desireth agree not with our flesh . she gives the title of error to our choicest thoughts , and pleasing her self with novelty , she soon rallies her counselers and makes them appeal from their first advices . but reason is the daughter of heaven , her extraction augments her excellence , and if some philosophers may be credited , she is a proportion of gods essence , an effusion of his being , and an expression of his greatness . trismegistus thought her formed of his substance , a branch of the diety , and as the sun shooteth forth his light without diminution of his power , god produced reason from himself without weakening his nature . these bold words , though they seem to destroy our faith , by which we know reason to be a part of our soul , produced by time , yet it cannot be denyed but that she is an image of the diety , having the characters of the almighties greatness and that ( without thinking it robbery ) she imitates those perfections that render him ( onely ) worthy of adoration . they also which could not comprehend the adorable mistery of the incarnation , who doubted whether the divine nature were compatible with ours , and whether he that was begotten from all eternity , could become man by time , made no difficulty of apprehending that god allied himself to our soul by reason , and that he communicated daily with our spirit by means of this his image . indeed this production seemeth to be his legitimate daughter , since she hath so much share in his glorious qualities , being heiress of his perfections , and bestowing upon our souls the same advantages which she hath received from her father . for besides that she representeth the plurality of his persons by the trinity of his powers , and sheweth us , without confusion , the unity of his nature in the division of the faculties whereof it is composed . reason makes her so unchangeable in goodness that she never forsakes her when once she hath owned her , repentance never succeeds her wishes , her counsels are as just as her designs : and she is assured she shall keep her innocence so long as all her thoughts please her , and that she consult her in all her undertakings . so that reason is the most excellent part of us , her glory maketh all our felicity : and a philosopher said truely , that if the spirit were the soul of the body , reason was the soul of our spirit . she is also the most majestical part of the soul : and if any philosophers were found so rash as to deprive her of that quality , they might boast of having destroyed her , by doing violence to themselves . those who value a man by the abundance of his treasures , who judg of his blood , by the long continued line of his ancestors , and place his good fortune in the beauty of his mannors , his gaudy apparel , and the number of his servants and slaves that surround him , do plainly discover that they never knew nature , and that they have been ignorant that these gifts which they so much prize , are favors that god for the most part vouchsafeth to his enemies . but to know well the excellencies of a man , & to proportion his esteem to his merit , he must be viewed in his shirt : strip him of all that splendor that dazles our eyes : consider him without those ornaments that set off his body , and press the plummet to the depth of him , to be informed whether reason hath preserved her priviledges in him , if she have not suffered her self to be abused by common opinion , if passions have not deceived her , and if she have not permitted forraign commodities to prejudice the productions of her own countrey , to cheat her subjects , and debauch her ministers . i acknowledg with our divines , that reason is weakened and conceiveth proud designs , that her lights are darkened by sin , and that she is subject to illusions since her revolt against god. i confess that the soul since her disobedience , is light in her undertakings , and embraceth falshood for truth , that she often sides with vice , and seldom takes part with vertue . to enlarge upon these defects , and to add to her own disorders the tyranny of her body , i do know that they agree not , that this earth plays the rebel against the sun that enlightens it , and that overwhelming the laws of nature , the mistress becomes often the captive of her slave : briefly , i know that in her operations she hath need of the organs of this tyrant , seeing with his eyes , hearing with his eares , judging of the diversity of tastes by his tongue , and that she would be condemned to perpetual ignorance , if these parties concerned undertook not to inform her of their knowledg of colors , of sounds , of the softness and hardness of objects ; how be it these disorders destroy not her good inclinations : she is undistracted in her misery , the advantages she had in her innocence are not lost by her fall ; and although she be thought blind , she can yet find out the truth in the midst of sensual illusions . she is so generous in all her enterprizes , that with a little care to redress her , she gives us fresh assurances of her fidelity : those remains of light that are yet in her since the state of innocence , put her in mind of her first glories ; and although she be guilty , she is yet righteous enough not to commit any thing unworthy of her birth . her disobedience caused her submission : she knows god after she hath offended him . she emplores his aid when she remembers her contempt of his commandments , and as she findeth her self bound to restore what she hath robbed him of , she obligeth the soul to acknowledg him her only soveraign . the messengers she sends abroad for forraign intelligence , cannot deceive her unless she please , their falshoods make her prudent , and if they be cunning enough to give her false informations , they are neither so powerful nor industrious as to perswade her into the belief of them . that prison that surrounds her cannot arrest her thoughts . the diseases that weaken her body , cannot touch her : and as if she held no commerce with the earth ; she remains at liberty in the midst of her fetters , and keeps her health in an infected habitation . if passions are able to obstruct her operations , if they can cool that fire that makes her act as a commander in chief , they are not able to put it out : and if sin have disfigured this living image of god , it hath not been able to deface her first lineaments , the impious perceive her in their debaucheries , if their mouth protect them , reason condemns them , if the night favour their crimes , the sun laies them open : and it 's but small comfort to have companions in sin , when they find every where a witness to accuse them , a judg to condemn them , and the executioner to punish them . reason is then man's only benefit : he must use it to climbe heaven , he must consult it to govern his life , and if he do but hearken unto her , he shall be vertuous , and tame the most insolent of his passions . discourse iv. that a wise mans happiness is not built on the goods of the body . some modern philosophers seem to wonder that the least of all causes , should , in our actions , be of the greatest use . that the end which subsisteth but in idaea , should be the motive of all our works ; and that that which hath so little share in all humane productions , should be so necessary a midwife to bring them forth . they build their opinions upon aristotles discourse , and as they learn of him , that that which hath no being must needs be barren , and that nothing can be drawn from it but what is imaginary , they conclude , that seeing the end is nothing in substance , and that its being depends on our intelects , it can conceive nought but chymera's , and bring forth nothing but conceited apparitions . others somewhat more ingenious , do say , that its subsistence is not so sensible as that of the matter ; that its manner of operation is different from that of the form , and efficient cause ; and that when this unites the soul with the body , and maketh them agree in one , the end doth but figure out idaea's ; and form imaginary resemblances . nevertheless convinced by the deductions of the first of philosophers , they avow that if the end be not the more noble of the four principles , she is how ever the most necessary : and that if she make less shew then her companions , she hath so much the ascendant of them , as to make their operations suitable to her designs . true it is that all our projects would be monstrous if our intentions prevented not their birth : and nature , that is so regular in her works , would commit nothing but debaucheries , if she directed them not to the end appointed by her maker ; as goodness is the most illustrious object of morality , and all that is there intreated of , tends to the acquisition thereof , we are not to wonder if all men seek her , if the guilty as well as the innocent court her : and if she often procure her self real lovers , by the bare appearance of goodness . when a tyrant oppresseth his people , ransacks his neighbours countries , depriveth the innocent of liberty , and to enlarge his frontiers , intrencheth upon those bounds where wise nature had limited his authority , policy which is always self interessed , excuseth all these disorders by pretext of a greater good : and the advantages she hopeth for , by weakning the subject , and ruining the enemy , seem considerable enough to justify such iniquities when a criminal is accused , and brought before the judg , finding himself engaged to shew innocency in the matters layed to his charge ; he borroweth a good countenance to excuse himself : and as there is no man so impious , as in his crime , purely to intend evil , he throweth his offence upon the sincerity of his intentions . goodness is so natural to man , that he cannot loose the love of her : and when ignorance hides her truth from him , or that opinion cheats him in the search of her , he forbears not to scuffle for her , and to catch at all her resemblances . the academia that made profession of understanding her essence , is of this an evident proof : for designing to form a felicity that should surpass all our desires , they invented happinesses , that have hitherto only bore the name . they would have it to consist in the health of the body , that pleasure should be its inseparable companion ; that fortitude should have no other employment , but to defend and preserve its healthful state , and that beauty , which is but the feminine ornament , was part of a wise mans felicity . as experience taught these disciples that health was a fountain that watered all the parts with her perfections , that its comliness consisted in a good intelligence with the elements ; and that all the favours of nature lost their splender in an infirm body , they set up health as the principle of their felicity : they averred that to live happily it was necessary to have a sound body ; and that all our other faculties were useless to us , when the visage had lost its color , and the members their strength , and when the food , that was for our nourishment , became offensive to the eyes . they compared health to a calm sea : they would have it , that as this favored the alcyons in laying their eggs , and in bringing forth their young ; the other assisted the conqueror in the obtaining of victories , princes in the conduct of their subjects , artificers in their labours , orators in their praises of vertue , and philosophers in outbraving their misfortunes . that it was health that charmed the disturbances of our life , and that we should be condemned as eternally miserable , if this did not sweeten the travels of our pilgrimage , and change part of our miseries into delights . if these philosophers had well studied the nature of man's chief happiness , and not ransact the flesh for matter wherewith to content the mind , i perswade my self , that in seeking to be happy , they would have put some difference between their own felicity and that of brute beasts : and that distinguishing their own condition from that of impious persons , they would have learnt that that which entertaineth vice , & nourisheth all our passions , could not be a principle of their felicity . for albeit that sin be familiar to us , that we bear the seeds thereof in our souls , and that to will the commission of it be sufficient to make us guilty . mean while it is never more dangerous then when it meets with aids to second it , then when it causeth our advantages to serve its designs , and when by the health of our body , it throws infection into our souls . there are some men that know not what vertue is till they become impotent in vice : sickness must disable them , to cure them of sin ; and they would never call to mind that hell may be one day the place of their punishment , if the enflaming feaver did not feed upon their intrails . others there are that owe their innocence to the absence of health : their method of life would be always criminal , if they were not sometimes infirm , and if some violent agitations did not overthrow their designs , they might be ranckt in the number of dissolute persons . as health is a benefit as frail as dangerous , god bestows it but on few , the men of great action have been ever much concerned : those high enterprizes that have disturbed the whole world , have afforded them little rest , the violent eruptions of their spirits , weakned the activity of their bodies : and if to be in health were to be happy , it might be concluded , that wise men are miserable the one half of their lives . beauty is but a result of health , and as subject to decay as the principle to alteration ; yet have we some philosophers that love her , that present her with praises , after vows of affection , and by a blindness , the more blamable for being voluntary , fancy her to be the second part of their felicity , they call her the mate of vertue , they describe her to be divinely animated , and will have it , that she doth not less influence the souls of wise men , then the imagination of fools . to hear them discourse , she is the delight of all our senses : and although she be the most pleasing object of our sight , yet is she the ravishment of our eares in the recital of her perfections . if we believe some heathen , the gods themselves , behold nothing here below more glorious then a face on which they have bestowed their favours , and men draw not more vanity from any thing what ever , then to find themselves inriched with a benefit , that appears without difficulty and may be enjoyed without envy . for she exerciseth so absolute a dominion upon humane conceit , that she converts all that behold her into lovers : the persecutors of the innocent , are friends to her : and more happy then vertue it self , she hath not yet found an enemy to make war against her , nor envious persons to bespatter her perfections . do but see her , and you love her : when you have once seen her , you cannot be her enemy : and her allurements are so potent , that she takes us from our selves , at her very first appearance to our eyes . but alas , who is there that may not easily discern that so fading a perfection cannot make us happy ? and that a benefit , which hath all its glory from our opinion , is too light to satisfy our desires , too little solid to stay our hopes , for what can there be shewed us upon earth , more frail then beauty ? or what is there more to be slighted then a face , whose charms are only in the eyes of them that are taken with it , and which oweth the greatest part of its dazling flashes , to the blindness of its adorers ? those famous beauties that have put the most ingenious of the poets into a sweat , and suck't so many praises from his pen , in excuse of the disorders which they have caused in the world , are not so much the works of nature as his witty inven●ions : and if the love he bare to corinna had not disturbed his mind , helena had been at this day without admirers , and penelope without gallants . to be in love , is to have sore eyes : and if passion did not often cajolle mens fancies , in favour of them they adore , it might be said that love had long since had no buisiness in the world , or that if he had made new conquests the fools head must have been the seat of the war. beauty is so frail , that she cannot be kept a few years , and what art soever women use to preserve her , they must resolve to become ugly , if they will grow old . that clearness which contributeth to her splendor , advanceth her ruin : the sun which gives her a dazling quality , disfigures her . time who is her guardian is her mortal enemy . the body that sustains her puts her to death , and if some times the strength of constitution prolong her ruin , it is but to reserve the spoils for the meanest of her maladies . to draw reason from the proud mistresses of beauty , that tyrannize the spirits of indiscreet men , and to be avenged of of the evils wherewith they afflict their martyrs , it is not needful to negotiate with death to cast pale colors into their faces , to employ the nails of a she rival to deface their most curious features , or that some strange accident should carry away the off-sets , which they value more then their lives : 〈◊〉 of an ague or feaver hath force enough to overthrow these charming adversaries ; their choicest complexions yeild to disordered seasons : the rose forsaketh their cheaks when it feels the cold ; and as there is no distemper that is not able to change their comeliness , there is not any beauty but may become the scorn of her slaves . but if sickness did not attack these beauties if the seasons were sufficiently constant not to alter their hew , and if the injurious air had any respect for their perfections , yet time , which periods empires , would not spare them ; in prolonging their days , he would diminish their beauty , and by a strange , but ordinary metamorphosis , he would change the proudest of natures works , into monkees and baboons . the sun when he sets , hath charms that attract the consideration of the curious : the pleasant raies which he sheddeth at bidding us good night , are our shepheards delights ; and astrologers observe that his withdrawing lights are not less beneficial to us , then when he apears again in our horizon , and rides triumphant over our heads . the latter season hath her pleasures : if she carry in commodities in one hand , she brings equal advantages in the other . she is the expectation of the husband-man , and the reward of the vine keeper ; and if she drive the people from the hills and open countrey , she fills their cellars with wines the garners with corn , and the barns with fruits of the harvest . but when women look towards age , when their hairs assume the colour of ashes : when wrinckles furrow their foreheads , when their eyes betake themselves to the faculty of casting pearls , when their cheeks incline to their chin and when those two milky mountains become one double bag full of blood , they are no more desired by men : then they seem horrible to their lovers ; they which courted them before now hate them , and as if all those lines in their foreheads , were so many marks of their indiscretion , they shun the sight of them , as of the most frightful monsters of nature . also those that understand well the nature of beauty , consider her as a remote advantage , and esteem the fruit more then the possession , they are content to see her on the faces of their beloved ; and knowing that her quality is too inconstant to make them happy , they give her freely up to those soft ladies , that seek only to be beautiful . but of all that made so great accompt of the benefits of the body . i meet with none less reasonable , then they who joyn them to voluptuousness , and who believed , that to live happily , it was necessary that pleasure should make the last perfection of their felicity . for although health be but an even temper of the body , though the concord which proceedeth from the mixture of the elements be a pure effect of their good understanding , and that the vigor of the body have its dependance on the heat and humidity of the blood , yet the good offices which health rendereth unto her land-lord are considerable enough to gain some reputation in the schools . for it is she that preserves his comliness , which accommodates the interests both of body and soul , which gives him strength to contest with the diseases that beset him , and in the opinion of aristotle , it is a treasure surpassing all the riches of the earth . if beauty have her frailties , if her empire last but few days , and if after she hath triumphed over a small number of slaves , she become the spoil of old age or of death , she hath perfections which procure her reverence , the reasonable creatures worship their creator in his image , vertue serves it self of her in communicating with her lovers , and as if the splendor of beauty augmented the majesty of vertue , she takes pleasure to employ her , when she acts the soveraign in the hearts of the sons of men. but pleasure is infamous , in what shape soever she be drest . she is ashamed to apear in publick ; they who protect , condemn her , they seek for darkness to possess her and knowing that she is as common to the beasts as to us ; they blame her in all their discourses she is of so malignant a humor that she turneth all our delights to remorses or punishments . she courteth not vertue but to corrupt or seduce her . if she give her slaves a smile , 't is but to deceive them , and more cruel then tyrants she paies respect to her enemies and gives death to them that are her sworn faithful servants . yet have we found philosophers who have pleaded for her , and forceing vertue to take her for a handmaid would afterwards perswade us that the mistress and this maid held a very good correspondence . epicurus , that sage professor of delights imagined that man was born to enjoy her . that pleasure ought to be the seasoning of all his actions , and that after he had paid his honors to vertue , it was lawful for him to aspire to the enjoyment of her slave . as he makes her to assist at her triumphals , he will have her the constant companion of her labours : in all her occupations he renders her assistance necessary , he is of opinion that fortitude it self would fail if the pleasure which she expects from the rout of an enemy , did not spirit her to battel : and that temperance would be little concerned for the regulation of our passions , if she were not spurred on as well by delight as utility . in fine he sayeth that pleasure to a wise man is no dishonorable companion , that the slave might be courted without wrong to her mistress ; and that the conversation of dissolute women was not more unsuitable to philosophers then zenos disciples amongst the academians . i know that seneca labours to justify this opinion in some part of his writings : and having arraigned the sence given it by them of the party , he forms the authors apology . as if he had been of intelligence with epicurus rather then with truth , he takes part with him against his adversaries , he asserteth that the pleasure whereof he treateth is modest , that her humor is not less austere then that of vertue , and that if she put on the pleasing ornament of a more cheerful countenance , it is but with less difficulty to gain her mistress a greater number of lovers . i should readily subscribe to this opinion , and it were sufficient to know that it proceeds from seneca , to receive it with reverence . but as most men abuse it , they run to his doctrin for a justification of their disorders ▪ and supported by his approbation they believe it is lawful for them to hunt after sensualities ; i find my self engaged to explain his meaning and to unfold to the disciples of epicurus , that seneca is not of their party , though some words have run from his pen to their advantage . if he give a favorable explication of their masters meaning , they owe it to the greatness of his civility : he gives him combat too often , to approve the most sordid of his opinions and when he shews them the weakness of pleasure , and the merit of vertue , he lets them sufficiently know that he employs all those discourses , but to perswade them to slight the maid that she who is her soveraign may receive their honors . as this is the only mistress to whom he paies reverence , he is concerned for her glory , and he would think it a betraying of his courage , if he should reconcile her to an enemy whom she dispiseth . he cannot suffer that she who is content in affliction , joyful in the midst of torments , who laughs at fortune and triumphs over those evil accidents that strike terror into the most stout hearted men , should become the consort of an effeminate , who grows pale at the sight of a misfortune , who sinks under the assaults of distempers , and who turneth the most pleasing delights of vertue into the severest of her own torments to shew us that they are unequal companions , he declares vertue to be eternal , and that pleasures last but for a moment , that the one is generous but the other sordid , that the one hath its residence in the soul , but the other in the body , that the one is insatiable , but the other always attended with content . in fine that to affect voluptuousness is to have lost our understanding , and to be more sensual then beasts in making the felicity of rational creatures to consist in pleasures . discourse v. that the goods of fortune cannot make a wise man happy . those that proportion their esteem of things by the rule of gain , and who judg of their value by the pleasure or credit which may arise from them , do wonder that in the stoick schools , vertue only should be valuable , and that honors and wealth which they deem so necessary to humane life , should in their discourses pass for indifferent matters ; they are so wilfully linckt to the interests of the flesh , that they study only to content that , and they would not be thought to be so ignorant of the nature of goodness , as to allow that title to any thing in which the body hath no share . for albeit that vertue have charms sufficient to enamour us , that her beauty invite us to court her , and that the felicity which she promiseth to all her lovers be considerable enough to stir up all men to be her suitors ; yet can they not resolve to seek her , her benefits seem to them not sufficiently splendid to engage their affections , they affect not a mistress whose portion will not set them out in the world , and dispising all the joys that attend the possession of goodness , they have recourse to the benefits of fortune , the better to establish their conceited happiness . morality that examiner general of the price of all things , which stateth so just an equality between our corporal advantages and the goods of fortune , seemeth to favor their conceits , when she promiscuosly confoundeth them with vertue , when she calleth the soveraign and her vassals by one and the same name , when she averreth all gods works to be perfect , and giving an earthly construction to the words of that famous man moses , she bestows the quality of goodness upon all that the creators bounty hath made . so that according to the fancy of these philosophers , the earth hath nothing which bears not the character of perfection in its forehead and if we except sin nature hath nothing , how hurtful soever to us but may be accounted good in their sense . but the stoick philosophy , which is as much elevated above that of aristotle , as the valor of women is beneath the courage of the hero's , alloweth nothing to be good but vertue , she cannot endure that that which countenanceth the vicious in sin , should be called by that name , and that we should serve our selves of that which may be imployed to destroy rather then to promote vertue . most rich men have made themselves guilty by wealth , and those famous criminals that at this day are the shame of their posterity , might have passed for innocent persons , if gold had not executed their wicked designs . if we believe the most learned of the apostles , riches are the root of all evil , and the ruin of all our vertues . it is mony that hath invented all our crimes , taught children to attempt upon the life of their parents , and to procure the death of them that brought them into the world. it was this that shewed the covetous to oppress the innocent , to ruin families , rob the church and make bare her alters . it was this that tempted friends to break their faith , and subjects to sport with princes heads . it was this that furnisht incontinent persons with matter to gratify thier lusts , to deprive women of their chastity , and their husbands of their lives , in fine wealth hath over turned kingdoms , confounded families , and ruined private men. but if gold were not the cause of all this confusion in the world , if innocence were not persecuted by the covetous , and if justice were not corruptible by an insatiable desire of wealth , it would still be fatal to mankind . and to oblige us to disesteem so dangerous a weapon it may suffice to know , that it faileth not either to destroy or to wound us . pride and fear are its inseperable companions : these passions which seem rather to be contrary then different , become agreed to plague the avaricious , and teach these terrestrial souls that they cannot be wealthy without being miserable . for if by means of their treasures , they design to make their houses vie with kings palaces if by gold they procure favor at court , if their enemies become their slaves , and if they share in all those delights that compose the felicities of the happy men of this world , they grow insolent , and extracting vanity from the magnificence of their buildings , the luxury of their aparrel , and the number of their attendants , they are not less injurious to their inferiors , then troublesome to their equals . but if a disgrace surprise them , if fortune cease to cajole them , and if experience teach them that wealth hath wings , that a tyrant may seize their estates , and that fortune , of whom they were borrowed may demand payment when she pleases , they tumble suddenly into fear , their lofty humor is changed into dejection they fear the future by the accidents already befallen them ; and their cares for preservation , swallow up all the delights which before filled them with vanity . riches are so dangerous to man , that he can hardly possess them without guilt , and their use is so seemingly necessary that he cannot easily resolve to quit them for fear of being miserable : his rest is incompatible with the possession of mony , he ceaseth to be satisfied when once he hath attained wealth , and as he knoweth that ambuscades are laid for that metle of which he hath formed his idol , he is no less afraid of the familiarity of his friends , then the power of princes , and the hatred of those that envy his prosperity . he suspects the embraces of her who is in his bosome , the reverend approches of his children puts him into doubts ; and knowing that gold hath caused children and wives to betray their love and obedience to husband and father , he feareth and stands upon his guard to both . they then that seek their content in abundance meet with self chastisements and convinced by the distractions that attend it , they are constrained to acknowledg with the stoicks that a forreign advantage , having no price but what our own fancy gives it , and which cannot be purchased without the loss of our inward peace or our innocence , is not capable of making us happy . as honor is vain , most commonly the recompence of vice , and inseparable from wealth , it must create no wonder if the effect be as empty as the cause , and if she loose that title so often as she forsaketh vertue , to adorn her enemy . the great pomp of princes is not an infallible token of their justice , their actions , which would merit punishment in the person of their subjects , are recorded to their praise ; and if success favor their enterprizes , they never fail of orators to magnify their wisedom turn their crimes into vertues , call their murders victories and their usurpations legitimate conquests . the fighting of a single duel , deserveth chastisement in a private gentleman ; but a king is never more esteemed , then when he sacks whole cities , plunders provinces , depopulates kingdoms , and converteth the most flourishing realms of the earth into enhabitable countries . but without busying my self about mans injustice , and to shew that honor is not always the price of good behaviour , and that she is oftner the portion of crime then the reward of goodness , it is enough to consider that even they which so highly extol her , do confess that she is but a forreign commodity , which is as little at our service as her companion wealth , and that as the one is a dependant of fortune , the other subsisteth in popular opinion , which caused some who had seen the vanity thereof to look out for more solid principles to build honor upon , and finding by experience that so fickle a judg would not be long in love with one and the same thing , they searched the ages past for pillars to support this light structure . observing then that envy raked not in the ashes of their ancestors , that their reputation was no more the babe of chance , that fortune bare reverence to their valor , and men to their memories , they boasted of their birth , they thought the grandeurs of the progenitors would render their off-spring illustrious , and being heires to their wealth they ought to partake in the glory of their actions . they sought for natural reasons to justify these conceits , they maintained that gentility had no less power upon its descendants then yeomandry , and that as the one bequeathed their ruddy complexions to their children ; and as some diseases were hereditary to whole families , the other might lay claim to the honors that had made their predecessors so famous upon earth . but surely these succeeded no better then the former , and if the principles from which they fetch their reasons seem to be less weak then the opinion of an interessed populace , the good they contend for is so little related to the felicity of man , that they cannot assign it the least share without being ignorant of nature . for besides , that nobility hath often her original from the enormity of her ancestors crimes , that those titles of which the sound carrieth so much ▪ awe are most commonly the recompence of homicides or adulteries , and that we find not many men arrived at dignities by law ul ways , nor without suffering a thousand affronts in the obtention : and that gold ( which is the principle of all court sins ) is at this day the creation of dukes , marquises , earles and barons . this advantage of being highly descended hath so little stability , that it often cometh not to the heirs , and causeth persons of quality to own themselves more obliged to fortune for their gentility then to them from whom they received life . we find some parents that cannot reckon any but plebeans among their children , these eagles have yet only brought forth daws ; and although the root were allied to kings and consuls , yet do they dispair that ever their branches will revive the memory of their grandeur . the laws which establish the heirs of families , and often force the father to make his first born master of his revenews , cannot give them the faculty of conveighing gentility to his successors . if nature permit him to love the son , she allows him not the transmission of his fathers honor ; this benefit is above the affection as well as out of the power of the parent : and in vain do some men pretend to the glory of their ancestors , since it was not in their power to bequeath it them . vertue is the only advantage of the nobility , it is she that puts a difference between them and the plough-man and in the judgment of plato , she is the only inheritance which they may purchase to themselves without obligation to fortune . all those pictures and figures that adorn the closets and gallaries of princes , all those combats they set forth with so much art , all those generals which are represented at the head of victorious armies , and all the pomp wherewith their triumphs are accompanied create no nobles : those great men did not live for our honor . death that terminated their conquests , hath preserved their praises , and it is vertue must make us their heirs before we lay claim to their honors : what ever hath preceded us is not ours , and we cannot lawfully covet a benefit which is the fruit of their valor , and not the testimonial of our own deserts . discourse vi. that vertue alone maketh a wise man happy . in my opinion seneca never shews less of partiality then when he condemneth his enemies , and without transgressing the law of nations , he becomes judg in his own cause , his sentences are so just , and his decrees so equitable that no appeal can lie without violation to truth . for as no man is willing to make the price of his peace the purchase of his happiness , and as they who aspire after felicity , aim at matters of real content , and not at bare appearances that seduce or corrupt us , it followeth that corporal advantages are too fickle to stay our desires , and that the favors of fortune are too inconstant or defective to satisfy our minds , that vertue only is the ultimate end , that it is she that is able to satiate our hopes , and that what ever is not of intelligence with her is not to be admitted into the composition of a permanent happiness . his principles are so manifest , and his arguments so solid , that they are not to be opposed without offending the justice of the cause he pleadeth for . every one desires to live happily , and makes it his business to arrive at a condition that may fully answer his hopes : but as men commonly suffer themselves to be surprized with vulgar errors , and as the maximes of the world become the rules of their actions ; we must not wonder if they never attain the felicity they erroniously hunt after , if for the most part they go astray from the proposed end , and if they tumble into calamity when they expected the height of happiness : they are always so unfortunate in their choice , as to pursue the shadow for the substance : they are deceived by the gay things that surround her and more unhappy then the poet 's tantalus , they stray from the good they seek , and fly from the felicity they pursue . for whereas the fairest fruit of a happy life , is the tranquillity of the mind , and a confidence which the sincerity of our conscience gives us , they aspire after goods that disturb her rest , they wish for honors that streighten their liberty , they desire riches which torment them , and by an inexcusable error they take the causes of their disquiet to be part of the effects of their greatest happiness . they do acknowledg that to be vertuous is sufficient to secure us from misery , that this excellent quality which distinguisheth wise men from fools , is their fortress against the accidents of fortune , and that they need but temperance to be triumphant over voluptuousness , and courage to oppose the mischances that assault them , yet can they not be perswaded that vertue alone can make them happy , they distrust her power as well as her merit , and affirm that a quality whose habitation is only in the soul , and hath no trading with the matter can make but the one half of a felicity . they will have the body satisfyed as well as the mind , that pleasures shall never be from it , that ease maintain its comlyness , that it equally share with the soul in joy , and would think themselves ignorant of the nature of their chief good , if they brought not into the composition the advantages of simonides , the delights of epicurus , and the honors of periander . to the stoicks it is not hard to oppose this opinion , and their reply is so rational , that to judg of the clearness of their cause and the weakness of their enemies it is sufficient to hear them speak , for as these excellent men own no good but vertue , and set no esteem but upon the operations of mans more noble part , they prize not the advantages that are forreign to him , the pomp and delights that attend them attract not their admiration , as they know that the flesh agrees not with the spirit , they would be ashamed to confer the priviledges of a soveraign upon a slave , that warreth against her . they assert with much reason , that it s not possible to be made happy by what we possess not , that a benefit to make a man happy , must be in his power , and that felicity depends so much on our will , that we may bestow it upon our selves when we please . for how can a man place his happiness in works which are not his own ? magnify himself in treasures that fortune may pull from him ? and draw vanity from honors , which subsist rather in them that pay , then in them to whom they are paid . but vertue , that 's within him , she is the only advantage he possesseth : and if we may use the words of senecas enemies to confirm this truth , she is the sole benefit that will not forsake him when he hath lost his children , when death hath ravisht his friends , when ruin hath defaced his pleasant seats and when oppression or tyranny hath seized his revenues . what ever belongs not to him is subject to loss ; philosophy allows nothing to be permanent but the possession of this ; that fortune which bruiseth scepters in the hands of kings , spares her empire , and this blind fantastick which takes pleasure in reducing the gods of the earth to the condition of the meanest bondmen , hath not yet bin able to make her miserable . but as she is the whole felicity of her lovers , she wills that they be satisfyed with her delights only , and permits them not by courting of outward appearances to turn those things , which may divert her love , into objects of their affections . to speak truely all the things which we love with so much passion , have nothing of certainty but the miseries that attend them : the toil and labours we undergo to obtain them , the fear of their loss after such troublesome acquisition , the cares we employ to secure them , the grief we resent when they are taken from us , are not so much the evidence of our wants , as of their own malignity , and it is not less easie to resolve , whether poverty with its incommodities , be more supportable then abundance , with all its inseparable torments . but vertue is a benefit as solid as delightful , her favors are above fortunes reach , and although she despise the wealth of the avaricious , the pride of the ambitious , and the pastimes of the incontinent , she doth nevertheless satisfy the desires of all her real suitors . she is their happiness as well as their glory ; the excellency of vertue needs no off-sets , and she is so jealous of her lovers , that she will not admit their addresses to any thing else when once they have chosen her for their mistress . for if she alone make not a wise man happy , and if any thing else can be found in nature to dispute her title and quality , who should resolve to love her , since a man must often put himself in great hazard to obtain her ? who would be faithful to her , since she rejects what we esteem , and cannot inrich us but by teaching us to be poor ? those alliances which are so essential to governments to preserve them in peace , and so useful to families to maintain their concord , would be burthensome to men if any doubt could be put upon that principle of vertue , the shepheards would drive her from their huts , as well as kings from their court , and remembring that friendships are often contracted by the loss of the goods of the body and of fortune , they would cast off a vertue that instead of procuring them benefits strips them naked ; strength would be odious to conquerors , she who hath so often trampled upon the subdued world might complain of the want of assistants , and though she be powerful enough to attract admirers , few would be encouraged to fight battels , or attack the enemy at the hazard of their lives and fortunes . gratitude would be vexatious , if we were to exercise it at the loss of our estates : and she who teacheth us that it is more glory to give then to receive , would cease to be our delight , if opinion could perswade us , that that which we return is part of the good deed , that we must beggar our selves to make satisfaction to the good offices of a friend , and that the same vertue which raised us that friend , is not sufficient to acknowledg his favors . but to stay no longer about raising the price of vertue above the goods of the body and of fortune , who sees not that man is too generous a creature to lodg his felicity in such perishable commodities , and which cannot establish him in their possession without making him the most unhappy of all created beings ? for if he believe that to live contented he must feed himself with delicate meats , and seek wherewith to awaken his dull appetite in the diversity of messes , the beasts that brouze the grass of the field will in nothing give way to him , they eat with more delight then he , they tast the superfluities of the earth with more pleasure , then do the gourmandizers of ragousts and admirable sauces , and that hunger which seldom forsakes them , makes all they eat delightful . if he will imagin that to be happy , he must swim in fleshly delights , and turn voluptuousness top-side-turvy to find matter wherewith to divert his sensualities the savage creatures have the advantage of him , and take in pleasure with more delight then he . the use they make of it is not seconded with repentance or shame , and as their desires are more regular then ours , they perform the acts of nature without weakning themselves , and beget their like , scarce loosing any of their own substance . but if man will place his glory in the perfections of his body , and will conclude that the benefit of his senses contributeth to his felicity , he will be constrained to acknowledg that the irrational creatures are therein more excellent then he . the sight is more peircing in eagles , the tast more faithful in monkies , the feeling more delicate in spiders , and the smell more certain in the vulture . to make judgment then of the dignity of a man , the way is not to enquire if he ransack sea and land to adorn his table , if his meats be curioussy cooked if he be served in gold and crystal , and if all the objects that knock at the doors of his senses afford him delight . if he can sum up princes for his kindred and alliances , if he be commander of divers countries , if he be as potent at court as powerful in his own house , and if his name be no less famous abroad then among his neighbours . but whether he be vertuous , whether the purity of his conscience be the effect of that chearfullness which appeareth in his countenance , and whether he hath not any affections but what are conformable to nature and reason . these two guides are so faithful that he cannot stray by following them , and that vertue which they lead us to , is of her self so rich that the possession of her is alone sufficient to vie advantages with the nobility , empires with monarchs , wealth with avaricious persons , and pleasures with voluptuous men. for it is she that draws us towards our maker , that restores us to our ancient dignities , that leads to the principle from whence we proceeded , and that after we have learned to be his imitators here upon earth , will make us his friends in heaven . discourse vii . that the moral vertues of the heathen are not criminal . nothing is more natural to man then the desire of knowledg , it is the first passion that occupies his soul ; fooles are attainted with it as well as the wise , and he that should go about to cure all that are sick of this disease , would reduce them to a worse condition then they that are deaf and blind . for it is knowledg that teacheth men arts and sciences , that entertaineth learned men with the miracles of nature , that disabuseth the ignorant of their errors , and stirs up philosophers to the discovery of truths which they knew not . but she is so unsteady and her humor hath so little coherence with the objects she hunts after , that she makes game of all she meets with and she is so violent in her pursuits , that no man hath yet been seen that was able to resist her fury . it is a worm that gnaweth in every ones brain , an itch that ( without respect of persons ) tormenteth both the wicked and the vertuous , a sickness that unites joy and sorrow in the person of them that have it , and he that knoweth her nature will confess , that nothing is more common in the world then this distemper , we find nothing more unjust , nothing more insatiable : she undertakes voiages and runs over all the earth , to find out some novelty , she takes upon her to know the secrets of nature , and to unfold by what artifice this common mother bringeth forth gold in the indies , by what vertue she hardeneth water into crystal , and converts the dew of heaven into pearles , by what means the adamant attracts the needle with one side , and expulseth with the other , and that being bruised in peices it preserveth a quadrangular figure , and hath on each side a different vertue . she ascends the heavens without the mediation of evil spirits , there she examines how the sun forms the measure of time , how he divides the seasons ▪ and proportioneth his circular motions ; she contriveth perspectives to discern his magnitude , she draws him to a descent that she may look into the matter whereof he is made , and without fear of being singed with his heat , or blinded with his brightness , she climbeth his globe to judg of his nature . we find men now adays so curious that they reverse the method of time to satisfy their desire of novelties , they rise by night to lay wait for the moon in her course , her borrowed light is not without charms powerful enough to attract their affections : and though the poets make her the mistress of rest , she becomes often the tormentor of astrologers and curious persons ; they descry clouds in her , which ( if you believe these ingenious artists ) are nothing less then new worlds , wherein they describe cities , provinces , and governments , and without giving themselves the trouble of telling us which of the apostles preached the gospel there , whether the roman pontiff be head of the church in those worlds , whether the spirit and water compose their baptism as they do ours , they multiply temples and form a communion of our saints with those planetary inhabitants . this diligent curiosity admitteth of some pardon , because she hurts only such as give way to her surprisals , they are tormented by the same vanity by which they were tempted and it may be said that the error and blindness that attend it , are the cure of an evil of which they were the cause . but we find some men , who daring to act the petty gods , are curious in nothing but the discovery of other mens faults , all their study tends to the sounding of their neighbours conscience , they descend to the depth of their souls to peep into their designs , and prouder then the evil angels , they prie into the secrets of that court whereof god hath reserved the knowledg to himself alone , although they are ignorant themselves yet will they judg of other mens intentions , notwithstanding they are slaves to their own passions , their reasons must be admitted for the pure doctrin of the gospel , and setting up a heathenish vertue of their own inventing , they unworthily confound it with the crimes and sins of christians . if i am no molinist , if i confess that i understand not that competent or midway knowledg by him found out , if i boldly assert the uncontrolable freedom of the creator in all his operations , if i own no other knowledg in him but what had the ancient divines for approbators , if i cannot endure that his power should be rendred weak or imperfect , and that it should be made dependant on second causes in its working , yet do i not therefore approve all the doctrin of his adversaries : they are too rigid in most of their opinions to invite me into their party ; and how much soever they are flattered in the justice of their cause , let them protest that they undertake but to discover the confusion that sin hath wrought man into , and the necessity of the grace of jesus christ to restore him : they seem to me too severe when they at once pass the sentence of condemnation upon all good works of the heathen , and allow none to be upright or sincere but such as proceed from faith. for if vertue be nothing more then a habitude acquired by multiplied acts of reason , and if reason be a law of god imprinted in our hearts , who shall believe that man becometh guilty in following this guid ? that he merits chastisements by living according to his instructions ? & that vertue , who is always innocent , should be nothing different from vice , for not being elevated by faith , and justified by the grace of the son of god ? sin may have ravisht our original righteousness , but it hath not been able to rob us of natural purity ; if it were potent enough to corrupt our nature , it was not sufficiently powerful to destroy it ; and if he that committed the first crime were absolutely able to bring all his children into that revolt , he may boast of not having made so many guilty as unhappy successors . the sickness they have contracted , hinders not the performance of healthy actions , we may exercise vertue though we be fallen from our excellency , we may love god , although we be born his enemies , and as birds do walk though their wings be clipt , we may perform actions that are good according to nature , although not meritorious without grace . the example of the patriarcks is of this a convincing proof , their life was pleasing to god , although they were guilty of their fathers crime , they became his friends without any reconciliation , they eschewed evil before the sacraments had healed their wounds , and to speak after the language of the great doctor of the gentiles , they observed his commands before they knew any of his laws . to speak properly all christian instructions are but so many commentaries upon their lives , which being written for our learning , we become vertuous by imitating their actions : if holy men have taught us piety , it hath been by consulting these primitive doctors , and even in st. austins opinion , that vertue which renders to every one his due is not so much the effect of opinion , as the product of nature and conscience , we can tell what vertue is before we are taught it , and we have an abhorrance of vice though we never saw its deformities . when god almighty commanded man the observance of his laws , he made use of termes so plainly simple that the casuists are at their arts end about the explication thereof , it was enough to give us the knowledg of his will without adding the reason of it , he knew it to be a sufficient justification of his decrees against the transgressor to say thou shalt not kill , and thou shalt not commit adultery , for the law of nature prohibiting impudicity and homicide , he employs but few words in the publication of the two most important of his commandments . when cain had persued the criminal tract of his fathers offence , when he had committed the first murder upon his brothers person and when passion had armed him with weapons to bereave him of life , whom by the law of nature he was bound to love and cherish , the scripture observes that he was both witness and judg against himself , that he condemned himself to death before he was accused , his crime became both his punishment and tormentor : and without having yet received any written law forbidding parricide , he confesseth that his sin was too great to be pardoned . as the law of nature is not one thing in those first men , and another in the heathen ; as both one and the other are governed by the same principles , and as conscience is a faithful indifferent judg in both , they condemn sin and approve its contrary , they are dejected after a crime committed , and rejoyce in well doing , they know that the one estrangeth them from god , and that by the other they draw nigh unto him , and without having any other guide then reason , they know by the end proposed to themselves the innocence or guilt of their actions . if then all their vertues were false , and if all their good works were real sins , i do not see why they should not indifferently afflict themselves in the commission of vice and the practising of vertue , why they should not complain that being created free agents , they are constrained to commit offences against their will , that they are made guilty for observing the law of nature , and that they are condemned to everlasting punishments for succouring their neighbor , serving their country , for taking armes in defence of a good cause , and putting their lives in hazard to prevent the ravishing of women , the robbing of the fatherless , and the oppression of the innocent . this doctrin seemeth so rational to them that maintain it , that they judg it needless to borrow any arguments from divines to make out the truth of it , and if the council of trent had not censured the contrary opinion , it were more then sufficient to shew that jesus christ delivers it to his apostles , and gives it authority by his gospel , that all christians might be obliged to imbrace it . when he teacheth his disciples how to walk amongst the pharisees , he exhorts them to follow their instructions : though he condemn their practice , he directs them to esteem their doctrin , though he forbid : them the imitation of their manners , and invites them to reverence their precepts , though he charge their actions with a thousand reproaches . as we commend the vertue of an enemy , and prefer a publique good above a private hatred , he distinguisheth their good works from their sins , he approves their vertues and detests their vices , and putting a difference between the works of god , and the practice of vicious men , he commends the words that proceed from their mouth , and blames the hidden malice of their hearts , and the scandal which they caused unto others . this truth is so constant , that to consult the ancient fathers , is sufficient to confirm her adherents in their belief ; and though st. austin seem to be of a different sentiment , yet in many parts of his writings he forbeareth not to approve it . he ascribes the flourishing of rome's common wealth to the justice of her laws ; he asserts that the uprightness of her subjects had subdued more enemies then the courage of her commanders , that they possest the most famous empire of the world as the reward of their vertues ; and that though god would not make them the companions of angels in heaven , because they were infidels , yet he gave them the command of the whole earth , because they were vertuous . when he writes to marcellus , he declares himself openly to be of their party : he delights in representing to him the price of civil vertues , since they attract such glorious rewards : he assures us they are not criminal , since they may be admitted to honors in heaven ; and that being christianized by the powerful excellency of faith , they translate their lovers to the franchisement of that city whose soveraign is truth , whose law is love , and whose duration is eternity . these two places discover his thoughts ; and who ever shall well examine his words will confess that he mixeth the vertues of the romans with their sins , because they had no regard to the glory of god , and that they proposed ends to themselves , which for the most part were faulty and unlawful . i know that in his opinion , that act cannot be holy which is not accompanied with charity ; that all the good inclinations we have for commendable things cannot make us truely vertuous , if they be not informed by grace , and that nature and reason must implore the celestial succours , if they will perform works worthy of eternal glory . nevertheless i cannot conceive how that all who walk not in these steps should become guilty , that a man should be accounted disobedient to his maker without transgressing his laws , and that without being accused by his own coscience , he should justly be condemned to those torments that are only the portion of sinners and wicked men . if all these reasons be not prevalent enough to convince a jansenist he will at least hereby be obliged to acknowledg that it is not so much an error as an incivility , not to be of his opinion , and that that which hath been examined by the most skilful divines , approved by the most famous academia's of europe , and authorized by a councel , may be written without danger , and maintained without fear of being charged as factious . the second treatise of the nature of passions in general ; discourse i. what the nature of passions is , and in what faculty of the soul they reside . that self love which caused so strange a disorder among the angels in heaven , which separated the first man from his creator in the terrestrial paradice , and which taught his descendants to aspire to the soveraignty of their fellow creatures in other parts of the world , appeared in nothing more artificial then in the dividing of philosophers , in distinguishing their opinions and wills , and that after they had all retained one and the same inclination ; for truth caused them to betake themselves to divers ways to find her out . if truth be a common mistress if she yeild to all that court her , and if as the sun , she enlighten all that come into the world , yet self love cannot indure that all men should seek her by one and the same method , it debaucheth the minds of its suitors , and begets quarrels amongst them about her nature , and though it be not less blind then unjust in its conclusions it permits us not to follow any other advices for the discovery of truth , then our own . aristotle had never abandoned his masters party , if he had not been preoccupied by this passion ; and all those philosophers which at this day toil to prove his doctrin , would be silent , or would speak but one and the same language , if this monster ( self love ) had not invented specious terms to explain his meaning and establish his fond imaginations . all those sects that are daily brooded , are but sprouts of that self complaisance , and the gospel which containeth so many misteries under the plain simplicity of words , would at this day have none but poets for interpreters , if pride had not corrupted some male-contents , and put the pen into the hand of some ( i know not what to call them ) ignorant men , to mangle and disguise the sense thereof . we delight so much in self opinion that no mans judgment is valuable but ours , and truth it self is unpleasant to us even in the mouth of our friends , if it be not cloathed after our fashion , and obstinated by passion that blinds us , we admire only our own conceipts , and will esteem no opinions but our own . few or none are willing to be accompted , ignorant every one aspires to the contrary quality , we strive rather to be knowing then vertuous ; and socrates that spent his life in observing the different inclinations of men had some reason to say , that if in a multitude we should only call for the artists by the calling they profest , none would appear but those of that profession , but that if the judicious and prudent should be summoned to come forth , there would be none of the assembly but would hold up his head . self conceipt is so natural to man , that it may be said to be inseparable . this quality is the principle of all his actions ; he always contemplates himself with great delight , and if interest oblige him sometimes to reflect on the vertue of his neighbour with a disguised admiration , we are assured that he considereth his own parts with perfect satisfaction . this truth appeareth evidently in the present subject every one defines the faculties of the soul according to his fancy . all those different idea's thereof formed in the writings of modern authors , are no less the proofs of the diversity of their designs , then of their opinions ; and that matter which hath been most examined in the schools is at this day the most intricate and unknown . some have thought that passion was not so much the act of the soul as of the sensitive appetite , that she was partaker with the cause from whence she proceeded , that she stirred it not up , and that she was not at mans command but so far as the acts that occasioned it depended upon his will. to confirm this their opinion , they confounded voluptuousness with the operations of the angelical matter ; they say , that the one works the other to perfection ; that pleasure was always the companion of her labors ; and that passions being ever busied in the disturbance of her rest , could not properly be comprized under the notion of action . others , whom i esteem not more plausible , but because they teach a doctrin more common , describe passion by the effects she produceth : they attribute the alterations of countenance in them that are under her subjection , to her violent proceedings ; they will have it that the soul is not less agitated when she fears and is afflicted , then when she loves and hopeth , and that men make not a different construction of one and the same thing , and one man of another but because they are animated by different affections . in fine , they conclude passion to be nothing else but an emotion of the sensitive appetite , excited by the apprehension of good or evil which chiefely busieth it self in disturbing the body contrary to the laws of nature . if this definition be common , if all philosophers allow it , and if all aristotles disciples engage to defend the principles thereof , yet methinketh it may be rejected without offence to its authority , and it ought not to be thought strange , that being of the roman philosophers judgment , i abandon the grecians party , to maintain the opinion of the stoicks . for as i hold with them , that passions are not natural to man , that sense and opinion are the causes thereof , and that their abode is rather in the will then in the imagination , i must of necessity forsake his doctrin and ( against my humor betray my own sentiments ) to continue faithful to the most puissant enemy of that only philosopher that in other things i honor . passion then in stoick terms , is nothing else but a violent motion of the soul against reason , caused by the apprehension of good or evil contrary to the inclination of nature . i say that it is a motion that violently assaults our reason ; for although passion perform its last act in the will , although it have its conception in the reasonable faculty , and may in some sort be called by her mothers name , yet for that the principle is corrupted by opinion , and this soveraign seduced by her unfaithful senses , the school of the stoicks have commanded her to forgo that quality , and to bear the name of natures enemy , and reasons bastard . she works a change which is against natures laws : for as this common mother is constant in all her actions , her productions regular , and brings forth nothing but what is as perfect as useful to her children , so she abhors all debaucheries , she rejects all those motions that war against her inclinations , and she cannot endure to have succors assigned her that deprave her workmanship , and conspire her disorder or her ruin . as this definition is different from that of other philosophers , and as the fidelity that i have vowed to the stoicks obligeth me to abandon their opinions , it must not be wondered if i consent not to them in the cause from whence passions do arise , and if , after i have discovered them to be of no use to vertue , i consider them as the depravations of the mind and the will. for if the residence of passions as most modern philosophers will have it , be in the meaner part of the soul , and that the imagination only informed by the species she draws from the senses , stirs up the sensitive appetite ; i do not see how a man could afflict himself for the loss of his honors , and inrage himself for the ruin of a benefit which the senses perceive not ; and that before passion can make a man take resolutions of vengeance his mind must represent the matter to him as infamous , and the will abhor it as injurious to his person . there is such a subordination in the faculties of the soul , that the inferiors seldom or never stir but according to the motion of the superiors : and as souldiers obey their commanders , or as the higher sphear is followed by all them that are subalterne ; so reason and the will engage the sensitive appetite to side with them , and cause it to embrace all as good , which they approve , and to reject all as evil which they condemn . so then we must conclude with seneca that passions reside in the will , it is there that all the operations of the soul are perfected ; and the same powers which form our sins & crimes , comprehend our affections and desires . for by the principles of this learned philosopher , our passions are not bare motions that arise from the appearance of good or evil which receive their succors from the imagination , and finally stop in the inferior part of the soul ; but productions of the mind , sentiments of the rational faculty , and , to use the stoick language , opinions that deprave the mind and corrupt the will , perswading them to be approvers of their advices , and to follow their irregular motions . also st. austin , who i look upon in this matter as senecas warrant , intermixeth our passions with our rational appetite , he giveth but one name to the cause and to the effects , and well knowing that we have no passion but what is in the will , he assures us that the most dangerous motions of the soul , are but so many affections which draw their good or their evil from the objects to which they have respect , our desire , according to the words of this great doctor , is nothing but a will to an absent good which we pursue with much earnestness , our hope is but a will to a good that flatters us and which we impatiently expect , and fear and sadness are but wills , of which the one opposeth the evil that threatens us , and the other the mischief which we already feel , contrary to our good liking . so that the matter must get into the will before a man can be said to be in passion ; and pleasure could never seize our wishes if the will were not consenting ; neither would our desires make such extravagant fallies out of the fort , if the will did not bear them company in the pursuit of the benefits we hunt after . upon the authority of this great man , i think it can be no error to declare for the stoick party ; and their enemies are obliged to allow their sentiments unless they will contradict the opinion of the most solid and most enlightened of the fathers . discourse ii. of the number of passions according to the stoicks . let monarchs be absolute in their territories , let their orders in council pass for laws ; and let the publication of their edicts be sufficient to require obedience in the subjects , let flattery perswade them that they are the gods of the world , that they hold their power from no earthly soveraign ; and that the dominion they exercise over the people is nothing less then the mark of their independance ; yet those that understand the nature of goverment consider them rather as slaves then free-men , they call them the tutors , not masters of their subjects , and demonstrate , that as private interest rules the fathers of families , that which we call publick , commands kings and potentates . for indeed , be it that they treat with their neighbours , be it that they assist their allies , be it that they govern peacably their conquests , be it that they defend them that implore their protection , and take up armes to relieve the oppressed from tyranny , and the innocent from distress , self interest is the end of their labors as well as the aime of their designs , and when they prefer the good of their subjects or the preservation of their neighbours before their own private contentment , it may be said that the same is but a tendency to the encrease of their empire , or at least to the securing of their own kingdoms . that which is practized at court is but the constant exercise of the schools ; and cicero's testimony of philosophical affaires is significant , when he declares that to govern well , kings should become philosophers or philosophers kings . for if these be truth's combatants , if they lay new foundations , if they form new arguments wherewith to establish the most probable methods , if they return to the principles which they had once forsaken , and if by a liberty permitted in the schools , they invent new explications to disguise the sense of their adversaries meaning ; they are rather governed by interest then the incitements of justice , they seek not so much to instruct the world as to be admired of men , they labor more to glorifie their own fame , then to edifie their disciples . when they declaim against the reasons that support the doctrin of their predecessors , it is that they hope for reputation from the novelty of their opinions , or heighten their own credit by vanquishing the sentiments of their teachers and antagonists . this truth appears evident in the subject of passions , and if we examin well the design of those that describe them , it must be owned that they are divided among themselves touching their number : those that find it their advantage to engage with aristotle , and rather to leane upon his authority , then upon the strength of his arguments endeavor to perswade us that they are in number eleven , that nothing is to be added to or diminished from that division , and that they are not to be multiplyed without mixture of superior species , nor retrencht without wrong to their diversity . to ground their opinion , they seperate the soul into two faculties , whereof one draws her name from desire , and the other from anger . in the first they place those passions that are least violent , and in the other them that are never at rest . for they will have it that the six contained in the concupiscible appetite are divided , that some are but little employed and others active , that some are sordid , and others generous , that some wander abroad , and the other satisfied with their domestick entertainments . in fine they tell you that love follows the inclination of the body which tendeth to his center , that desire is the moveing orbe , and that joy represents him a place of content and rest , that hatred resembles that aversion which he discovers , when he is placed in an uneasy condition ; that flight imitates those earnest endeavors used to get out of trouble and danger , and that sadness respects the dislike that appears upon a violent detention therein . but they inform us that the five passions that are placed in the irascible powers , are all impetuous , resembling the heavens , ever in motion , that they create combats and scorn to retreat , and that as they look upon good and evil as difficult , they can delight in nothing but agitation , nor love any thing less then rest . the truth is dispair is wretched , anger is out rageous , hope is negligent of the things she possesseth in aspireing to what she expects , fear runs to meet the evil , afflicts it self before it come , and audacity finds its divertisement in peril and dangers . they divide all these different qualities , and establish their number according to the diversity of their objects . for say they when the soul moves she has generally good or evil for her object , and that begets love or hatred : she either considereth them particularly as absent , and that 's desire or present , and that 's joy or pleasure . when the evil she hates , makes her already feel his incommodities , they commonly call it dolor , or else vexation : and when he 's absent and though remote enough yet producing horror , they change his name into that of flight . then if good be her object and she find it uneasie to acquire , and that maugre all the difficulties that surround it , she promise her self the possession , they name it hope , when she sincks under the evils that attack her , they give it a contrary title , and call it despaire . when the mischief she judgeth hard to repulse , torments her , and when she bustles to overcome it , they call it anger ; and when it barely threatens and the soul employs her dexterity to prevent or give it battel , it assumes the name of fear or audacity . some others who are indebted to vain glory for their eloquence , or to the affection they bear st. austin for straying from the common opinion of philosophers acknowledg but one passion , they assure us that love only is the disturber of our quiet , and that our pleasures our paines , our fears and wishes , our hopes and despaires , are but so many different shapes which love assumes when he feels an evil or swims in content ; when he pursues what delights him , or fears what is contrary to him , and when he promiseth himself some felicity , or looseth the fancy of obtaining it . although i have a venerable value for the favourers of this opinion , and that the reasons wherewith they lay their foundation be sufficiently solid to command my esteem , yet it seemeth to me as if they had not throughly examined the nature of love , when they make him the author of despair and hatred , when they imagin that the most generous of our passions should become the fountain of the most timorous and violent : and that how ever they cannot make flight and anger bear the name of love , without confounding the cause with its effects . for as love is a disposition of the soul , resideing in the will , and as sorrow and fear , desire and hope are passions of the inferior part of the soul , that immediately or mediately are loves attendants ; i think according to the rigor of reasoning we ought not to give them the same name , and that it is to injure the most noble of our passions , to bestow his characters upon those wild and savage effects that have no coherence with his nature . but without staying to contend this opinion , and to shun the uncertainties that arise from peripatetick divisions and to avoid the incumbrances that enclose the unity of other modern instructors , i conclude with st. hierom , that there are but four principal passions which comprehend all the rest , of which some have respect unto good and evil as present , to wit pleasure and grief , and the two other as absent , namely fear and desire . this distinction is not hard for them to prove who place aversion and despair under fears , and who for avoyding multiplication in unnecessary matters , reduce hope audacity and anger under desire . all the difficulty that can arise from this division , is that it seemeth lame , that it comprehends not all the motions of the soul ; and that by the distribution thereof made by this doctrin , the two fountains love and hatred , have no share in those great agitations . this objection that in aristotle's judgment hath so much seeming weight , concludes nothing in the opinion of seneca , and it may suffice them that hold too violently with aristotle , to know that love and hatred are not so much passions of our soul , as natural inclinations and aversions which we have for good and evil in general . these sentiments are so powerfully ingrafted in our soul ; that it is not possible to divorce them ; we are carried to what is good by motion of nature alone , and we abhor what is evil , without being thrust from it otherwise then by the inclination we naturally have to preserve our selves . the will it self , as much a soveraign as she is in her operations , works according to nature when she tends to her own perfection ; she ceaseth to be indifferent when she regards her chiefest good , and in the opinion of the witty doctor when she respects her felicity , she is no more at liberty then a heavy body that runs to its center , or then beasts that hasten to the springs of water when they are thirsty . it is true that she indeed is absolute in her dominion , she can suspend her motion when the imagination offers her a pleasing object , and she can shun or embrace a thing for which the mind hath conceived an aversion . but then this good which she seeks must be peculiar , and rather her divertisement then her felicity : for if her glory consist in it , she steers to that by a natural motion , she approves it without choice , and she loves it without having it in her power to make election . thus may we exercise reason upon the subjects of love and hatred , and assert that they are not so much passions of the soul as impulsions of nature , which engage us to pursue that which is good , and fly from its contrary . discourse iii. that passions are not natural to man. plato , who seeks truth among poetical fables , and draws the strongest of his arguments from the most wild fancies of the ancients , doth , in my opinion , at no time more dexterously oppose the impiety or sordidness of that age , than when he renders vertue a stranger to mankind , engaging socrates to dispute her advantages with his jupiter , and proves that she is not so much the portion of heaven or of nature , as the daughter of the mind and the will. his discourse is shaped according to the ordinary proceedings of the world , and the same maxims that preserve kingdoms and states , justifie his reasons , and confirm his doctrine : for if vertue , saith he , be natural , and the country where we are born , or the climate under which we live , be sufficient to make us vertuous , rewards in common-wealths are idle things , the commendations given to them that deserve them are unjust , and all the laurels and crowns wherewith the heads of conquerours and kings are adorned , will not be so much the testimonials of their justice or valour , as the marks of their nature and good fortune . from whence he concludes , that vertues are voluntary , that they owe their birth to practice , and that perseverance which endureth grief , and laughs at fortune , is the chief principle . though passions be opposed to vertues , and their humour rather contrary than different , though some are insolent , and others modest , some irregular , and others innocent , some contend to subject the soul to the body , and others to make the body servant to the mind ; yet they proceed from one and the same spring . vertues and passions have one common mother , and though they have different objects when they are agitated , their birth is nevertheless from one and the same faculty of the soul : for to joyn the strengh of reason to the authority of this great philosopher , and not to undervalue the ingenuity of his logick for proof of a moral conclusion , if passions were born with us , and if nature taught us to desire and fear , to grieve and to rejoyce , we must of necessity infer , that all these motions are good , that we may follow them wheresoever they lead us , and that we cannot err in treading the steps of a guide , who instructs us no less in particular than in our general actions . now the peripateticks confess that they are neither good nor bad , that they are capable of good or evil , and that they may serve as well to vice as vertue : it must be then concluded that they are not ingrafted upon our soul , since they violently oppose the works of nature , since they make war upon her inclinations , and seldom form any enterprise but to corrupt or destroy her . nature is so regular in all her productions , that she brings forth nothing superfluous , she abhors monsters no less than excesses , and when her prodigies come to light , which cause so much astonishment in the minds of men , it may be said that she is rather passive than active ; indeed where shall we find any thing of excess in the creation ? this sage mother is determined in her operations , she produceth nothing but by limitations as just as necessary , and if we often find inventions , or take up customs to exceed , it is when we become tyrannical or rebellious . but passions delight in excess , the bounds prescribed us by reason irritate them ; foreign aids must be called in to stay their disorders , and if virtue be not employed to vanquish or tame them , we should see nothing in the world more monstrous and frightful than a man possessed by those evil spirits . as the juris periti account that law unjust which is not common , that a prince would offend against equity if he made not his edicts universal , and that those commands are to be had in jealousie wherein the legislator doth not indifferently tie all his subjects . philosophers hold that nature ought to be common , that she ought to be equally distributed to all men , and that as the reasonable soul is intire in all the body , and undivided in each part , she ought also to communicate her perfections and infirmities to all the nations upon earth : mean while we find some persons subject to passions which others know nothing of , and of so many men as are contained in a province or state , few shall we see that are agitated by one and the same motions . ambition which tyrannizeth over conquerours is not the plague of all mankind ; if some are found to aspire to grandeurs , we see others that despise them ; if some hunt after honours , others have them in derision ; and if some will reign over their fellow creatures , others find their content in obedience : the hunger of wealth is not the passion of a whole city ; some citizens fill their coffers , but there are others that draw vanity from expence : gain renders not every man avaritious , and if some amongst them build all their hopes upon their treasures , we find others of them that take pride in their disdain . envy is not so much a contagion as a peculiar evil ; if some persons have been observed to make war upon vertue , we have seen whole nations that have built her temples , and orators that have presented her with elogies . as powerful as love is , he hath not yet been able to subdue an intire kingdom , the most perfect beauties have gained but few lovers , and those faces that have thrown so many flames into the hearts of generals of armies , were not able to touch the affections of their souldiers . now if all these perturbations of the soul were natural , they would be found equally in all men ; the objects and the sense would not make a different impression upon their imagination , as these two causes are necessarily active , they would every where propuce the same effects . 't is then an error , saith seneca , to imagine that passions are born with us , and that these children of opinion proceed from the marriage of the soul with the body . nature hath not allyed us to vice , she may boast of having brought us forth vertuous , though we were conceived in sin , the greatest part of our disorders ow birth to our education ; and when passions seduce our judgments or deprave our will , it must be said that they follow not so much her inclinations as our evil manners . we impute them to nature because we despair of cure , and fancy them to be necessary in as much as they favour our crimes , excuse our errors , and authorize our injustice . to support all these truths it 's needless to make pillars of seneca's inductions , or to draw maxims from aristotles reasons which confirm them , it is sufficient only to consider man in himself , to judg that passions are forreigners , and to teach us from the generosity of his nature how great an enemy he is to them . for what is there of a more quiet nature than man , and what more furious than love ? this famous tyrant takes force from all things that oppose his designs , difficulties encourage him , impossibilities encrease his impatience , that modesty which preserves the chastitity of women redoubles his strength , and that council or reason which ought to regulate or allay his fury , renders him obstinate in his pursuit . man is a lover of rest , and audacity finds its contentment in turbulence ; the one submits to the conduct of prudence , and the other is governed by temerity , the one seeks to avoid enmity , and the other takes pride in creating of adversaries , and the one delights in things facile to acquire , and the other engageth in nothing but matters difficult or impossible to compass . nothing upon earth is more affable than man , and nothing do we observe more savage than anger ; it is a fury that breaths nothing but vengeance , a plague that throws division among friends , and a monster , who more cruel than the tyger and panther turns his weapons upon himself , when he cannot force satisfaction for injuries done him . compassion , which seems so sutable to mans disposition , is not less troublesom to his rest than anger , she afflicts him with evils that touch him not , she makes the chastisements of the vicious his punishment ; she looks upon the suffering , and considers not the crime , and more unjust than hatred , she would bribe justice ( if possible ) to deliver the guilty person and the murtherer from his sword. in fine , passions are mans domestick enemies , and unfaithful souldiers , who , undertaking to defend him and keep him in action , trouble his government , abolish his empire , corrupt his reason , disorder his will , and throw confusion into all the powers of his soul. it 's true , we meet with some men in the world whom nature seemeth to have produced to give the lye to this opinion , and whose inclinations constrain us to believe that passions are grafted in the soul ; for we see some so effeminate that a word puts them into a rage , a sincere reprehension irritates them , and in what method soever you deal with them their anger or indignation is not to be avoided . some from their youth are sordid , they affect wealth almost before they know what it is , and it would be more easie to change the face of a negro into the colour of his teeth , than to pull out of their hearts the desire of heaping up riches . others are naturally bashful , as often as they speak in publick they blush , and what art soever is used to make them confident in company they cannot hinder shamefacedness from altering their countenance . it is not hard to answer these objections , and whoever is at the trouble to examine the nature of passions , will be constrained to acknowledg that nothing is proved though much be said . for , to proceed in order , anger is not that first motion that arises at the appearance of an evil , and which oweth its original rather to the infirmity of the body than to the strength of the mind , but that fury of the soul which by aristotle is stiled rational , that motion which hurries us to take vengeance , and invites us to contrive the ruine of him that hath offended us . all those other emotions that prevent the judgment cannot properly be called passions , and when they trouble or seize the soul , it may be said that she resents but produceth them not , and that she rather suffers than operates . generals of armies have been seen to swoon at the approach of battel , commanders to grow pale at the sight of an enemy , souldiers to tremble in putting on their armour or their head-piece , and all that valour wherewith they were animated could not hinder them from beginning their victories with quaking , and their triumphs with signs that brought their courage into question . the most eloquent of orators found himself often taken with these surprizes , and he was astonisht that his discourses should chase fear from the minds of his auditors , and that his reason should not be strong enough to drive apprehension from the possession of his heart , to hinder fear from bereaving him of his strength , to prevent his hairs from standing on end , and to oppose his tongues cleaving to the roof of his mouth when he was to speak . but all these sudden changes are but corporal , and surprizes which borrow their aids from the temper and constitution of the body . if riches make some men covetous , it is after the judgment is seduced : nature hath produced nothing in the whole universe that is able to stir their desires , she hides the gold in the entrals of the earth , she leaves us nothing but the sight of the heaven and the stars , and knowing that this mettle might corrupt them if she discovered it in its splendor , she caused it to grow among the sands and the dirt , to the end they might despise it . true it is that bashfulness seemeth more natural to man than avarice and anger , and that he is become impudent and insolent that altereth not his countenance after the commission of a fault or an incivility : but this timorous passion is only the daughter of the body , the mind hath no share in her production , and if the novelty of a thing occasion it , the cause thereof is the leaping of the blood about the heart : hence old men rarely blush , the furrows in their front seldom receive a foreign colour , and when heat declines their heart , it ceaseth to send into the face that innocent vermilion that makes the countenance of children so amiable . as this motion is a pure effect of the bodies temperature , our players could never yet get her to appear upon the stage , and the most ingenious of them despair at this day of adorning the countenance of their actors with this curious colour . they represent us sadness with all her shagrine humors , and as silent as she is , they find inventions to counterfeit her follies . they shew us fear upon a pale face , and imitate all her actions so well , that they seem to tremble , grow wan and fall into a swoon . love is the ordinary subject wherewith they entertain their spectators , and the smallest apes-face of the society can act the gallant , the suitor and the mad lover ; but none of them have yet been seen that could act the shame-faced person , and if some few have learned to stoop the head , abase the voice , and to look downwards ; we hardly observe any that have been able to call for blushes to testifie that the applauses given to them , or the reproches thrown at them , were unpleasing . but as passions depend on us , it must not be wondered , if they be counterfeited with so much ease , if they can become sad and angry , audacious and desperate , when they please ; and that consulting the mind and opinion of which they are formed , they represent all those outward signs which passions discover upon the bodies of such as are possessed by them . discourse iv. that the senses and opinion are the two principles of passions . among all the advantages which man disputeth with other creatures , and which beget him so much reverence in them of his own species , philosophy owneth none more glorious then that of knowledg , and although she be interressed when she pleads her cause , she believes not that the praises given her are any thing but due debt , she stiles her the only felicity of them that possess her ; she makes her the image of the diety , maintains that it is she that lifteth man into heaven to contemplate there the perfections of her author : and though she know that her body have need of health to preserve her , she is assured that her soul wants nothing but knowledg to participate of his eternity . by these mens discourse this quality is as immense as absolute present every where , including all differences of time , coexistant with all ages ; and having regard to the original , nature and end of every being , she finds nothing in the univers that can confine her but eternity , and he only that is infinite . man is a lover only of what is good , and as free an agent as he is , he suffers evil with violence , the senses that seduce his imagination reverence his will , they cease to provoke him when the understanding hath shewed him that the thing she seeks is not suitable to him ; and if sometimes she discover a displeasure , it is because she hath suffered her self to be deceived by the senses , or disordered by false opinions . but nothing escapes mans curiosity , he will not be a stranger to any thing in nature , the most hidden things stir him to make diligent search after them , and if he find that the avoiding of evil is the beginning of his felicity , philosophy perswades him that knowledg is a part of his chiefest happiness . by knowledg indeed he imitateth the immensity of the creator , by his mind he is present in all places of the world , he flies into heaven , and descends into the depths of the earth , without leaving his closet , and drawing an universal notion from all particular things he comprehends all creatures , and becomes a true microcosme by the multitude of his idaea's . to conclude , in knowledg consisteth all his glory , she is the most useful of his perfections , and if physicians learn of her to cure diseases , states-men to govern , and judges to distinguish the innocent from the guilty , wisemen confess that to her they owe all their prudence , soldiers their conduct , monarchs their justice , and philosophers the conquest of their passions . happy should we be if we were instructed by no other guide then this , and more fortunate then conquerors , we should not need to give battel to gain the victory of our passions . all their disorderly motions would be submissive to us , we should prevent their fury by the knowledg of the benefits they hunt after , and the evils they abhor : and having no traffick with the people for their opinion in this matter , they would obey reasons orders . but the greatest of our misfortunes is that we go to the ignorant for counsel , we rely upon unfaithful sentinels , and against our own judgments , give credit to the senses who cheat and abuse us . for generally their reports are false , and though they be obtained by knowledg , it is very rare if they do not ingage us in error . they are blind guids that carry us a stray from truth , under colour of leading us to her , windows by which falshood gets into our understanding , and interressed counsellors who always plead the cause of the objects which please them most . as the soul becomes often a slave to the flesh , takes the noise of sounds for realties , and judges by their reports of things without her , it must not be wondred if she be cheated in her distinctions , if she make blind and precipitate judgments , and if forgetting her own grandeur , she fight under the banner of her slave . for seeing these treacherous ministers of her goverment deal falsely with her , plead always in favor of the body , and slighting her counsels , follow the inclinations of their fleshly companion , she sides with them , she lets her self loose at their instigations , and solicited by their importunities who present her the objects , she pronounces her fiat to all that they judg useful and pleasant . from this unjust disorder arise our passions , and of so many motions as interrupt the quiet of our souls , we find not any , that taketh not his original from some one of our senses , love is the son of the sight , the eye conceives him before the heart , and though he terminate his conquest by the will , yet he always gives battel by the look , the poets were assuredly mistaken when they represented him as blind ; and they rather had regard to the effects then to the original , when they cover his eyes with a muffler . for those lights which nature hath given us for our conduct , are the common messengers of this furious passion , that which ought to discover the defects of a face hides its imperfections : and by an unpardonable ingratitude the most splendid members of the body darken the soul , from whom they receive their light . desire ever begins by the eyes or the eares , wealth corrupts not our minds but after infection of the senses , and man would seldom form any wishes , if he were born deaf and blind . hope owes his original to them , the advantages wherewith he is flattered are not so much principles as accidents , and the imagination could never dazle our understanding with their splendor without the intermediation of those organs . these are they who conceive envy , who make him consider the goods of his neighbour with grief , who cause his joy to arise from other mens misfortunes , and make them confess that their felicity is able to create their torment . in fine , these faithless ministers are the fountaines of all our disquiet , and love which is the most common of our passions would want slaves , hope would be without lovers ; and envy without martyrs , if these blind guids did not prevent our imagination , seduce our judgment , and deprave our will. if sense begin our passions , opinion gives them perfection , and if those give us the objects disguisedly , these always deceive us in their choice . for opinion being but the picture of reason , and a common noise that gathers authority from the encrease of those that approve it , she deceives us by semblance of judgment , and without examination of her reasons she would have us to esteem all for just that is approved by many . as she is concerned for priviledges of the body , she is always of that party , and as she is of an earthly original all her motions and inclinations partake thereof . we are not then to think it strange if they which follow such a guide never arrive at generous things , if they stray from the truth in the greater part of their sentiments and if discerning things no otherwise then through that false glass ; they embrace an error for its contrary . for as the multitude are not so happy in their opinions as to know how to judg favourably of vertue or reason ; and although all the men of whom they are composed have the same thoughts , it hinders them not from falling into extravagance and error , the more to be lamented for being common . they affect only such things as are vain or useless , they reject good and embrace evil , they applaud what they ought to shun , and condemn what they ought to love . also with much reason in my opinion doth seneca compare the case of the vulgar to the condition of fools , or mad-men , saying , that the greatest part of mankind were not less extravagant then they which have lost their senses , and that there was but this difference between the phrenetick and the vulgar , they were actuated by folly or madness , and these by false opinions , that the disease of the one was a corporal effect , and the distemper of the other an infirmity of the mind , that the one arose from the abundance of blood or gall , and the other from the weakness of judgment , and that the one came from a disordered temperature , and the other from an ill governed reason . indeed , what is there more extravagant then a man who rejects the truth to embrace the noise of a biassed and interressed multitude ? who departs from his own reason to be guided by their example ? and who despiseth all the counsels of reason to take the advice of one that is blind and ignorant ? for from this corruption proceeds all our faults : hence we take the objects to be other then they are , hence we are deceived in our choice , and abused by the value , or disesteem that others have of it , we call for our passions to effect or avoid it . to shun then all these disorders , and to hinder these turbulent motions from acting without our leave , the mind must reign as soveraign , he must prevent the seditions that may ▪ arise in the sensitive appetite , he must command the imagination to act nothing in his goverment without his warrant , and that she take care that false opinions seduce not his reason , or abuse his authority . in fine the mind must imitate those oppressed people who deliver themselves from tyranny by the destruction of the authors , he must prevent the birth of passions by the overthrow of false opinions , which are the causes and originals thereof . discourse v. that passions cannot be of use to vertue . although superstition be an enemy to religion as well as to impiety , though the one contemn god , and the other own him not aright , and though one make vanity of his error , and the other be cheated in his election , yet have there been orators that have given her commendations , some philosophers have pleaded her cause , and some kings who ( by a policy altogether extraordinary ) have received her into their goverment . titus livius labored to perswade posterity that she was of use in a common-wealth , that she was serviceable to monarchs in the conduct of their subjects , and that to keep under a rebellious or insolent people , it was often sufficient to get them inspired with the fear of the gods , and the apprehensions of chastisements . that she it was that procured them faithful ministers , that kept the nobility in awe , that allayed the wild humors of the body politick , that brought the factious to reason , and caused their persons throughout their dominions to be reverenced as the gods of the earth . in fine , that it was she that supported rome in its minority , and that the worlds first common wealth was more beholding to the superstitions of numa for her preservation , then to the wisdom of her counselors or the valor of her captains . although passions be almost as direful to man as ▪ vice , and that there is but this difference between these two enemies of his rest , the one makes him guilty and the other depraves him , the one infects his will , and the other disorders his reason , yet the whole body of modern philosophy sticks not to approve them with elogies , and of so many sects into which it is divided , we find only the stoicks that declare war against them . all aristotles disciples applaud them , they make them the exercise of vertue , and call them the aides of nature , they will have them the common favors bestowed upon all man-kind , and they think they do not well prove the necessity of them unless they seek them in the person of the son of god. they say that man would be without motion if without passion , that it is necessary he should love and hate to avoid being as insensible as rocks , that he cannot be active but by their motion : and that all his advantages would be of no use to him , if he called not these domestick soulders to undertake his conquests , and to preserve him from enemys that both threaten and assault him . that it were to deprive him of life , to spoil him of his affections , that they are a part of himself , and that , as we see no man but loves fertility in his fields , we can find none that would prefer the sterility of his soul before the most generous of his productions . that all our vertues pine away if they be not animated by their fire , and that the best ordered enterprizes would prove fruitless , if these faithful souldiers undertooke not the charge of their execution . for they affirm that fortitude without anger is weak , and that she that laughs at tortures , brags of assaulting death , and makes little of all the terrible things of this world , becomes spiritless if this passion do not warm and give her courage . prudence borrows the greatest part of her lights from fear , and he that should rob her of this succour would acknowledg her to be left as blind as feeble . temperance is letted in governing her desires , in moderateing pleasure , in appeasing the seditions of hope , in allaying grief , and in swallowing up fear . in fine , that it is to destroy all our vertues to deprive them of their employments , and to condemn them to perpetual idleness , to strip them of the subject of their combats and triumphs . where , say they , will be their victory if they have no enemy to vanquish or tame ? and with what justice shall they compel so many commendations from our mouths , if they must always wallow in rest ? for if it be a vertue to restrain anger , to submit affection to reason , to limit our desires , to be moderate in hope and sadness , how can he be vertuous that is without passion ? victorious without enemys to conquer ? and how should reason be a soveraign in her kingdom if she have no subjects to command ? some men are so much the enemys of their own happiness , that they boast of their torments , they invent curious words to make them necessary ; and by an obstinacy so much the more unjust as it is universal , they will have us esteem that as the principle of all our generous actions , which is the fountain of all our disorders . they are not unlike men troubled with the itch , who delight in scratching the sore that infects their fingers , they cherish ulcers which poison them , they abet the faction of tyrants that oppress them , and by a kind of superstition , they excuse their defects , and allow them benefits which they have not . i know that among the lawiers a common erronious custom passeth for a law , and that an opinion received of many is often a sufficient warant to make it run for a currant truth among the vulgar spirits , yet am i not afraid to oppose it , and supported by senecas authority , i shall endeavor to demonstrate that passions are not of more use to vertue then poisons and venemous things to our health . for to shun all the bumbast of orators and to set forth nothing unworthy of that roman philosopher ; who shall perswade himself that man must necessarily be the vassal of his slaves ? that he cannot be active without their help ? that all his enterprises must depend upon their advices ? and that he must hold his authority over a number of rebells that despise his soveraignty ? who shall believe that a wise man cannot be valiant , unless he be possest of anger ? and that to give his enemy battel or rout his adversaries he must be heated by the most furious of his passions ? that he cannot be prudent except he be fearful , and that he must of necessity borrow aid of the most cowardly of his attendants wherewith to establish his good fortune , and to guard himself against future evils ? that he cannot be provident for his family without being avaricious , nor govern his children , command his subjects , nor put his house in order without tormenting himself about that which may happen in the future ? passions are not so submissive as to obey the authority of reason , and they are of too ambitious an humor to quit an usurped empire : they resemble those conquerors that rarely loose the appetite of dominion . they do also disguise their tyranny , they employ artifices to render themselves acceptable , they oppress us under colour of succours , and never cease to humor us till after they have violated the laws of reason and abused his power . for when the soul has once admitted them , and that of strangers she permits them to be her domesticks , she is no longer able to set them bounds , they contemn her goverment , they seize her throne , they become obstinate in rebellion ; and , by an injustice not easy to express , they oblige their soveraign to take laws of them . therefore to preserve the liberty of the mind , and maintain the rights of reason , these seditious intruders must be allowed no entrance , and we must imitate those prudent governors that suffer not their enemies to approach their borders under pretence of friendship and assistance . for if the soul permit them a share in her authority and mistrusting her own strength , she call in these forreign troops to opose or defend her against her adversaries , she then ceaseth to be an absolute monarch , these pretended friends turn tail , become revolters , they stir up parties to bereave her of her scepter , they disturb her judgment and her rest , and having stript her of her lights , they constrain her to take them for counsellors and to follow their inclinations . this tyranny would be tolerable if it lasted but a few moments , and we might draw this comfort from our misery to learn from their ill usage the difference between liberty and slavery . but these rebells have so many artifices , that they cause their martyrs to love them , the torments wherewith they afflict them cannot procure their hatred , they will entertain them although they know they are abused by them , and , by an humour which they would hardly wish to their enemies , they take delight in the conversation of executioners that torment them . for though passions be fickle yet are they obstinate , they resemble those accidents that are not to be destroyed without ruining the subject wherein they reside , they are like ungrateful guests that take possession where they are entertained , and are of so malignant a nature that they never leave those men that permit them to be their counsellors . they are souldiers that will not be disbanded but by death , ivy of which the duration is equal with the wall that supports it , and diseases , against which physicians have yet found no remedy . what can then be more irrationally said then to affirm that man who is at liberty in all his actions , had need of so many monstrous beasts ? that he cannot perform generous things without their assistance ? and that those which ought to obey him must prescribe him laws ? a man must have lost his judgment to run to his ruin for safety , and believe that his weakness can afford him strength , that treachery will bring him ayds , truth a lie , and health a multitude of diseases . passions are too mutinous to render us any good service , and they are too much mans enemy to labour for his felicity . i will admit that they sometimes disguise their malice , that they raise a kind of contentment in his soul , that the most generous stir up the courage of the more sordid , and that the more modest do curb the insolence of such as are most savage : but all these good effects are produced by the war that is among themselves , from their different inclinations , from a conspiration of some against others : and , by a quite different method of working , some become charitable to their companions because their humors agree not . but you will say , do we not see that they are often of use to us ? that they sometimes fight vertues battels , and employ endeavors for her defence which beget admiration ? truly that which seemeth to be the reason of their necessity gives us the suspition of their imperfection , their good offices create a jealousy ; and who so knows well their nature will confess them to be hypocrites , and that they force their own inclinations so often as they take up armes in vertues quarrel . they resemble that famous murtherer that preserved the life of a tyrant in designing to take it from him , and who breaking an impostume that threatned him with death , became his cure , intending to be his executioner . for if they oppose vice , if they side with vertue , and if they employ their arts to preserve the rights of reason , they betray their own disposition , they commit good without premeditation , and , like unto stormes that accidentally conduct the ship into her port , they guide us to vertue intending to turn us into a contrary path. no man in his right mind will conclude venims to be wholsome for having removed a sick-mans distemper ; and he that would be an approver of tyranny in a kingdom because it hath suppressed seditions reduced the people to subjection , united different interests , and banished rebellion and disorder from the bowels of the state , would no less contradict the rules of policy then the dictates of reason . we see some physicians who expel one evil by another , who cure an ague with poison , and dissipate the pestilence by sweating which often procures it , and who allay the smarting pain of the gout with medicaments more proper to augment the torment . a feaver did once so inflame the brain of a general that it made him undertake the conquest of a kingdom , which in his sober mind he durst not have thought on ; and in the late wars with flanders , france had a mareshal who was seldom in action without first having liquored his resolutions either for life or death . but who shall believe that these several sorts of cures or undertakings can turn us to accompt ; and that it is not more advantageous to man to bannish then entertain such methods for his conduct ? it is a great unhappiness to find no cure but in distempers & to be obliged for the recovery of health , to have recourse to destructive remedies . that man would be suspected of folly that should counsel the mariners to set sail in a hurry-cane , and go about to perswade them that to make a prosperous voiage , they must stay for storms and tempests . but they that would render passions so necessary to man are not more unreasonable , they furnish him with rebellious aids , who violently oppose his authority , ministers of state who contemn his power , and treacherous guids that prove as bad commanders as common souldiers . nature has sufficiently armed us in giving us the weapon of reason , and i know not that we can call passions to our assistance without equally accusing her of imbecillity and blindness : for which way so ever we consider our selves we must be deemed miserable creatures , if we cannot be safe without the help of our adversaries , and if we must undertake no enterprize but with squadrons of mutineers who dare to dispute all our commands . for to judg of their malignity by their effects , and to learn from their operations the confusion of their nature , if we be willing to succour our friends in their streights and if we know by what we learn in natures school that we are bound to relieve our parents in want , and our allies under oppression , covetousness will forbid it ; if we know that we ought to arm our selves in defence of our country , fear disswades us from it , if we remember that we have vowed fidelity to the companion of our life , and that we cannot frequent dissolute women without offending our conscience or our honor , lust will authorize this sensuality . if we know that tyranny is odious , that usurpation is unjust , and that we cannot seize the territories of our neighbours without breach of reputation , ambition will furnish us with excuses . so that all the succours that some would assign us for our defence are the sources of all our disorders , and man would hardly ever commit an injustice if passions were not his tempters . this discourse runs the peripateticks into despair , and the strength of senecas arguments is to them so irresistable that they are constrained to have recourse to logical distinctions , to arm themselves against his assaults . for though they agree with us that the excess of passions is dangerous , that they cannot be employed without loss of liberty , and , that we cease to act as men when they get possession , yet they affirm them to be useful if moderated , that they may be formed into vertues if we know how to manage their humors , and that it is sufficient to render them profitable to us , if we do but correct that fury which accompanies their violent comportment , that physicians prepare poisons and venims , and as nature qualifies the disposition of the elements , it is the work of morality to reduce passions to a mediocrity , and stripping them of their extravagant temper to convert them into wholsom motions fit for our service . what have you said ignorant philosophers ? in what school have you been taught that nature is impotent , if she take not passions to her assistance ? with what confidence dare you render my wise man a dependant of his slaves ? what advantage do you give him above other men , if he have but a little more courage then the greatest cowards ? if he be but somewhat more chast then the most unclean ? something more temperate then drunkards ? a little more modest then the ambitious ? and but somewhat a better governour in his family then the prodigal and avaricious persons ? a man is not to be accounted healthy because he is only subject to extraordinary diseases , to be deemed a sound person because his maladies are but small , and he not able to exercise the functions of life but by helps that destroy it . a wise man must as well be without passions as free from vices , and exempt from that which may render him miserable , as from that which may make him guilty . if small offences disturb his conscience , passions , how much soever moderated , interrupt his rest ; if inflammations hurt his sight defluxions weaken it , if the lethargy stupify his senses , the fumes which assault his brain disorder him , and if extravagancy succeed the height of feavers , weakness is always left behind when their fits are abated . so that as to judg of a sound body all infirmities must be removed from it , likewise all passions must be banisht from the soul to make judgment of her tranquillity . discourse vi. that no man is more miserable , than he that is subject to passions . i never well apprehended how human policy could lawfully authorize subjection , seeing she is so irksome ; and how aristotle could render her natural , since all men so much detest her . those that first laboured to introduce her into the world saw their designs opposed by all the nations of the earth , and they were taught to their cost , that subjects were not to be acquired without becoming their tyrants or their slaves : the romans could not endure her in their government , they sought out all imaginable methods to preserve their freedom , and although they equally made glory of subjecting both friends and foes , they would not consent to the choice of a sovereign to command themselves . they invented a new mode of government to secure them from servitude , they made their empire elective , they annually created two emperors , and , to avoid the vexatious name of subject , they ordained that those to whom they committed the management of their affairs should take upon them the title of consuls and not of lords and monarchs . man hath in him ( i know not what to call it ) something so sublime that he cannot endure violence , he imagineth servitude to be the greatest of his evils , and he is so great a lover of liberty that he often prefers a dishonourable freedom to an advantageous bondage . that human prudence that regulates things present by the knowledg of things past , teacheth monarchs to stand upon their guard with subjects , and lets them know that they are to make the calculation of their enemies by the number of their vassals : as she cautioneth kings against the treachery of new conquered countries , she bids them be jealous of all that serve them , she shews us men in history that have steeped their hands in their masters blood for a remedy against their slavery , and others that have set kingdoms on fire with a pretence of freeing them from tyranny . in fine , liberty hath so many charms that so often as we are deprived of it , we deem our selves unhappy , and its contrary is so burthensom , that believing our selves free-born , and therein equal to the most mighty princes of the earth , we are sufficiently stirred up to be delivered from it . indeed this latter condition is very odious , and it 's not without cause that the greatest number of men would rather die free under an apparent slavery , than live as bondmen under a visible liberty . nevertheless it must be owned that this evil comes not near the miseries that we endure from passions , and the empire of these insolent usurpers is less supportable to man than the hatred of the envious , the rage of tyrants and the violence of his enemies : for if these torment or persecute him , they exercise their fury but on his body , they cannot with all their malicious cruelty ravish the liberty of the most noble part of himself : if they assault his innocence , if they deprive him of his friends , if they cast him into irons , and if they attempt upon his very life by injurious usage , his soul preserves her authority , the fetters that restrain her slave touch her not , and she acts with so much facility , that it may be affirmed she is never more ingenious than in affliction . but passions disorder both , they extend their oppressions beyond the body , they deal with the soul as men with their slaves , and without regard to grandeur , they exercise their violence upon all her faculties . they puff out the light of his understanding , they corrupt his will , they seduce his judgment ; and , by a power not much inferiour to magick art , they throw illusions into his spirit to trouble his mind . if men account exile cruel because it separates us from all the delights of our own countrey , who will not own that the tyranny of our passions is the most severe of our torments , since they violently take us from our selves , deprive us of the power of reason , and rob us of that liberty which the most unfortunate retain under a load of irons ? fortune , which hath set up that unjust distinction amongst men , and created lords and vassals , hath no influence upon passions ; as she abandons great men to the fidelity of their servants , she commits the meaner sort to the discretion of their superiours , and she is so little absolute in her government , that we often see the slaves give laws to them that command : some find ways to be their masters companions by the assiduity of their services , and others have been made free for their fidelity : some others are comforted in their bondage that they have but one master to satisfie , and do easily perswade themselves that an ordinary ingenuity will serve to please a mans humor with whom we daily converse . but the passionate are subject to so many tyrants as they have passions , the agreement we hold with them provokes their displeasure , our submission renders them insolent , our fidelity augments their fury , and they are never more cruel than when we observe their orders , or obey their commands . sometimes bondage is rather to be chosen than liberty , and there be some slaves that would not change conditions with their masters : for though these impose upon their liberty , and permit them not the disposing of their goods , or their persons , yet must they be charged with the care of providing for them , they are responsible for their miscarriages , they must take an account of their actions , and buy with money that authority which they exercise upon their wills ; so that their pretended dominion amounts to a specious subjection , and they ought not so much to be stiled their lords as their atturneys and their stewards . but passions are ever savage , they form nought but evil designs against their subjects , they increase their wounds instead of giving ease , they violently over-run vertue and liberty together , and abusing all their faculties , they make their conditions equal with the damned : sometimes they give them looks so frightful that the earth hath nothing more terrible or more insolent , and anon they leave in the soul such a fear and grief that nothing is more unhappy . their evil entertainments have procured them the hatred of all philosophers , and even they who out of respect have countenanced the vice of their wise man , would not permit that he should be subject to passions . those to whom servitude is irksom may apply themselves to flight for their deliverance , and forsaking the masters whom they serve , betake themselves to countries where their pursuits cannot reach them : if the persons with whom they live be difficult , or if the law of the place admit no affranchizement , they may remove into another , and seek that liberty in foreign dominions which they could not obtain in the land of their nativity . but they who serve passions carry always their masters with them , into what part of the world soever they travel they cannot hide themselves from them , and so unhappy is their condition , that they cannot sheer clear of them without danger of sinking their vessel . if they abandon their habitations , if they throw themselves into the arms of princes for protection , and if all the provinces they pass thorough , be so many sanctuaries and places of freedom , yet are they shackled , they carry their fetters with them , they remain slaves even in the very bosom of liberty , and the tyrants under whose command they are listed are so outragious , that they spare them as little abroad as at home . all that pleases the sense stir up their grief , and that which would cure a sick man , is matter of their punishment . for if in their travels they observe spacious countries , if they measure the height of hills , if they fix the eye upon the current of rivers , if they contemplate the flowers of pleasant meadows , and meet nothing in their way but what imploys or diverts their fancy , they rather charm than heal their torments , and do not so much deceive their thoughts as their eyes and ears . by an unhappiness that shews the misery of their condition , they often convert their remedies into poisons , and change the objects of their divertisements into subjects of their grief . the sight of remote lands puts them in mind of their own countreys , the cities through which they pass represent them the places where they began to suffer , the inhabitants seem to discourse of the passages of their former life , the things and beauties they find there awaken their desires ; and although they are far removed from all that can anoy them , they forbear not to conceive love , hatred , joy and grief . what greater punishments can be inflicted upon criminals than to expose them to the will of so many tormentors ? and what more cruel vengeance can be drawn from an enemy , than to see him a slave in places of the greatest freedom ? tormented in the arms of rest ? and unhappy amidst all that which ought to deliver him from it ? who is not toucht with compassion to behold alexander when he cuts the ocean , when he traverseth all the parts of the world , when he enters the indies , when he makes war upon the persians , when he had conquered asia , when he turns kingdoms upside down , and makes the limits of the ocean the frontiers of his empire ? for if he command his army , he obeys a multitude of his passions which act the tyrant with him , if he vanquish his enemies by the sword he is overcome of his vices , and if he be the only monarch of the earth , he is the subject af ambition , anger and impudicity . one while he bewailes the death of a favourite whom his own hand had massacred , another while he laments the loss of a captain which he left in the heat of the battel ; one while he retires into solitude to entertain his misfortunes , another while deceiving his enemies he is contriving the conquest of a new world , and he whom flattery perswaded to be the god of the earth , tacitly confesseth that he is the most miserable of all men . who judgeth not hannibal very unhappy , when he forsakes the command of his souldiers to be made obedient to his love ? and when in the midst of a victorious army brought back from thrasymene , he could not defend himself from the allurements of a strumpet ? all that warlike glory which he had acquired in battel could not divert his affection , and the thought of triumphs that were preparing for him is not powerful enough to disswade him from laying his arms at the feet of his captive slave ; her beauty ravisheth his soul , and stops in a passage where a hundred thousand men durst not have attended his approach without terror . from these two examples it is not hard to conclude , that passions debase us , that we cannot treat with them without becoming their slaves , and that we must of necessity renounce our liberty when we obey such insolent masters . to prevent then this shameful servitude , a wise man must take reason into his counsel , he must stay till she has examined the nature of the objects that present themselves before he let in love or hatred ; and he must conclude nothing touching their perfections or defects , till this sun have inlightned his will , and have approved or forbidden the pursuite . discourse vii . that a wise man may live without passions . i wonder not that man should be so miserable , since he himself is a conspirator against his own felicity , since he makes vanity of augmenting natures defects , since he takes pride in his own miseries , and emploies all her benefits to make himself unhappy or guilty . those that have exercised their eloquence in decifering corrupted nature , thought it sufficient to be the sons of adam to render us disobedient , that the sin of that first revolter against his god , was the spring of all our evils , whereof passions became the children after they had been the mother , and that man never committed an unjust act but by the instigation of concupisence , which becomes the chastisement thereof . although the authors of this doctrin be to me very venerable , and though the opinion which they maintain be approved by all christians ; nevertheless , i perswade my self that they will not absolutely deny to allow me , that we derive not all our defects from his crime , that we may as well bewaile the perfections which we still retain as those we have lost , and that we find orderly motions in our bodies which are rather arguments of the excellency of the soul then the defection of nature . some men would be innocent if heaven had not honoured them with favors , their rare qualities occasion their misery , they are poor because they are too rich , they run themselves into dangers by being too much enlightened , and they engage not in error but by being more perfect then others . what ever renders a wise man accomplisht makes them miserable , they anticipate misfortune by their foresight , their memories call to mind the injuries done them , their wits are busied about useless or hazardous things , and all their qualifications become pernicious or disadvantagious . to augment their own miseries and add to natures defects voluntary errors , they take counsel from the noise of the people , they regulate their lives by their reports , they act but by their example , and they approve all for reasonable that hath many approbators , and not that wherein truth most consisteth . likewise they who have made so many invectives against the sin of our first father , have almost depraved the whole stock of man-kind , by endeavouring to explain the most difficult principle of our religion ; and have taught them undesignedly , to justify their defects and to form excuses for their lewdness . for if that inhumane father , say they , have bequeathed us death with our being , if he have made us slaves by the loss of his innocence , if the passions which arise in our soul be the effects of his rebellion , if they be as inseparable as our members , and if we cannot shun their surprizals but by the aids of grace ; who shall resolve to labour their conquest , seeing they are born with us , and proceed from the conjunction of the soul with the body , since the seeds thereof are in us , and that that grace to which they have recourse , is a bounty which god only bestows upon his favorites ? to avoid then all these complaints it must be owned that human nature is not so depraved as they describe her , that she yet retains some remains of her purity , and that man hath still a power to combat vice , follow vertue , and conquer his passions . when those famous men that laid the foundation of romes empire , would instruct their subjects by their precepts or reform them by their laws , they rather disordered then settled them , they taught them crimes of which before they were ignorant , and they made many guilty persons in designing to keep men innocent . parricides , saith seneca , first began in rome by the prohibition thereof , the punishment threatned to those that should be found so monstrous inspired them with cruelty ; men became barbarians when they were forbidden to be inhumane , and they feared not to murther them from whom they had received life , after the law had informed them that such a sin might be committed . so that those men must be enemies to nature who throw all their faults upon her infirmities , and we must deny that we often employ our perfections to procure our own unhappiness . this truth appears evidently in the subject of this discourse . we render passions which are but the pure effects of opinion and the will , to be the productions of nature , we fancy that they are born with us , and we conclude from our weakness , that a wise man cannot defend himself from them but by a miracle . in fine , we deem all things difficult which we fear to undertake , and judging of other mens strength by our own , we take all for impossibilities which we our selves cannot perform . also i am of senecas judgment , and do maintain with him , that there is as much difference between the stoicks and other philosophers as between men and women : and as these two sex are necessary for the building of families and states , the one is born to command and the other to obey . for let epicurus be commended , let his disciples protect him , and let them ransack the body of morality to shape excuses for his opinions , yet it must be owned that he has made no scholars but slaves , and that when he designed to create philosophers , he innocently formed vicious and impious persons . aristotle father of the academia , is not more vertuous then epicurus , though he seem more reasonable , for he makes but bastard wise men , he moderates the violence of their inclinations to render their conduct easy , and allowing them ordinary distempers he hath taught them that they cannot be healthy unless they have infirmities , that they cannot become liberal without covetousness , that to be valiant they must have the help of ambition , and that vertue would be of no use to them , if they had not passions to execute what she projects . this opinion seems so little generous to zeno's disciples , that they cannot forbear vigorously to oppose it , and seneca has condemned it for so unreasonable a tenet , that he thinks he pleads vertues cause so often as he is ingaged in the combat . where , replies he , is the freedom of the wise man , if he may not act but by the intermediation of his passions ? if he be obliged to fly to their counsels , and if he must borrow of them all the forms of his government ? reason is unthroned so soon as she admits an alliance with them , and their communication is so pernicious to her , that she cannot lend them an eare without insensibly mixing with their party . for when she hath once admitted them , they do what they will , and not what she permits them , they follow their own inclinations , though she contend for the conquest , and they become in the end so insolent or so wild , that they violently constrain their soveraign to yeild to their discretion . for this cause he judgeth that the only means to be delivered from them , is to prevent their assaults , and attack them before they threaten , and according to the rules of policy , provide that those who are yet but forreign enemies , become not our domestick tyrants . it availes not his adversaries to fly to natures imperfections for a reply , and to say that reason is become blind and weak , since she suffered her self to be seduced by the serpent . this reply , though true , proves nothing in morality , and whatsoever foundations they draw from divines to support it , yet must they confess that it makes not so much for reason as for faith. for again saith this wise roman , if reason be not strong enough to hinder passions from making excursions into her dominions , how will they have her to keep them in order when they have entred her territories ? if she sink under their violence when she is disposed to expect them , how shall she be able to give them laws when she is become their captive ? and if she cannot repulse enemies at the gate , how shall she repel their fury when they have gotten possession ? we must then infer either that a wise man may prevent their assaults or that he cannot moderate their inclinations , that he can hinder their sudden swellings , or that he cannot stay their disorders when they have made head. tranquillity is one of the qualifications of a wise man ; men cannot rob him of it till he change his condition , and he may boast of happiness so long as he preserves it : but passions violently bereave him of it in every of their assaults , and he ceaseth to be his own when he has any thing of dispute with them . he is their slave without being conquered he mourns in opposing them , and he is constrained to part with the most precious of his benefits , so often as he takes resolution to fight them . for be they never so well moderated they cease not to disturb his quiet , they throw dissention among the parties that compose it , and they so much occupy his mind , that nothing is left him but a weak and languishing liberty . the peripateticks are not so just as to abate him any of his evils for the elevation of his grandeur : they render him subject to all the maladies of the soul , they allot him all passions , to vanquish or tame : and without considering that many times one violent evil is preferrable to a multitude of wasting diseases , they will that he have fear , but it must be moderated , that he be spurred by ambition but it must be restrained , that he form desires and hopes , but they must be limited , that he be moved by anger , but it must be easy to recal , and that he have love and audacity , but they must not run into folly and fury . but who doth not easily see that this tyranny strikes directly at his liberty , that these motions howsoever moderated annoy his peace ? and that it would be more easy to conquer one powerful enemy then give battel to a multitude of smaller adversaries at one and the same time . vertue is so delicate in this point , that she could never yet suffer passions to be assigned her for companions , as she knows that they hold intelligence with vice , she rejects all their proffered services , she believes that he unjustly-tryumphs that owes victory to any thing but his valor ; that he is unworthy the name of conqueror , if he may be reproached that in the combat he mixt cowardize with his courage , and did not overthrow his enemy , but because he was somewhat fearful and imprudent . she is jealous of all their labors , she will have no souldiers that esteem their own counsels more then her commands , and she would think it injurious to her own grandeur to make use of their services . truely what art soever hath been used by humane prudence to allay their fury the method of reducing them to reasons obedience is yet to seek , and which way soever they be considered it wants dexterity to subject them to her empire . as we find no animals that yeild obedience to this soveraign , and as the tamed hearken as little to her counsels as the wild ; so , man hath no passions that will obey his commands , they make head to oppose his decrees , they conspire to lessen his authority , and by a faction as unjust as insolent , they dispute the government he pretendeth to have over them . their nature resembles that of the tygre and lyon , which never forsake their savage humor , which are as ravenous in the house as in the forrest , and can never be so well tamed , but they return to their first fury when least suspected . in fine , passions are faithless subjects , and domestick enemies , with whom a peace is no less to be feared when war and persecution . but to return to my matter , if passions be inevitable , and if all our prudence be too weak to prevent the assaults of fear , the attacks of grief , the snares of love , and the surprizals of anger upon our will , who can assure himself of staying their carreer , and of obliging them that prepare for battel without our leave to proceed no farther then we shall direct ? one of these two extreams must be chosen , either to stiffle them in the cradle , or resolve to become their slaves : to give them battel before they make head , or resolve to surrender our liberty : to deprive them of means to gather their forces , or take up a resolution to submit to their violence . for as those things which stir them up are without us , and the good and evil which they respect are not in our power , they imitate the nature of the objects that employ them , they encrease according to the causes whereof they partake , and they become more violent or moderate , according as things seem pleasant or dissatisfactory ; desire redoubles his strength when hope appears of his party , and flatters him with the possession of the benefit he hunts after . fear is augmented when the apprehended evil shews it self with more then ordinary horrors , or when working her own misery , she describes it more terrible then it is . what i have said of desire and fear may be applyed to all our passions , and as they arm without our command , and the objects that support them depend not of us , it must be confessed that it 's not in our power to bring them to reason , to moderate their fury , or hinder their running into excess . it 's a sort of folly to think that we have an enemy at our command whose insolence we may suppress , and to imagine that that governor is able to keep rebels in awe , who was not prudent enough to prevent their taking up of armes , putting into the field , and forming an army to offer him open battel . although this arguing be bold yet it is unanswerable even in aristotles opinion , and they that would enervate it must have recourse to their own weaknesses to lessen its force . they say it is very difficult for a man to gain so absolute a power over himself , as to command all his inclinations , to see beautiful faces , and to be insensible of love , to look upon a threatening evil , and not to fear its arrival , to have treasures laid before him , and to have no desire to them , to be injuriously and despitefully used , and not to let anger arise , to have his pleasant edifices destroyed , his lands violently forraged , and his goods plundered , and he not afflicted . such favors are only bestowed upon beatified persons , we must be separated from humane commerce to obtain them , and we must mount the heavenly mansions to consider the glories of this world with indifference , and to behold all the revolutions that are wrought in it without disturbance . if this objection be the chief foundation of the contrary opinion , yet is it not very strong but in shew , it reproves our practice , but diminisheth nothing of our abillity , it declares the faults of fools , and hides the perfections of wisemen , and without survaying mans nature , it excuseth his sordidness and considereth not his advantages . man is naturally generous , he hath not yet attempted any thing but what his industry hath overcome , and all those difficulties which the academia opposed to his undertakings , have only served to augment his glory and admire his courage . the most wild and savage passions have yeilded to his power , and all that fury wherewith they were animated , could not hinder his constraining them to the obedience of his laws ; his power is equal to his will in this point , from his own courage he obtains what ever he desires to execute , and all his faculties are so subservient , that he hath often drawn services from them , that seemed impossible to nature . some humorists have refrained smiling , and pursuing their resolution have banisht from their countenance that pleasant property which distinguisheth us from other creatures . temperance hath taught others to suppress their appetites , and hath so much forced their own inclinations as never to tast wine . some have defended themselves against the violent assaults of love , have had in derision all those pleasant faces that have made so many idolaters in the world ; and have so much conquered themselves as to become masters of a passion that hath all men for slaves . there have been others that have so far commanded themselves as to live without sleep , and have made watching so familiar to them as that they have not been seen to close their eye-lids . in fine , man is absolute in his goverment , he hath not undertaken any thing which he brought not to perfection , difficulties have discovered his strength ; and we have seen nothing so irksom which he hath not surmounted when he joyned perseverance to his courage . the labors then which he ought to imploy to gain this perfection , ought not to divert him from so glorious a design , and without hunting for many reasons to prompt him to it , it will suffice that he reflect upon his own life to be taught , that it is as easy to conquer as to moderate his passions . the greater part of his actions are real punishments , all that he does is mixt with disquiet ; and i know not but it might be more easy for him to live without passions , then to act what he daily performs . for what is more delightful then a vertuous vacation , and what is more toilsom then anger ? what is more tranquil then clemency , and what more turmoiling then cruelty ? continence begets content , but love is unsatiable , modesty loves to be at quiet , but desire delights in trouble , humanity is quiet , but confidence is ever busied . in fine , vertue is treatable with sattisfaction , but passions are not conversable without hazard of conscience rest or liberty . from all these discourses it 's not difficult to conclude , that a wise man may be without passions , since they are not natural to him ; since sense and opinion are their springs , since their services are dangerous , and that he cannot employ them in his necessities , without injury to his liberty or courage . the second part , of passions in particular . the first treatise . discourse i. of the nature of joy. pleasure hath made so deep an impression on the minds of men , that few there are that plead not her cause ; the philosophers that condemn her in their writings pursue her in their studies , and in private they make love to her whom publickly they persecute ; the severest of them court her , they are easily overcome of an enemy that entertains them with nothing but delights ; and they confess they are not valiant enough to resist the charms of a mistress whose perfections are proclaimed by so many famous authors , and who adorn her with so many reasons to invite men to seek her . epicurus whom we may call the panegyrist of pleasure hath so beautified her in all his works , that men have not scrupled to declare themselves her lovers , being informed of her advantages , and they thought they might lawfully consecrate their affections to her in whose service all vertues are employed , and to whom all passions are slaves . if we give credit to the most eloquent of orators , that philosopher never made any thing so glorious in all his writings , and he discovered himself much captivated by her love , when he permitted his pen such ridiculous extravagancies , so disadvantagious to his honor . for he creates her the queen of vertues , he sets her on a throne so glorious as he can hardly afford his gods to be equal to her ; he places all those noble habitudes at her footstool , he gives them in charge to observe all her commands , he forbids them to undertake any thing without her order , and he fancies that vertues are sufficiently honoured when he assigns them employments in her service ; he directs prudence to be careful of her preservation , to prevent all things that may annoy her tranquillity , and to use her utmost skill to strengthen her power . he commands justice to be liberal in her favor , to divide estates with discretion , not to let her suffer an injury , and to make all men her friends by doing good to every one . fortitude must defend the body against grief , she must not suffer that choice companion with whom she commonly makes her abode , to be assaulted by sickness ; and if she cannot totally hinder it , she must , at least , endeavour to moderate the rigors thereof by the remembrance of past delights . temperance must regulate her inclinations , prescribe the seasons , quantity and quality of her meat and drink ; and must so use her to sobriety , that she must abhor debaucheries , and love nothing but what is easie to acquire . but above all , care must be taken so to correct the qualities of the elements of which she is composed , that one entrench not upon the other , that grief or anger discompose not the constitution , and that health , in which her greatest happiness consisteth , be no way interrupted by diseases . the erection of so unreasonable an empire alarm'd all philosophers . they that had before allowed pleasure a seat in their schools , could not now suffer so unjust an usurpation ; and judging it to be the most insolent act of a shameless man to put vertue under the subjection of her enemy , they all made head against the author ; and although they had no other weapons but tongue or pen wherewith to assault him , yet did they charge him with so many reproaches , that his disciples are at this day in despair of procuring his justification . true it is that aristotle makes an excuse for him , when he mixeth delight with human actions , when he makes joy the companion of our occupations , and assures us that pleasure is not less useful to the body than necessary to the mind . that joy sweetens our toyls , recruits our tyred vigor , administers comfort to the miserable , and gives us all those advantages which other passions promise us . that nature stands in need of refreshments , that she becomes weary by continued labours , and that she must be comforted by divertisements , if we expect renewed services from her . he adds , that the enjoyment of a benefit becomes irksom if it be not attended with delight , and that it is an abuse of our faculties and sense not to employ those aids that nature hath given us to bring our travels to perfection . in fine , that joy is natural to us , that she is nourished with us from the cradle , that she is mixt with all the actions of life , and that it is a self-cruelty to employ her otherwise than that common mother intended . i know that this doctrine is not to be condemned without being accounted stupid or savage in the peripatetick opinion , and that it is a kind of temerity to attempt the destruction of a passion whose lovers are all the poets , whose panegyrists are all orators , and whose advocates are most of the philosophers . yet must we declare that in seneca's principles she is of no use to vertue , that vertue is too generous to seek her satisfaction out of her self , that she is happy in her own deserts , and esteems it even a dishonour to look upon pleasure as her end , and to use her as a means to accomplish it : likewise those that make love to her pretend to no other rewards but the enjoyment of her self ; they esteem themselves happy enough when they can obtain her ; and though death or envy be sometimes the price of their fidelity , they cannot be perswaded to forsake her . but then their motive is unlike that of other men ; for besides that these undertake nothing but what they are hurried to by their self-interests , setting up pleasures for the recompense of their labors , and love not vertue but because they hope to find delights among her attendants ; they lay hold on benefits that are but such in show ; and , abused by common opinion , they seek their felicity amongst things that are the causes of their sorrow . some imagine that wealth is able to procure their happiness , and leaning upon the esteem that most men make thereof , they promise themselves pleasure by the acquisition of riches . others are pleased with honors , and perswading themselves that praises are often the fruits of vertue , they place their felicity in airy titles . some are so sensual and effeminate as they affect only infamous or superfluous things , those feasts that were invented for their recreations become their whole imployment : they take delight in the conversation of dissolute women , and they would deem their lives miserable if they should be deprived of those objects that flatter their tast or their lust . some others more generous aspire to grandeurs , they draw vanity from the multitude of subjects , and as if their felicity encreased by the number of their slaves , they please themselves only in the sacking of towns , in the ruine of countries , and in the conquest of kingdoms . others there are that vainly boast of their learning , they employ the fairest part of their life in contemplating natures wonders , they think there is nothing more noble than the knowledg of their essence ; and although they cannot but know that such skill will not render them more vertuous , yet cease they not to lodg their felicity in it . but all these delights have so little coherence with innocence and tranquillity , that we cannot engage with them without losing the one and hazarding the other ; their brevity is an evident mark of their fallacy , and seneca said most truly that as intemperance charmed the misery of drunkards by a delightful madness that lasted for a moment , so those objects afford divertisement only to make men the more sensible of sorrow when the vanity that attends them is discovered . to make judgment of a mans happiness we must know if he be of an even temper in all his actions , if his joy be as constant as the vertue from whence it proceeds , if he change not his resolution with the variety of objects , and if he preserve the same measures in time of prosperity as in the state of adversity . a wise man ought to imitate the stars fixt by god almighty in the firmament , he ought to consider the sublunary revolutions without alteration , and the evil that assaults him ought no more to discompose him , then the splendid favors of fortune to swell his mind . it must not then be wondered if the stoicks maintain so fierce a war against pleasure , since they find it void of reason ; if they condemn the use thereof since it runs always to excess ; and if they banish it from the court of their wise man , since it most commonly proceeds from causes as unjust as imaginary . for , to speak properly , opinion is the fountain , this fantastick which seduceth our understanding , corrupts our will , and disguising the nature of the objects , leads us into delights that either abuse or make us guilty . for which cause zeno thought it no offence against truth , to describe joy , an inclination of the soul against nature , occasioned by the opinion of a delightful thing , that seemed to afford us content : for what advantages soever aristotle invents to feed our delights , it must be said that opinion is their mother , that the objects are the authors , that the principle , and their use would never please us if we were not perverted by the report that opinion delivers of them . from thence it comes that a sick man takes delight in things hurtful , that a vicious man rejoyceth in debauchery , that a lover takes pride in his servitude , that princes build their glory upon the honors given to them by their subjects , and that the vainly curious make idols of flowers , pictures and images . likewise we see that when the mind becomes disabused , that truth succeeds the outward shews , and that reason discovers all these pleasures to be but the effects of opinion , and the employments of sick or idle persons , they soon alter their minds ; that which before flattered their sense , they now despise , those grandeurs that limited their pretensions become void of charms to stay their desires , they cease to admire dangerous beauties , and they finally turn persecutors of them whom before they adored . saint austin in his confessions is astonisht that god should be satisfied with his own felicity , that his will should be unchangeable , and that one and the same essence should always be the cause of his happiness : that the angels should be eternal in their affections , that their love should be as constant as their knowledg , that they should be inseparably knit to the subject of their glory , and that man only should delight in change , that the injoyment of benefits which he hath violently purs●ed should become nauseous to him , and that he should so much love novelty , as often to convert his greatest pleasures into torments . some philosophers thought they had satisfied this doubt , by alleadging that man drew his inconstancy from the heavens , and that being composed of a mixt body , which is always in agitation , he cannot but partake of its qualities . some others have thrown this defect upon nature , they say that his condition is incompatible with rest , that his greatest content is in variety , and that as he is seldom in one and the same mind , it ought not to seem strange that his temper so often differs . but what reasons soever they assign , we must conclude with seneca , that opinion is the only cause of this inconstancy , that it is she that alters his resolutions , that runs his understanding into error , that makes him approve what himself condemns , and perswades him that without sinning against his own judgment , he may prefer a greater before a smaller benefit . discourse ii. that the love of beauty is an enemy to reason , and that it is not so much an effect of nature as opinion . be silent lascivious poets , profane no more our altars with your false divinities , this god to whom you sacrifice is but the work of your own frothy imagination , and this monarch whom ye make to have so great a dominion upon earth is but a chymera by you formed , to lead us into the paths of vice , or to authorize your own extravagancies . forbear the abasement of your own grandeur to magnify the power of an imaginary tyrant . forsake your excellent art of rhyming , if you cannot make verses but to seduce us ; and finally learn from reason that that love whose frequent victories you proclaim is but the destemper of mad-men , and the passion of indiscreet persons . it will henceforth avail you nothing to dedicate temples to this false god , to make all the kings of the earth his slaves , to subject all your gods to his government , and to load him with all the titles which the extravagancies of antiquity invented to distinguish the immortal diety whom they worshipped . all those delightful lies are now out of credit , it belongeth no more to the impious to speak your language , and it must be the loss of conscience and reason to become either your disciple or protector . what is there in fact more ridiculous then for an idle prattler to make heaven a partner in his debaucheries , to excuse his crimes by the example of his gods , to give in their incests for bail to his adulteries , and setting up love as superior to his jupiter , perswades us that he is transmitted into a swan to enjoy callisto , that he is changed into a bull to ravish clytemnestra , and that he is tempted to assume the form of a satyre , the better to act the part of a buffoon . we may say that malice is arrived to an extrem , when infamous things do not only divertize us , but delight us , when vices become our manners , and that we increase our miseries by the remedies that should be their cure . love is not so pleasing a passion as to invite men to erect him altars , and they have plainly discovered that they knew but the meanest part of his nature , when they went about to make him the glory and delight of lovers . for although the other motions of the soul be irksom , that their violence quarrels reason , and that their humor be not less opposite to justice then temperance , yet have they this advantage upon love , that they allow us respite , and that after having made us feel their fury , they leave us in a condition wherein we tast a kind of rest . desire doth not always torment us , and so soon as hope makes but shew of leaving him , he falls a sleep . sorrow doth not always throw us into despair , and by giving her but the least assistance you may draw her from her abasement . anger , that wild and untreatable passion , is not always in the persuit of vengeance , she will take her ease when she hath troubled us a while , and when she has gnawn the bit she is at quiet . but love will grant us no cessation , he persecuteth his slaves at all times , his favors are as fatal as his disgraces , and it is not easy to judg whether his scorns or his carresses be most dangerous . those beauties for which men languish , are the cause of all their miseries , if they flatter their hopes they encrease their flaming desires , and they tumble headlong into insolence and extravagance if they answer not their expectations . the liberty which that glorious sex vouchsafeth to man to approch their persons proves as pernicious as their commands not to presume to come into their presence , they fight against the one and are vanquisht by the other ; and our condition is so miserable , that we cannot practise them without being their slaves , nor endure difficulty to obtain their favors , without becoming their martyrs . what greater torment can an enemy be condemned unto , then to love a creature that derides or makes her triumphs of his liberty ? what greater cruelty can be invented then to make men idolize a mistress that either maintains her rigor , or perseveres in her kindness ? both one and the other are as dangerous as dishonorable : and if a man be unjust to bestow his affection upon a person that disdains his adaddresses , he is mean spirited when he submits to her who ought to obey him . likewise they that discourse most solidly of loves essence , are in doubt to believe that it is natural to man , they assure us that there is another principle in him which the art of physick hath not yet discovered , and that a passion which overthrows the order of nature cannot be of her production : for , say they , if love be born with us , it must be common to all men ; that the objects by which some are insnared ought to make impression on the minds of others , that the shame and infamy that attends it ought not to divert them , and that by a necessary conclusion , one woman should have all men for suitors , or one man should have all women for mistresses . but because the inclinations of men are different , that one and the same object procures love and hatred to divers persons , and that one views with indifference what another beholds not but with admiration . they infer that love is not natural , that opinion is the mother of this diversity of wills , who represents us things other then indeed they are , and makes us conceive a love for that which is unworthy of it . those faces to whom heaven hath not been liberal in favors , are not altogether freed from suspition , some men fall in love with baboons in feminine habits . uncleanness is sometimes as ugly as shameful , and it is not more ordinary for the deformed to love , then common for the beautiful to be courted . all the parts of the body unite when they are employed in the work of nature , the senses that are uncapable of conduct , constrain their assistance to succor or enlighten her , and the faculties of the soul are so subserviant to her , that they always abandon their private differences to execute her orders . but love dispiseth all her precepts , weakens her vigor , corrupts her inclinations , opposeth her dictates and by a fury as blind as unjust poureth confusion into all her dominions . never is man less reasonable then when he is seized by this passion , and he never appears more indiscreet then when he gives ear to his counsels or admits his suggestions . the most noble of his habitudes vanish at the appearance of this tyrant , his courage flags , his counsels are uncertain , his strength transmutes into temerity , and having no thought for any thing but the subject of his passion , he becomes as useless to his friends as burthensome to himself . the poets had some reason to feign that their jupiter intermitted his own felicity when he descended from heaven to be a companion of women , that the conversation of creatures so little valuable , debased his condition , that the empire of love was incompatible with his person , and that he did necessarily cease to be a god so often as he subjected himself to his slaves . although these wise prattlers might think that their god was unchangable , and that they had more in design to publish the power of love , then to make him a soveraign of the diety to whom they paid divine adorations ; yet may it be said that this fable is become a real truth upon earth , and that the passion which they feigned to prescribe laws to their gods , swallows up mankind , and guides the inclinations contrary to their nature . he is so powerful upon their minds that he changeth all their faculties , he makes the fearful audacious , he inspires the niggard with liberality , he engageth the most generous to serve in vile and ridiculous actions , he abaseth the proud , he makes wise men carry fools baubles , and by a new metamorphosis he turns dunces into poets and orators . but as these are strained disguises , which ought to be rather attributed to the force of fancy , then to the power of the thing loved , they easily return to their first inclinations , they renounce their amours to pursue what is more suitable to their humors , they become at last the persecutors of those beauties which before had made them idolaters : for as soon as the sun of reason begins to dart forth his lights , that the judgment examins his first decrees , and that the will acknowledgeth his errors , then he learns without much preaching , that love is imperious , that he cannot be obeyed without hazard of liberty , that a man is a slave so soon as he becomes subject to his laws , and that kings ought to think of laying down their crowns from the hower that they become amorous . let plato exercise his oratory in favor of love as much as he will , let him make it the governor of arts and sciences , and let him give it , if he please , the glory of having submitted the whole earth to his empire , he shall be constrained to acknowledg that it is the most sordid and the most blind of our passions , and that he must have lost both his sense and his reason that becomes his advocate . for what can be shewed us more unworthy of a man , then to subject him to a woman , to make him forsake his understanding to follow her fantastick humor , and to creep so far into her dominion , as to have no desires but what are hers , no resolutions but what proceed from her lips , nor any authority but what is confirmed by her decrees . sometimes , as if the beauty he adores were a diety , he grows pale in approaching her person , he trembles as often as he sees her , his tongue gets the cramp , when he would speak to her , and his soul distracted with excess of the passion , can form nothing but nonsensical and imperfect words . we must truly say that love is an enemy to nature , since it violates all her laws , changeth the constitution of the most noble part of her workmanship , and that leaving him in a condition where he hath no more the command of himself , he can undertake nothing that is not ridiculous or irregular . to avoid them all these disorders , and to defend our selves from the tyranny of so malignant a passion , reason must timely prevent his assaults , and we must consider before we engage with such an enemy , that the object to which he would draw us is not in our power , that it is a benefit that cannot contribute to our felicity , and that the greatest beauties are heavenly presents placed upon womnes faces , only to punish the folly of indiscreet and curious persons . that this delightful proportion of parts is an advantage of as small continuance as of great danger , that it 's a flower that fades in few days , and a favor of nature , to which all the accidents of life may prove injurious . in fine , that beauty is but a sun that borrows all his vertue from our opinion , and which would be void of light if it drew not it's splender from our blindness . indeed , if love had not found the way to put out mens eyes he had long since been a king without subjects , we should have been no more souldiers listed under his command , those who fight under his banners would become his greatest enemies , and they would disdain to prostitute their affections to a mistress whose chiefest excellence is nothing but what she hath borrowed from the vain esteem of foolish men . but love knows so well how to disguise her defects , that he sees not any thing in her of which he raiseth not the price , he makes her apparent blemishes to pass for currant perfections , and though she be often endued but with ordinary charms , he forbears not to give her excessive praises . he ravisheth the lilly of her whiteness to colour her face , he steals the blush of roses to embellish her cheeks , he dims the glistering of the stars to increase the brightness of her eyes ; and to hear him speak of her , nature hath nothing wonderful in the creation which is not summed up in her person . he resembles those idols that have eyes and see not , he sees notable defects , but observes them not , and although his sight be continually fixt upon her face , yet can he not discern her spots from her perfections . mans condition were very deplorable if this passion were without remedy , and if the fountain whence it springs were as necessary as common . but as it draws its original from opinion its duration is equal to that which supports it : the same cause from which it hath its original stifles it , and lovers most commonly find the cure of their distemper in the cause that procured it . some have conquered their amours by seeing their mistress in a morning undrest ; those whom they beheld in the day time as goddesses , seemed monsters at the escaping from their beds , they could no more consider their aspects without disdain , and they began to learn without the consultation of philosophers , that women owe their glory to the splendor of ornaments , and the greatest proportion of their beauty to the opinion of their slaves . others have prevented the love of this sex by that of arts and sciences , they have withdrawn their senses from pleasure to employ them in the contemplation of nature , and , charmed by the attractions of truth , they preferred the study thereof before the possession of the greatest beauties of the earth . the consideration of the shortness of the pleasure has made others treacherous to their own affections , and they became the enemies thereof by the remembrance of the pains which they caused them to suffer : they could not resolve any longer to cherrish a mistress whose conversation furnisht them with nothing but shame and repentance ; and who after a moment of divertisement plunged them into a condition equally shameful and unhappy . alexander the great was cured of this evil disease by ambition , the desire of fame begat him the title of continent , as his valor did that of conqueror of the world , and in st. austins sentiments , it 's not easy to decide whether he was prouder when he fought against himself or when he gave battle to his enemies . but every one sees that reason is more effectual then these several ways of curing this distemper , that she is more absolute in man then ambition ▪ that her power is beyond that of curiosity , and that she that regulates all his actions may more easily become the soveraign of love , then opinion and covetousness . for as mans will is free he may cease to love when himself pleaseth , he may recover his liberty as often as he looseth it , and even as to love a thing he need but will it , so to chase away the desire of it , it is sufficient not to will it . discourse iii. that learning is vexatious and the pleasures of knowledg are mixt with grief , danger and vanity . philosophy owns nothing in nature more glorious than her self , all her participants take share in her grandeur , and although she suffers not her suitors to draw vanity from their applications , she dares commend her self without fear of offending against the good manners she makes profession to teach them . the delights she promiseth to such as court her , seem to her too innocent not to attract their love , and she concludes that a man must be without courage or without reason to refuse her his affection , when he has discovered her merit . she is so noble in her pursuits that she is busied only in the contemplation of the chiefest good , and she is so delightful in her employments that her conversation is never without satisfaction ; for besides that she is the companion of vertue , that she shews us the secrets of nature , that she lifts us up into heaven to inform us of her wonders , and that she anticipates our felicity by the knowledg she gives us of our future happy estate , she fills the soul with content , she unites our spirit to the object which it seeks after , and opening wide the gates of truth , and disclosing all her charms , she seemeth to transport us from darkness to light , and from bondage to a glorious liberty . the contentment which man receiveth from the enjoyment of other things is always imperfect , the frailty of their nature threatens him with their deprivation , the crimes that usually follow it make him doubt their possession , and the difficulty he meets with to preserve them leave him but a mixt satisfaction of fear and grief . but understanding is a benefit which fortune cannot reach , the oppressors that rob him of his wealth cannot touch it , it remains with him when his goods and honors are sled away , and a wise man may boast of being happy so long as he preserves it . the utility of wisedom gives place in nothing to the contentments she promises , and if she have attractions to draw our love , she hath benefits to satisfy the hopes of her suitors . the prince of orators is not deceived when he stiles her the nurse of young men ; the stay of the aged , the succour of the afflicted , and the protector of the vertuous . he assures us that religion would be doubtful if she were not enlightened by knowledg , and that necessarily the spirit must disunite from the senses by understanding , to conceive her misteries ; that their is nothing more dangerous in a state then an ignoramus who emploies himself in explicating that doctrin that is above his reach , and that a kingdom looks towards it's ruin when philosophers cease to command , and the people to obey them . but though antiquity make so high an esteem of knowledg , and that the honors she bestowed upon the ancients obliged them to give her such glorious titles , yet the professors of divinity make her the most rigorous of their torments , and the most ingenious among them have confest that her pains surpass her pleasures ; and the labours that must be undergon for her , do much exceed the delights she affords us . her greatest business is to entertain us with matters as vain as useless , all her instructions are little more then eloquent words invented by subtilty to amuse us , and doubtless , a man is not much wronged , if he be denied that learning which he may be ignorant of to his advantage , and which he cannot know without danger . truth is so gentle that she permits all that court her to take her by the hand ; not to despise her , is sufficient to be admitted into her presence , and as the sun imparts his light liberally to all men , she comunicates freely to all those that seek her : she is obscure only where science hath bemisted her . those tracts which art hath beaten to come at her have made her inaccessible , that which ought to conduct us to her , has turned us out of the way , and man is assured to miss her so often as he emploies learning to find her . nature had endewed us with more ready helps to become better ; she hath fixt our felicity to our will , as she condemns all those habitudes which fill our heads with wind , she approves no skills that direct us not to vertue , she rejects all that sublime knowledg whereof the learned make their boast . she esteems them the inventions of ease , and delights which after having a while entertained our fancy leave us in dispair of finding her . those arts which we stile liberal , are but the pass time of youth , school-boys must learn them , and a man is not to converse with them any longer then while he is uncapable of more excellent knowledg . for if they be the beginning they are not the end of his studies , if they make part of our apprentiship , they are not to be our employment : and if they help to make us knowing , they contribute nothing to our vertue . also seneca acknowledgeth but one science that leads us to wisdom , that teacheth us modesty with the art of good expression , and that putting us into a state of liberty , at once inspireth us with the prudence of politicians , the valor of conquerors , and the constancy of philosophers . but she is so excellent that she admits no rival , she endures not inferior allies , and she would think it a treason against her own grandeur if she should vouchsafe them her company . as the designs of princes are not formed from the wild opinions of their people , and as commanders banish from their counsels those advices which conduce not to the end proposed , vertue rejects all that is not for her purpose , she retains but what is necessary ; and as she esteems it an injustice in a covetous man to wish for superfluous riches , she concludes that it would be a kind of intemperance in a wiseman to desire the knowledg of more then he needeth . we must not judg of the wisdom of a man by the multitude of things he hath learned ; religion takes offence when we study her mysteries rather for knowledg than reverence , she commands that practice should be the end of our travels , and she permits us not to be of the number of them who spend their whole lives in the search without the love of truth . when god placed man in the terrestrial paradice , he inspired him only with the knowledg of things needful for him , although the favors wherewith he honoured him were excessive . he limited his science , he would not he should learn what could not profit him ; and , in the opinion of tostatus , he sent him not the animals made of corruption to give names unto , but for that the knowledg thereof was not of use to him , too much learning is always insolent , and edifieth not ; as we find no conquerors that are not proud , we see no learned men that are not puffed up , divines can tell us that the proud angels strayed not from their duty but by having too much knowledg . aristotle was of opinion that the famous men of old were often guilty of fantastical actions , that they made small sallies which were little different from great follies , that their extasies surpast the strength of their reason , and that they could bring forth nothing above ordinary men which was not akin to fury . those great wits which antiquity puts amongst the number of prodigies , have not always been the wisest men , their works are not irreproveable no more than their lives , if they have written some things worthy of honor , they have left us others as ridiculous , and their disciples confess they had intervals in which they were not more reasonable than mad men . although this language be opposite to the common opinion of the people , and that the benefits of knowledg oblige men to give it reverence where ever they find it , yet i think it not hard to draw them to the contrary sentiment , and to obtain their assent , that the knowing men at this day are but delightful dotards who act the fool by authority , and teach impertinencies with approbation . for what is it that our professors of learning do when they instruct us to define all things by their chiefest attributes , to separate their nature from their properties , and , by the aid of propositions infer that vertue is a gender , that justice and prudence are the species , and that vertue is separable from temperance , but that temperance is not to be divided from vertue ? what profit do we reap from these formalities ? of what use is it to know how to compose a formal discourse ? to reduce an argument to an impossibility ? to frame sophisms to ensnare the unlearned ? and to use dilemma's and inductions to surprize the unskilful ? what advantage can we hope from the knowledg of natural philosophy , to be informed that the earth is solid , that god by his power can separate the form from the matter , that he unites at his pleasure two substantial forms into one compound , and directs the substance to produce a third by the intermediation of accidents , to which he communicates his efficacy ? what serves it us to discover the influences of the heavens , to know that the planets are corruptible , that the sun is a mixt not a pure element , that the stars are void of life , and that the whole earth is but a point compared with the firmament that surrounds it ? in fine , what advantage do we acquire when we are taught by divines that god is infinit ? that the unity of his nature agrees with the trinity of his persons ? that the father begets the son from all eternity ? and that the holy spirit proceeding from the father and the son hath the communication of their perfections ? were it not better that all the arts were banished the schools , than that they should entertain us with so many unedifying things , that they should teach us to regulate our wills rather than our fancies , and how to live vertuously , rather than to dispute well ? were it not to be wisht that logick , by which we flourish our harangues , by which we examine the property of speech , and which boasteth of laying open truth by the subtilty of arguments , taught us to reform our manners and to reject all these vain amusements of the mind , which benefit a wise man as little as they are troublesome and insignificant to the simple . were it not better that geometry , taught the rich to bound his desires , to divide a proportion of his revenues amongst the poor , than to shew him the art of taking the contents of his parks , the height of his palaces , and the extent of his lands ? were it not to be desired that the professors of divinity would discover to us the way to love rather than define the creator , and instead of informing us of his essence , and labouring to make us conceive the mysterious trinity of his persons by the unity of his nature , to teach us the ●wful adoration of him whom we are not able to comprehend , and to make us forgo all that is dearest to us in the world , to be united to him , who alone ought to possess all our affections . but the delight of all arts is the pleasure of discourse , they are swallowed up of the words that compose them , they are the minds diversion ▪ and not the employment of the will , they polish our speech , and our actions remain unrectified , and all the witty things they propose are but to divertize their lovers ; so that the greatest part of our sciences are properly but specious trifling imaginations , and i do not think that he could offend the learned , who should define knowledg to be the dreames of them that watch , and dreams to be the knowledg of them that sleep . these defects in knowledg would be tolerable , if other more dangerous consequences did not follow them , and that after having held their martyrs in hand with things that fall out to be of little use , they did not make them impious or insolent . for as she is of an imperious humor , suffers no opposition , pretends to understand all things , and would no less be thought to dive into the mysteries of faith than into the secrets of nature ; she is made use of to uphold vice , and is conversant about what has most of shew , and not about what hath most of truth , and , by an injustice contrary to that of idolatry , she employs the most sublime part of her skill , to bring in question or to overthrow the maxims and principles of religion . but not to discredit knowledg without authority , is it not she that hath so often changed the face of christendom ? did not philosophers become the first hereticks ? did not the ages of the greatest learning lean more to atheism than to religion ? and was the church ever more dismembred than when ecclesiasticks undertook to raise arguments upon her dignity and decrees . the diversity of their opinions stifled that charity which ought to have united her , and they ceased to be christians when they were become learned men , the desire that possest them of out-arguing their antagonists made their designs scandalous even to the heathen ; and those men of darkness were sufficiently enlightened to see that they who were looked upon as the pillars of the church , robbed her faith of assurance , her doctrine of evidence , and her councils of authority . doth not all europe complain at this day of the art of physick ? are not her remedies as cruel as hazardous ? the disputes of her doctors , have they not been the destruction of the greatest number of them that are gone down to the chambers of death ? do not physicians make traffick of human bodies without being arreigned at the tribunals of justice , when forgoing the instructions of their masters , they try the experience of new medicines at the price of our lives ? and see we not daily that they send death to their patients with the drinks that ought to cure them ? the churches and church-yards are full of their victims ; the marbles that cover them publish nothing but their injustice ; and if the stones , under which they lie were not insensible , they would openly accuse them of temerity and ambition : they would proclaim to all the world that they are deprived of life by using too much means to preserve it , that art hastened their sepulture , and that the multitude of medicaments was the only cause of their death . so that science which was invented to divert or comfort us , is turned into our chastisement , and it were to be wisht for the common good , that as she is banisht from amongst the turks and barbarians , she were also unknown to christians . for as she maintains that the cause from whence she proceeds is infallible , she becomes obstinate in her determinations , she approves of no waters but what are drawn from her own fountain , and building upon the certainty of her own authority , she from thence formeth consequences no less dangerous than to her they seem evident . in fine , knowledg is an immortal evil , her fury is without bounds , her malice exceeds the limits of time , and she is not less pernicious to man in the discovery of false doctrine , than when she invents reasons to intice him to defend or imbrace it . discourse iv. that the buildings and gardens of grandees are not so much the inventions of necessity as vanity . although in the precedent discourse , i declare war against philosophy , and by arguments drawn from senecas authority do discover plain enough the vanity and deceipt thereof , yet should i think it an offence against that justice so religiously observed in the schools , if i permitted not her adherents to stand up in her defence , and to make their appeals from that condemnation , to plead her cause , and bringing their bill of review , to set forth her perfections to cover her defects . her advantages are so considerable that we must be ignorant of her merit if we slight her too much , and reason must forsake us if we esteem not the most noble and most delightful of her rational productions . some have thought that we owe all our felicity to the observation of her maxims , that our glory consisted in her enjoyment , and that if our life were sustained by the aids of the gods , we became vertuous by the help of philosophy . in fine , they were not afraid to declare that we were more obliged to her then to nature which gave us being . that if we received this from heaven , we obtained vertue from that , and that a vertuous life being much above that which we hold in common with the beasts , we were more beholding to her instructions then to the bounty of the gods , if they were not as well the authors of knowledg as of life . it is easie to confirm this discourse by the grandeur of her employments , and to judg of the excellency of her nature by the different effects of her operations in the world. for although the most glorious of her exercises tend to the discovery of truth by her lights , to teach us the adoration of god as our soveraign , and to respect our neighbours as members of our selves . though she take upon her the care of instructing princes , of leading their subjects in the paths of obedience , of shewing fathers how to educate their children , and of furnishing states-men with those excellent rules by which to retain the people within the lemits of respect , and to make themselves dreaded of their enemies : yet would she think her labours ineffectual to their purpose , if she had not first allured them from their caves and forests , to give them the discipline of good manners ; and preserving to every one their right , taught them to erect houses , castles and citadells . indeed it 's she that invented architecture , that contrived the first mansions , and who raised sumptuous palaces for kings after she had built huts and cottages . ti 's she , saith an illustrious stoick , who taught our forefathers to mix sand and lime , to square marbles with iron , to hew timber with steel , to erect walls by aid of lime and plummet , and to spread lead and copper upon our houses . the proud buildings which at this day we behold with so much applause are the operations of philosophy , the architects that raised them are but the ministers , and what industry soever they have emploied to polish them , they stood in need of her rules both to begin and to finish them . we must be ingrateful not to honor her for so many good offices , her use binds us to esteem her , and it would be a kind of obstinacy to remain her opponent after having learnt how necessary she is . nevertheless by the principles of seneca we must say that she was not more successful when she found out the art of building , then when she formed the figures of sillogismes , and that she was not less fatal to man when she taught him to build palaces , then when she instructed the logicians to deceive the simple by sophistries , the physicians to commit homicides without punishment , and the lawyers to rob men of their estates and good name without fear of chastisement . indeed the mansions of great men are not always the retirements of innocence ; vice there reigneth commonly by authority , and what care soever the superintendant takes to preserve them from disorder they cannot in such families hinder the commission of those crimes which in huts and cottages are unknown . theives take the advantage of their woods and coverts to surprize the harmless unguarded traveller , the domesticks lead a disorderly life , the masters spend their time in play and riot their servants become lazie , their stewards grow rich , and their lords poor , and the frequenters of such houses , insensibly become vain and insolent . it is with families as with cities , the greatest are commonly the most vicious ; because men live in palaces more at their ease , they do not therefore lead more vertuous lives , vice attends plentiful tables , and be it that liberty or abundance facilitates the way to sin , experience sheweth that they who enjoy them seldom escape undepraved . but we likewise see , that divine justice gives commission to the works of great men to become their tormentors , they tremble in the midst of their palaces , they are afraid of death under the covert of their guilded ceelings , the cleft of a wall puts them into a fright , the clattering of a shutter drives their courage to a non-plus , and they fear their days to be at an end every time the wind breaks a pane of their windows , or puffs up a tile from their roof . the places of safety are not secure to them , and they are as much amazed to see the tapistry slip from the wall as if an earthquake had violently thrown up the foundation of their dwelling . how much more happy do i esteem the condition of our forefathers , who neglecting the art of building , contented themselves with the lodgings that nature had made them , those chambers which she had indented in the rocks served them for places of retreat , the open fields were their floores , a large heap of earth cased with moss , was their bed , and as vanity had not yet taught them the art of adorning their dwellings , they retired to the caves of the earth as to the places of their recreation . if they found a necessity of building houses , art had no share therein , the earth without opening her bowels , served them for foundations , mud mixt with straw was the matter , the spoiles of trees furnisht the roofs and covering , and two forked poles interlaced on each side supported the whole structure . the small accomodations that secured them from the outragious influences of the weather , were also their defence against ravenous beasts , and they lived more happily in those their huts , then princes do at this day in their glorious palaces . for they were free under straw and moss , and these are bondmen upon thrones of gold and ivory ; they found the contentment of happy men in their poverty , and these meet with the miseries of the damned in their plenty . though they possess all things , yet are they never satisfied , and it seemeth as if heaven had granted them the temporal blessing of abundance , only to render them eternally miserable . those men that were ignorant of the use of noble structures , who lived in woods and forrests , who built not but to defend themselves against the intemperatures of the air , past their time with content , their nights were not interrupted with vexatious thoughts , they awakened as chearful in the morning as they contentedly laid themselves down to rest over night . our cares commenced with the art of building , the edifices that enclose us ravish our rest , and it may be said we became unhappy , when knowledg perswaded us to forsake our dales and cottages to inhabit palaces and lordlike houses . a wise man that knows the vanity of our structures , despiseth them , he useth houses as places of refuge , not as apartments to dwell in , he looks upon them as fortresses invented by necessity to warrant him from injurious seasons , and without being concerned for the matter whereof they are composed , he lodgeth his felicity in his vertues and in his conscience ; he esteems his habitation sumptuous enough , when he hath vertue for his guest , he considers the mansions of noble men as the sepulchres of the living , he calls them the retreats of men that know how to hide themselves but not how to live , and whose spirits are mean enough to love their prisons , but wanting courage to despise them . they who delight in gardens are not more excuseable ; and what pretext soever they lay hold on to authorise their practice , they cannot escape the censure of philosophers . the pleasures which these men boast of tasting in such exercises , seem not to them sufficiently pure and innocent to rob them of their time ; and though they have promised to themselves great advantages by their fruits or beauty , yet could they never intice those reasonable men to approve such employments . they pass the sentence of blame upon them for that they conclude them unserviceable to wisdom , and they inveigh against their authors , because they entertain us only with things vain and forreign . socrates , who so perfectly understood the injustice and sordidness of our divertisements , banisheth this employment from his school , he prefers the city before the country , he adviseth his scholars to be citizens and not peasants ; and well knowing flowers and trees are speechless things , he perswades them by his own example not to consult those tutors , who if they be able to recreate their eyes , cannot satisfy their ears . i know that the romans made esteem of gardens , that the most famous amongst them made such their abode , that they disingaged themselves from the care of the empire to exercize a gardening life , and that a great number of their wise men retired to such places , the better to apply themselves to the study of philosophy . i know that the curious walks and plots of gardens , are friends to the muses , that the refined wits take pleasure in them , that the greatest part of those works we admire at this day , had their conception there , and that their shady retirements have often been of more use to the learned then the schools and conferences . there i know that the poets composed those verses that animated many men to glorious actions , that the orators there made their panegyricks in vertues favor , and that philosophers there taught us quietly to attend our change , to resist misfortunes with a resolution , and to expect death without fear . but i also know that gardens were made but for diversion , that they are the ordinary employments of insignificant men , and that the greatest number of such spend their time therein but for recreation . some are so linckt to them that they make it their whole business ; they pass away all their life in the observation of party coloured flowers , they form and contrive spacious walks only for delight , they invent mazes and labyrinths only to have the pleasure of being at aloss ; and if they adorn them with murmuring rivers , and reflecting fountains , it is but to renew their pleasures , to be charmed into a sleep by the noise of the waters that run from them . they spend a proportion of their revenues to buy onyons , they turn merchants of forraign plants , they value nothing but what was unknown in the gardens of their ancestors , and they would never be content if they thought they had not comprehended in their ground all the rarities that the earth produceth . what an extasie of joy are they in , when their garden has brought them forth a new flower , when a tulip is curiously streaked , when an emony is finely doubled , and that a pinck hath delightfully coloured her leaves with the mixture of bloud and milk ? but then again how are they distasted when the worms have got into their onion beds , when the sun hath withered a plant which they had carefully cherished in a curious pot , when the wind or the cold has kill'd a young wall tree ? we shall see some as much afflicted for these losses as others for a kingdom , and i cannot tell whether they would not better bear the death of the dearest of their friends , then the miscarriage of a fine tulip , or a curious emony . what more vexatious occupation could curiosity have invented to torment us , then to affect us with the art of gardening , to exercize a mans care to preserve flowers , and to convert the most innocent of recreations into matters of grief and vanity ? if then heaven have permitted us the delight of gardens , let us use them as places of refreshment , and not as retreats for idleness , let their shady beds and seats serve to unweary us , not to sleep in , let their obscure arbors put us in mind of the habitations of the dead , and not serve to act our private debaucheries in , and let all that we there meet with serve modestly to divert , not to employ us . let us not bid more for things then they are worth , let us judg of the beauty of our gardens by the report of wise not of curious men , and let us learn of them that all these odoriferous stars which we so much esteem , are but party colored knots of grass : and , to use the words of a greek-poet , zephyrus breaths , that last a few days and flatter our sight the better to make us bewail their loss , when they have changed their glory into corruption . discourse v. that the gaudiness of apparel discovereth the impudicity or pride of them that use it . man hath so great an affection for that which is good , that he cannot forgo the desire of it , the impious seek it , in their dissolute actions , the damned who live altogether in despair , wish for it , and they cannot forbear to hope the injoyment of that which is not possible for them to possess . as the presence of good is the cause of happiness , the absence thereof procures their torment . the impossibility of obtaining abates not their desires , they are constant to it in the midst of their punishments , and what pains soever they take to loose the love of it , they cannot banish it from their will , without the extremity of violence . they love god though they be his enemies , and they reverence his excellence in the person of his children , though they are not any more in a condition to communicate with him . this violent passion is an evident proof of their wants ; they affect what is good because they are indigent , and they desire not their creator but because he only is able to supply their necessities . although the love we have for beauty be not so natural as that which we bear to goodness , that the one be affixt to our substance and the other attend upon our will , that the one be an inclination of nature ; and the other but an effect of opinion , it is therefore not less universal , and i know not if there be any nation under heaven that have not therewith been attainted . the meridionals who banish formal courts and reveling from their assemblies , despise not gay cloathing , they put on rich apparel so oft as they desire to be seen in publick ; and deeming that their vestures set off the beauty of the body , they array it with their choicest ornaments . they set tufts of feathers on their heads , they fix diamonds and pearls to their ears , they dress the skins of beasts to cover them , they set off the blackness of their bodies by the whiteness of fish bones , and as if the pomp of their apparel made their persons more honorable , they draw vanity from the costliness of their attire . this passion , though guilty , is not by them condemned as criminal , she hath some qualities that make her glorious , her manner of operating is a copy of that of the diety , and adding to the body a beauty which before it had not , she gives us to understand that our seeking to her is not so much the mark of our indigence as of her liberality . she beautifies the body as the temple of god , and she is of opinion that she pays respect to the divine power within it , so often as she bedecks it with forraign ornaments . the politicians who boast of state conduct , imitate nature in this point , and as she distinguisheth the animals male from female by exteriour marks , they beget a difference of persons by the diversity of garments . they array kings in purple that they may seem the more majestical to their subjects , they give robes to senators as tokens of their employments , they separate the nobless from the yeomandry by the fleece and the garter , and they will have it that ornaments shall be as well the rewards as the signs of valour , but this judicious manner of cloathing is at present out of use , opinion hath abolished the motive . at this day we apparel our selves only for shew , the noble men wear their ornaments only out of vanity , and as the low estate is despicable , so the common people put on genteel habits only to dissemble their condition . it is hard now adays to distinguish a merchant from a gentleman by his apparel , one cloath covers them both , and if it were lawful to judg of the quality of a man by his garb , i know not whether ordinary persons would not often prefer a citizen before a knight . the citizens wives are as exquisitly drest as our ladies , the pearls and rubies which were formerly the ornaments of princesses , now magnify their necks and fingers ; the indies have nothing precious but it 's to be seen about their bodies : and some amongst them are such flebergebits that their attire must not be inferior to the rings and jewels of dames of the greatest quality . but as the one and the other are inexcuseable they will not be angry if i place them together , if i make it appear that they cannot adorn themselves without sinning , and that they become not less suspected of impudicity then pride , so often as they bedeck themselves to excess . nature doth so much resemble truth , that nothing upon earth can corrupt her : art which brags of being her ape , could never debauch her works , that purple which makes a king and the cowl that makes a hermite , alters not his face , and what artifice soever industry emploies to raise or abase it's beauty , she is not able to disguise the air and lineaments thereof . we see some women so charming that they dart love into men in despite of the rags that cover them ; and some are by nature so ill proportioned , that all our court inventions cannot render them pleasing , the splender of their attire encreaseth their defects , and they are never more deformed then when they are best accoutred , all that should set them off makes them ugly , and they cause their beholders to confess , that if ornaments do sometimes diminish the graces of the beautiful , they always augment the imperfections of the unhandsome . ladies , if this principle be true , and if experience constrain you to own it , though with some difficulty ; wherefore waste you so much time in your attire ? what is that spanish red with which you force your cheeks and lips to blush good for ? and of what use are all those jewels which rattle at your ears ? if you are deformed all these ornaments increase your defects , your faults are more visible when they approach the glory of your attire , and you carry nothing of less use about you then that which you employ to hide your unhandsomness . i know that you will fancy your selves to be beautiful , and that it would be an offence against that civility which you imagin to be due to your sex , not to think as you do . but if you believe it , why do you betray your own judgment by your practice ? why seek you after ornaments to adorn you , and thereby silently confess that ye are unhandsome , seeing ye have need of a forreign beauty to set off your own : innocence and purity are enemies to disguises , impurity and unworthyness seek coverts and off sets : things decent suffer not concealment , and a woman becomes doubtful of her own perfections when once she calls to her jewels and her silks for their assistance to purchase the vain title of beautiful . it 's true that what some of the most witty of the sex have to say for themselves is ingenious ; for they plead that it is to please their husbands , and as their happiness consisteth in the enjoyment of their good graces , they ought to employ their utmost skill to obtain and preserve them . but they forget that in designing to preserve the love of a man , they loose the favor of god , that in contenting their husbands , they beget impudicity in others ; and these committing adulteries upon their faces , they are the cause of unlawful desires . what a folly is it for a woman to prefer a bastard complexion to her own ? to drive nature from her cheeks by vermillion , and forfeit her own judgment for fear of her husbands censure ? it must be concluded that they esteem themselves deformed , since they falsify their own faces , and that they are first unpleasant in their own eyes , since they seek matter out of themselves wherewith to delight others . in fine , all that they alleadg for their excuse , tends to their condemnation , and without a formal philosophical process they may easily be found guilty by their own arguments . for if they be handsom , wherefore do they disguise themselves under so many different forms ? and if they be unhandsom , why do they betray their defects by smug pots and ornaments ? this dilemma puts the less extravagant to a nonplus , those that are not become shameless do own that they cannot adorn themselves without sinning , that their attires offend their conscience , as well as their honor , and that if adultery be odious because it is a violation of chastity , the luxury of apparel ought to be abominated , for that it corrupteth our nature . those christian ladies that lived in the primitive church , were far from this vain humor of apparel ; they despised outward ornaments because they were the testimonials of sin , they never clothed themselves without consideration of their mothers nakedness , and as they were chast and penitent , they would not make use of attires that should not put them in mind of her disobedience . they thought they were going to their own funerals , so often as they were obliged to dress themselves ; and making judgment of the misery of their condition by the greatness of the punishments inflicted on them they believed themselves condemned to dye , because they were constrained to carry about them the marks of their crime . being the daughters of eve , they were content if their shame were but covered , a peece of cloath served for that ; they thought it a sin against justice to be more richly clad then their parent , and glorying in the meanest of their apparel , they taught the dames of our days that there is no beauty but that of vertue , no comely white but that of purity , no lovely red but that of shame-facedness , no handsome or graceful behaviour but that of modesty . if the women of the world would take the pains to consult their guides upon this subject , and if these had candor enough to lay open their injustice , as they have sordid flattery to hide it , they would long since have learned that they cannot have recourse to artifices without fowling their conscience , and that they become guilty so often as they make use of gaudy attire and painting to set out their earthen vessels , and to imbellish their complexions . t is not to be a christian , saith the learned tertullian , to falsify the work of that god whom we pretend to adore , to preprefer fraud or art before that simplicity which he teacheth us , to cheat a man under pretence of pleasing him , and to disguise the face with design to ensnare him . doubtless our vain women must have given themselves up to the tempter , since he hath so much power over their will , since he draws services from them so disadvantageous to their own salvation , and hath so much the ascendant of their understanding , as to induce them to break the oath which they made in the day of their baptism . for if they will look back into that , they shall find there that they dedicated their liberty to the son of god , they promised to be his spouses , they protested the renounciation of all worldly vanities , and to have respect unto his commandments at the hazard of their lives . yet as if the corruption of the times gave them a dispensation from that oath of fidelity , they despise his laws , they oppose their own wills against his commands , and making a mock of the simplicity of his doctrin , they walk in all the paths that are contrary to it . we permit not our servants to hold correspondence with them against whom we stand at defiance , that souldier is chastized that keeps intelligence with the enemy , and it is a punishable crime in an army , to go out of the camp to parly with an adversary . and yet our christian women are not afraid to consult the divel , who is their common enemy , they take pride in being his disciples , they prefer his advices before the counsels of jesus christs , and without being sensible of the hazard they run of their salvation in following so dangerous and malicious a guid , they are content with a tutor that instructs them in impudence , vanity and prostitution . let those that idolize them bring what reasons they can for their excuse , they are not able to acquit them of sin , their intentions cannot be innocent , they are sufficiently guilty when they begin to delight in gaudy attire ; the aversion they have against keeping at home renders them suspected , those courtships and revels with which they are pleased , bring their pudicity in question ; and i might say that they cease to be vertuous from the time that they desire the company of men to see and to be seen ; beauty is exposed to temptation , it is an advantage as dangerous to them that enjoy it , as to them that behold it , and it sufficeth to know that she is of no use to the angels , that she brought a scandal into heaven , that she caused the second sin in the world , to perswade women to neglect , and men to disesteem it . the second treatise . of desire . discourse i. of the nature of desire . as a wise mans content is from within , he finds his felicity in his own breast , he draws his confidence from the sincerity of his conscience , and discovers nothing upon earth that is able to satisfie him but his own vertue , it ought not to be wondered if he reject his passions , and if after he hath examined their nature and properties , he finds them as disadvantageous to his rest as useless in his conduct . their ill usage has procured his hatred , and he drives them not from his soul , but because they breed seditions and disorders . the discourses which the peripateticks have formed to undeceive seneca in that belief , could not perswade him to receive them into his service , and what excessive commendations soever their writings have afforded them they could not bribe this generous spaniard , they hinder him not from declaring war against them ; and he considers them as the evil spirits that set themselves in opposition to vertue , as tyrants that conspire her ruine , and insolent subjects who brave her authority and despise her government . posidonius , who was not famous amongst the ancients but because he sided with the stoicks , thought he pleaded the cause of his gods as often as he opposed their adversaries , when he exhorted his disciples to scorn their assistance , and when he proved , by reasons drawn from morality , that passions were but the diseases of mad men , and the opinions of the ignorant . to hear this philosopher's discourse , the earth bears nothing more miserable than a passionate man , and , in his opinion , to restore vertue to her dominion , we need but banish her enemies which are our passions . this sentiment for being somewhat severe , is no opponent to reason , we find philosophers at this day who maintain it in the schools , and are not afraid to incur the censure of some divines by defending the doctrine of infidels . seneca blameth love for that he is always interessed , because he seeks his own advantage in the object he hunts after , because he respects fortune and not the person , and for that his duration is no longer than while he is fed by pleasure or profit . he condemneth fear because she is umbragious , she hastens our misfortunes by her foresight , she is tormented before the afflictions touch us , and unites the present with the future to make us unhappy . he opposeth sadness because she is injurious to mankind , she wounds his body , she troubles his understanding , and is not less offensive to one and the other in her moderation than in her excesses . but he is never more animated against passions than when desire would be admitted into employment , and he demonstrates by reasons as evident as efficatious , that he cannot lawfully act any thing for us : and that that man must not give him any business who will not hazard his liberty and rest . to apprehend this doctrine well , we must suppose with zeno , that no action can be good which is not agreeable to nature : in the morals of this great philosopher , whatsoever strays from this universal law is vicious , and a man cannot boast of being vertuous any longer than he governs himself by her rules . for as all her instructions are divine , she ordains nothing but what is equitable , and every man ought to obey her , that will not set himself to overthrow the purpose of her author . kings , who are the gods of their people , are subject to her laws ; among christians we accuse them of sacriledg against god , who transgress her ordinances ; and no man becomes guilty of their violation , but he is deemed a monster in the judgment of all men . the justice of her laws renders such as offend against them more guilty ; as she is the disciple of truth , we cannot violate her commands without offending her master . what ever issues not from this spring is vicious , and we may be assured of falling headlong into danger every time we shut our eyes against this light. from hence it comes that philosophers maintain so bloody a war against desire , because he slights her precepts , he is insatiable in his pursuits , and contrary to nature , who is content with little , nothing but infinity must be his bounds ; philosophy , as ingenious as she is , hath not yet found the way to give him satisfaction , he is insolent notwithstanding her precautions , the remedies which she hath composed to heal him , have only served to enflame his feaver , and she is not cleared of the imputation of having taught him to long for excessive things , by permitting him to seek after supposed necessaries . for as he is ambitious he always meditates new conquests , the riches he already enjoys content him not , he aspires to them that are out of his reach ; and as if he were immortal and infinite , he gains new strength from that which one should think should stifle him . a man who thinks of nothing but what yet is to be received , easily forgets what he hath already obtained , he ceaseth to take pleasure in present enjoyments , and having all his thoughts bent upon the future , he confesseth that he is needy in the midst of his wealth . but his poverty proceeds from his ingratitude , he is indigent because he is unthankful , and he is not miserable but because he slighteth the benefits he hath received , to hunt after the things which he expects . an ambitious man was never seen to be content with his condition , he languisheth under the hopes of renued grandeurs , those which he already enjoys are but the ladder by which he climbs , he looks upon them which are above him and not upon those of a meaner state ; and he hath less pleasure to see many behind him , then disquiet to behold one before him . his desire encreaseth with his power , and as he considers not from whence he came , but whither he tends , it permits him not to stop in that to which he had imprudently aspired . a lascivious person loves diversity , he stays not long upon one beauty , one and the same object delights and displeases him in a few days , and as if his love made him lose her allurements , he forsakes her to seek another . a covetous man is never satisfied , he resembles the bottomless pit which swallows all ; the wealth which he gathers augments his appetite , and who so could sound the depth of his thoughts would see that he wisheth for the death of all men , that he might become master of their treasures . the study of our own inclinations is sufficient to confirm these truths : we never lose the desire of augmenting our estates , we can hardly believe that we have wealth enough , our fortunes displease us when we make comparison with our neighbours . sometimes , by a strange humour , we deem the favours that are done us to be injuries , and , suffering our selves to be surprized with suspition , we think our selves offended , when the things given us are not correspondent to our expectations . this disorderly passion caused the death of the first emperor ; that valiant prince was massacred for not being able to satisfie the desires of his adherents ; the pride and covetousness of his friends were more fatal to him than the rage of his enemies , and he saw himself pierced thorough the sides in the midst of the senate , by those whom he had obliged but was not able to satiate . although he managed his conquests liberally , and reserved nothing to himself but the power of dividing the spoils amongst his souldiers , he could not render them content because they altogether demanded that which one could but wish for . if a man who desireth be insatiable , he is not less inconstant ; and though he covet all yet is he irresolute in his designs . he changes his wishes according to the objects that present , he abandons a real good , to choose one that is but such in shew ; and as he is at liberty in his will , he expaciates himself upon all that he fancies to be of use or delight to him . the hope of a fresh advantage stirs up his faculties , and raising diversity of desires in the reasonable appetite , he is so much the more inflamed as he meets with difficulties in the obtaining . the good of another appears to him attended with more charms than those which himself possesseth ; and it sufficeth him to apprehend that a thing is out of his power to make him affect it . for as he is unlucky in his choice , and seldom finds that benefit that fully contents him , he esteems what he hath not , he doubts of the reality of what he enjoys ; and , being not much taken with it , he easily forsakes an ordinary benefit to aspire after a better . our desires have so much coherence with the things we covet , that they follow all their motions , they alter their humors when these change their faces , they abate of their violence when these lose any thing of their advantage ; and , by a contrary faculty , they encrease their eagerness when these put on new beauties . from thence it cometh that we commonly differ from our selves , that our last resolutions make war upon our first designs , that we aspire to the things which we despised , that repentance succeeds our vows , and that we are as little satisfied in prosperity as in a low estate . but although that the objects feed our desires , that they are the first causes of their agitation , and that they may bear the imputation of our disquiet and disorder , yet have they need of opinion to procure the esteem of men ; their charmes are not powerful enough to seduce the understanding without our own approbation ; and they would make but light impressions upon us , if that fickle counsellour were not retained for them . all those advantages which we so much prize have nothing praise-worthy but our own admiration , they are not valuable but because we esteem them so : wealth and honours are not in vogue but because they are reverenced of the common people , and men would never become proud and covetous , if they hearkened not rather to the bruit of the world than to the instructions of nature . in most of our sentiments we are unjust , we measure the worth of things by other mens reports , we seek them because they are esteemed ; and , to say all in few words , we commend them not to love them , but we love them because they are commended . also the stoicks define desire to be an eruption of the soul towards an absent good , upon which opinion hath set a price , and which she hunts after contrary to the laws of nature . for what dexterity soever morality makes use of to keep him in order , he is equally blind and insolent . he is inexorable to vertue , he despiseth her maxims , and is so much an enemy to reason , that he always forsakes her party to joyn with her adversaries . though hope be the succour of the miserable , she is nevertheless unjust ; she abandons solid benefits to seek after perishable advantages , she promiseth what she cannot perform , and against natures oeconomie she affords nothing more delightful than perpetual agitation . audacity which is a desire of combat , is not more reasonable , she undertakes things above her strength , she atacketh danger and knoweth it not , and she often precipitates her self into destruction , designing it for her enemy . anger is a pestilence to nature , she maintains enmity amongst men , she looks upon the offender and not the offence , and as she is as savage as proud , she torments her guests before she gives them vengeance for the outrage they have received . but as the calamities which these three passions bring us into are too great to be comprehended in this discourse i , have assigned them the three last of this treatise after i have shewed in the two following the injustice of desire in ambition and covetousness . discourse ii. that the desire of greatness and wealth , plungeth men into misery and sin. soveraignty is so ancient and her conduct so necessary to government , that she is not to be dissolved without sending nature back to the chaos , she is the only pillar of human affairs , the line that unites all the parts of the common-wealth , and the vital spirits which animate all the members that compose it . for , as man is a friend to society , and that society cannot subsist without peace , as peace followes union , as union is inseparable from good order , and as good order cannot be without dependance nor dependance without authority . policy hath happily invented government , she got the people to be subject to magistrates , she placed princes at the head of the nobles , and according to that instinct that is common to all men , she made servitude necessary to us , and obedience delightful . isaac , who is lookt upon in scripture as the model of politicks , thought he did esau no wrong when he commanded him to obey his younger brother : this preference according to the words of philo was not so much a maladiction as a testimony of his love , he satisfied the divine justice by hearkening to the solicitations of his wife ; and knowing that a man that lives by his weapon is subject to many passions , he judged he might appoint jacob to be his governor without injury to his primogeniture . it was with this reason that the roman common wealth justified her usurpations ; that she perswaded the world that her conquests were lawful , since their empire became beneficial to the people whom they overcame , and that giving them philosophers to instruct them in vertues , they made their subjection of greater advantage to them then their liberty . that as the body obeys the mind , and reason commands our passions , they alleadg that the weaker ought to submit to the stronger , cowards to valiant men , and the less perfect to the more accomplisht . this feeble argument hath made so strong an impression on the spirits of ambitious men , that they thought they might lawfully aspire to greatness , that the desire of honors was not so much a mark of pride , as of generosity ; and that the most excellent thing in this world might be sought after without scruple . they affirmed , with much reason , that man was born to command , that nature had given him extraordinary parts for that purpose , and that as she had granted strength to wild beasts to offend or defend , policy to some to avoid the hunters , and swiftness to others to fly from their enemies ; she had : placed in man a generous spirit fit to command , which delighted in dignities , and which esteemed all things below himself but government and empire : in fine , that the passion that made him affect greatness was natural to him , that soveraignty was approved of all nations , that the son of god proposed it to his disciples , when he promised they should sit upon thrones judging the tribes of israel . but what colourable reasons soever are formed by historians and orators to excuse the desire of greatness , they cannot deny but that it is fatal to the ambitious ; and that if it be not always sufficiently unjust to render them guilty , it is too extravagant not to make them unhappy . for besides that they aim at that which is out of their power , that they are enclosed with enemies that oppose their designs , that they see themselves often deceived in their hopes , that their friends forsake them ; and that they are forced to confess , by the travels that attend their projects , that it is no less difficult to arrive at dignity then to preserve it . besides that , envy is inseparable from their condition , that men often conspire against their persons ; that their subjects hate them , and that their equals suspect them : they endure miseries that give the lye to the opinion of the world , the honors they hunted after with so much earnestness , procure their disquiet ; and , by an inevitable misfortune , they meet with grief amongst those things from which they expected their joy and felicity . fear assaults them at every turn , they suspect the countenance of their friends as well as the looks of their enemies , all that approach them create their jealousies ; and , by a suspition that discovers their calamities ; they have often an apprehension of the valour or vertuous comportments of their successors . they are afraid that they which are one day to sit on their throne should contrive their ruin ; and as they know that the people delight in novelty they fear least their children should becom their soveraigns . indeed , goodness is not the object of the love of all men , if some reverence it in the person of their prince , others grow weary of it , or despose it . what integrity soever kings bring to the throne , they become guilty enough by reigning long ; and it 's sufficient to know that they have successors , to render them odious to their subjects . the vulgar are so fantastical in their affections , that their greatest constancy lasts but a moment , they hate the blessing which they enjoy , they desire it when it 's expected , and never truly esteem it but when they have lost it . what contentment can a man have amidst so many apprehensions ? what felicity can he tast in the government of an ungrateful people , who are never satisfied with his conduct , who expect his death every time he is indisposed , who wish it under the shaddow of enlarging their liberty ; who find fault with the favors they have obtained from him , and magnify them only which they expect from his heirs ? without doubt these reasons made augustus think so often of a retreat , and which inspired him with the despicable thoughts of an empire , which exposed his actions to censure , his safety to hazard and his life to perils . for although he gave laws to the greatest part of the world , held the roman fortune in his hands , and saw the wisest senat upon earth pay reverence to his commands , yet he sighed after retirement , he ceased not to request the senat for leave to surrender ; his most serious speeches ended with these pleasant expectations , and he stiled that his happy day that should strip him of his dignities . he had learned , by a long experience , how toilsom a publick charge is , how many hazards were to be undergone to obtain it , and how many cares were required to preserve it ; having been often obliged to arm himself to tame his subjects , give battels to supplant his competitors , and bring armies into the field to warrant him from the surprizes even of his friends . how often was he seen constrained to abandon his frontiers , to march into sicilia , travel into egypt , carry armies ( yet covered with roman blood ) into asia , to bring the factious to obedience ? when he is busied in reconciling the alpes , when he is drawing the rebels to their duty , when he is making slaves of his enemies , and is projecting new conquests , beyond the rhine and euphrates , even then they contrive plots against his person , they prepare weapons in the city of danube , for his assassination : and , he that was coming triumphant from the subduing of all the rebels of his state , finds himself designed for death by a band of seditious men . hardly had he escaped these ambuscades but his own daughter , attended by a company of young gallants whom she had gained by her prostitutions , renewed his fears , and by alarms that seldom gave him rest , threatned to send death to him , through the thickest of his guards that surrounded him . thus being wearyed with the dignities of an empire , and tired with a load that exposed him to so many dangers , he seeks for rest , and charmed his misfortunes with that hope : he conjures the senat to discharge him of this burthen , and , by an imbecillity affixt to the condition of kings , he supplicates that of others , which himself could vouchsafe to all the slaves of rome . he shunned the court as the enemy of innocence , and sought for solitude as the habitation of rest , and the mansion of vertue . he knew that men could not reign without being unhappy or guilty , that the hatred of the people or the displeasure of god were the ordinary portions of monarchs ; and that as they could not command well without the dissatisfaction of men , they could not govern unjustly without attracting the anger of god. with what authority soever kings are flattered , they never can be said to be absolute in their governments , they are obliged by the civil right as well as their subjects ; and if they have power to establish laws , they are not permitted to violate them . their liberty is an illustrious bondage , they can do but one half of what they desire , though they pretend their power to be equal to their will , they can scarce do any thing for being able to command all things : and an orator told trajan excellent well , that if it were a mark of great felicity in his person to be able to do what he desired , it was an act of grandeur to command no more than what was just . authority destroys not justice , and a prince renders himself incapable of governing his subjects , from the time that he discredits his laws by his own actions . though it be easie to conclude from all this discourse that greatness is a state of servitude , and that that puissance that attends it is as deficient as dangerous , yet are there but few men that do not seek it , and who care not for becoming guilty or miserable , provided they may but appear to be great . the ages past , have shewed us some so degenerated as to violate all laws for the obtaining of govenment ; who have mounted the throne by murders , who were not afraid to commit a homicide to acquire a kingdom , and who held it for truth that if it were in any case lawful to pervert justice , it was to be done in matters of state , and to arrive at command . the poets who in their fables have so wittily described the inclinations of men , observe well that an ambitious man must needs be insolent , since he spared not the blood of his nearest relations , that a kingdom was dearer to him than his gods and his children , and that he often sacrificed the one and the other to the flames , to bring his designs to pass . polinices , whose tragical story we read of , was of this humor , although his mother assured him that he could never arrive at the command of others without renouncing of his own liberty , that a kingdom was a laborious bondage , that a scepter was not so much a heavenly favour , as amark of gods anger ; and that it was sufficient to inform him that cadmus and his heirs had been unhappy , to purge him of so evil a distemper as the desire of soveraignty : he made her this answer , that he was resolved to be superiour , that the misfortunes of his ancestors frighted him not , that death was no terror to a man that despised it , and that he was not careful what his end should be , provided he might but die possest of a scepter and diadem . that divine spake wittily , who said that ambition was charity 's ape , that the most insolent of our passions imitated the most excellent of our vertues , and that their manner of acting had much resemblance , though their motives were different . charity , saith that eminent doctor , is patient , and suffereth generously the injuries done her for the love of things eternal , and ambition passeth by affronts to arrive at the honors of the earth ; charity is merciful , and distributeth liberally of the riches she possesseth ; ambition slights them , and esteems only those she aspires after ; charity endureth pain and death in defence of the truth , and ambition shuns no combat for the establishment of her own glory . both believe and hope all things ; and amongst all their resemblances this difference only is discernable , that the one pursues that which is good , and the other hunts after that which is evil ; that the one makes her lovers to become the disciples of jesus christ , and the other causeth her martyrs to be the slaves of satan . indeed who shall believe that a man who makes war upon his neighbours , who breaks into the frontiers of his allies , who violates the sacred bounds of nature , and tramples under foot those alliances which that wise mother hath made among the nations of the earth , to arrive at the accomplishment of his designs , is not possest of an evil spirit ? who shall think that a prince , who is never content with his fortune , who drives the blessing of peace out of his territories , who prescribes no limits to his desires , who esteems nothing unjust but what he cannot compass , is not a slave to the devil and a martyr of vanity ? who shall judg that a man who descends into the seas , who traverseth all parts of the terrestrial globe to gain a piece of earth , can be in his right mind , and can be other than his own enemy , and the tyrant of the people whom he hath conquered ? pride hath nothing of justice but her own miseries , and without the invention of punishments to chastise her , to leave her to her self is sufficient to make her unhappy : for although all the passions strive to afflict her , hope to seduce her , fear to perplex her , grief to distract her , and anger to throw her into precipitous battels ; she cannot obtain what she desires from the vanquished . if she make them her vassals she cannot procure their love , and what art soever she employ , she cannot oblige those freeborn men to give her their affections or venerations . the desire of riches for being more common amongst men than that of honors , is not more reasonable : for if that be insolent , this is impatient , if ambition render men arrogant , covetousness makes them sordid ; if pride make impious proselites , avarice begets idolaters : and in seneca's morals it is difficult to resolve , whether we become more guilty by pretending to be above our equals , or when we make a god of that metal , which we ought to place among things of the meanest consideration . it must be confest that this passion is in some sort natural to us , that our parents taught us the use of it from our infancy , and that recommending to us the acquisition of gold and silver , they have left us the desire thereof for our inheritance . for although men are seldom in one mind , that novelty robs us of that happiness , and that we change our opinions as often as the objects vary ; yet is it certain in this point that gold is profitable to man , that it assists him in his wants , that it opens him the gates of publique employment , and that he raiseth his fortunes by honorable alliances . private men who are governed by publique example , pay it respect , they wish it to their children ; and as if heaven comprehended nothing more precious then gold , they convert it into presents and offerings for their gods. in fine , the possession of wealth is so advantageous , and want is accompanied with so many calamities , that she is become the scorn and fear of all men : the poor hate her as well as the rich ; and without seeking for a mans greater faults , it is enough to know that fortune hath used him ill , to make him odious to such as frequent him . if all the nations upon earth have entertained these opinions , they are not therefore the more reasonable , and nothing makes them more suspected of deceipt , then the great number of their approbators . for as the people are equally blind and of interressed judgments ; they commend wealth as the only ornament of life , and in their fancy heaven cannot make a better demonstration of favor towards them then by tumbling treasures into their laps . but truly , it were to be wisht that they who seek them with so much eager affection , would consult with the rich ; and that they would insinuate themselves into the conversation of these splendid slaves , to be taught by them the disquiet and restless torments which they find inseparable from their possessions . without doubt they would soon change their desires ; and i know not if they would not make vows to hinder the obtaining of any part of that which they had so earnestly sought after . all those benefits they so much admire are good but in shew , the comforts they promise are more faulty then specious ; if they promise honors they make payment in torments ; and they resemble those savage beasts which can neither be caught nor kept without hazard . likewise , when they come to themselves and consider the deplorable state of their condition , they cannot retain their teares , they complain that their affection hath been the cause of their chastisement , that they find more trouble to preserve their treasure then to get it , and that they are become miserable by having obtained what they demanded . but that which increaseth yet more their punishment is , they dare not disclose their miseries , they hide what they cannot discover without shame or danger : and be it the remorse of unjust gotten goods , or the trouble they find in their enjoyment which tyrannizeth them , they grow pale at the sight of gods judgments , they tremble at the thought of the threatning evil spirits , of the accusing angel , of friends to whom their deeds are detestable , and of the rigorous judg who is to condemn them . it is then without cause , avaricious men ! that you take so much pride in your riches , since they procure you so much torment , and that by the aid thereof you promise to your selves the accomplishment of all your designs ; since you cannot enjoy them without becoming their slaves : you would be your own masters , if they were not yours , you might make use of your own advantages , if they were not in your power ; and , to say all in few words , you might be freemen if you were not laden with abundance . learn , from the travels you suffer your own infelicity , that you serve , in stead of commanding your own covetous appetite ; and that as saith the scripture ye are men that can desire but know not how to possess riches . discourse iii. that audacity is of no use to wise men in assaulting or defending of evils . never do orators appear more splendid then when they describe the lives of conquerors , when they give renown to their valor , when they admire their conduct , when they represent them in combat with their enemies , and when they render them triumphant over fortune and death . it seemeth as if they exceeded themselves every time they recount their battells and victories , and that they design their own commendations in magnifying their victorious souldiers . for of all the advantages they find in their persons , none so much stirs their eloquence as their courage , they pass by all their other qualities to render this valuable ; and if sometimes they find a necessity of bestowing some praise upon them also , it is with so much faintness , as is easie to conjecture that the notice they take thereof is but because they would not be reproached with being ignorant of any of their endowments ; when they speak of their justice they cloath it in such ordinary language as puts the reader in doubt , whether they ever knew the merit thereof , they discourse of their clemency as if it were always mixt with meanness of spirit and inconsiderateness ; and although science be the most excellent ornament of monarchs , yet amongst them it is accompted but as the exercise of cowards , and the employment of idle persons . a man must have nothing but valor to make him the subject of their elogies , he must be guilty of murthers to merit their esteem , and must be as little sparing of his own , as of the life of his enemies to deserve the honor of their commendations . as audacity is the cause of all these effects , she draws admiration from all men ; historians never mention her but with veneration , philosophers recommend her to their disciples ; and poets are so much concerned for her honor , as to assure us that if kings be indebted to fortune for the happy successes of their armies , they owe the original of their victories to the bold attempts of their captains . in fine , they affirm that without her aid we become faint hearted , that all our actions borrow their splendor from her strength , and that a man is no longer to be esteemed then whilst he is hardy and adventurous . the mind of man is so depraved , and the vulgar opinion hath so much corrupted him , that he values nothing but those things which procure him worldly glory , he finds nothing delightful but what is beyond the common achievement , ordinary vertues affect him not , and by an obstinacy full of imbecillity , he considers not so much the prudence of a general as the defeat of the enemy , he speaks of a victorious captain with admiration , he swells his praises into volumes ; and as if the honor of a commander consisted in seeking battells , in routing armies , in razing cities , in desolating countries , he strains his industry to the highest pin to compose his panegyrick . but surely he doth not in any thing discover his blindness more then in this subject , the badness of his cause disparageth his judgment : and to proceed to condemnation without a formal examination of his intentions or motives , let it suffice to know , that all the employments of audacity tend to the ruin of our fellow creatures ; that undauntedness which invented or procures them is too much defective in justice to make them warrantable , and she whom we adore as the mother of noble attempts , is too fatal to the sons of men to be obeyed without danger . for what did she ever do in the world that turned not to the dishonor of the conqueror , or the disadvantage of the vanquished ? was she ever seen to be moderate in combat or modest in victory ? was she ever merciful to the innocent in assaulting the guilty ? do not all kingdoms complain of her injustice ? and had we ever heard of revolts and treasons , murders and parricides , if audacity had not therewith inspired the rash and cowardly ? vice would at this day be covered with darkness , if this passion had not taught us to bring it to the light ; infamy would be a stranger to society if it were not mixt with unclean persons ; no uncomely action would appear there , revenge would be as little practiced as homicide ; and with reason we may doubt whether sin had ever been publickly acted if audacity had not opened the way . all the crimes which we read of in history , and which we yet detest in our age , had no other author but this passion : all philosophers assign her to be their mother , to her they attribute all their malice ; and although they own man to be sufficiently inabled , to contrive evil designs ; yet they assure us that he would want resolution to execute them , without being animated by her incitements . if we believe a certain orator , 't is she that throws division amongst states , that inspires the ambitious with tyranny , that prompts lascivious persons to acts of violation , that incites coveteous men to theft and rapine , that desolates kingdoms ; and that making small accompt of whole armies , causeth monarchs to loose their kingdoms , and subjects their liberty . for who shall believe that julius cesar had ever attempted the roman government , if he had not been as hardy as ambitious ? who shall think that alexander had ever aspired to the universal soveraignty , if he had not been ridden and spurred as well by his courage as amibition ? the one and the other are guilty before men for unwarrantable undertakings ; and they are not lookt upon as monsters in history , but for that they suffered themselves to be commanded by the violence of a passion that overturns all natures laws . they likewise became , the terror of all mortals , dreaded they were by all forreign nations , the arrival of their armies hath often caused their enemies to fly , their progression put the whole world to a stand , their own souldiers were afraid of them as well as their adversaries , and seneca doubted whether their valor were more fatal to their enemies or to them of their own party : the one had vowed the ruin of his neighbours , and the other the destruction of his own country ; the one caused greece to groan , and the other threw horror into the city of rome , the one trampled upon kings , and the other made breach upon the rights of the most famous common wealth of the world. but all those disorders own no other principle then audacity ; if ambition were the occasion , boldness was the principal cause , and that desire of vain glory in alexander and cesar , had remained unknown or ineffectual , if it had not called this complice to its assistance . but for fear of being deemed partial in this subject , and that i be not blamed for dareing to condemn a passion that hath received so much commendations in the writings of philosophers , i agree with them , that her undertakings are sometimes generous , she assaults death without fear , she is the only passion which beholds evil with stedfastness , and which dares undertake to oppose and overcome it . for , though fear be prudent , she is not couragious , she looks not upon evil so much to meet , as to avoid it , she draws her confidence from her amazement , and if she sometimes admit reason of her counsel , it is rather to prevent then to expect it's arrival . anger is ever concerned , she doth not so much consider the affront as the vengeance , and the hope she hath of obtaining satisfaction alays her grief , and affords her content . but audacity seeks the evil directly , she offers him battle in all places , and , without regard to the hazards that surround her , she thinks her self sufficiently honored when she obtains commission to assault and fight him . although this discourse be true , and not easily rejected without being ignorant of the advantages which this passion is master of above his companions ; yet doth it not prove any thing in the stoick doctrin , and it 's easie in their opinion to demonstrate that her enterprizes are as useless to the wise as her attempts and combats . for as they acknowledg no evil but vice ; and that which the vulgar do so much dread , passing with them for an indifferent thing , they have no need of other helps to surmount it then reason , this enemy is always in their power , the will which formeth can stifle it , and even as a man , to be innocent , need but will good , so it is sufficient to will evil , to make him guilty or vicious . it is not then without cause if i banish audacity from my wise man , and if i permit him no use of her upon any occasion , since she is so unjust , and if i judg her of no use to his government , since he owns no enemies he hath to fight with but himself , nor other monsters to assault but vice. a true philosopher must be valiant , but neither rash nor fearful ; let him be as little under the command of passion as of fortune , let him judg of things according to reason , and let him not fear danger as a coward , nor seek it as an audacious person . discourse iv. that hope is ungrateful , fearful and uncertain . there is nothing in the world more hid , nor any thing more evident then time , it is the labyrinth of the learned . astrologers , who from the motion of the stars on which they gaze , calculate their duration , are at this day in a laborious sweat to express what time is ; and if there be some philosophers in our age that disagree not touching it's subsistance , we shall hardly find any that differ not about it's nature . if they allow it to be the measure of all human things , the rule of rest as well as of action , and that the sun and the moon were ordained by the creator for the division of days , years and ages , yet they differ in describing their property , or defining their essence ; and do consider them with formalities so remote the one from the other , that they put us in doubt whether they be not void of other reallity then the witty conceipts of the describers . the most ingenious of our divines wittily confounds time with that motion that measures it , he asserts that nothing is to be discovered in the one , that is not to be observed in the other , that the imagination or the mind begets all the difference , and if natural philosophers give them divers names , they cease not to be one and the same thing . from hence it comes to pass that his disciples seperate it from aristotles reports , look upon it as a bastard extention , banish it from the number of things subsisting in nature , and render it so much dependant on the body , be it in action or at rest , that they confess it hath no dilatation without it . some cannot imagin that it hath any real parts , since those of which it is composed admit it not , that the past is irrecoverable , that it ceaseth to have any subsistance in nature when the present succeeds it , that the memory must be employed to fetch it back , and that when we have made her use all her skill , all she can do is but to entertain us with an imaginary time . neither can they conceive how the present can compose it , since it is but an individual point , an instant that separates the praeter from the future , and a moment that flies from us as often as we think we have it , for it runs so swift that nothing can retard it , the sun standing still stayeth not it's course , it goes on when the course of the stars is arrested ; and , as if it were fatal to it self , it cannot gain but by it's own loss , and it increaseth only by it's own diminution . but , with much more reason do they doubt whether the future can make any part of time since that is yet to come ; since the first motions thereof are concealed from us ; since its coming is uncertain , and since ( in proper tearms ) it is but an idaea in the mind of the creator . yet this latter part of time is the only object of hope , which we judg so necessary for the execution of our designs , she feeds us only with the expectation of benefits that are hid from our eyes , she considers things to come , and not them which are past ; and , by an ungrateful injustice , disposeth of those good things which she hath obtained , and thinks only on the favours which she promiseth to her self shall yet be received . she slights the past and values only the future ; and aspireing to all things out of her possession , she cares not for being stiled ungrateful , provided she can but merit the title of provident . indeed let an ambitious man look never so well upon his benefactors , and what submission soever he renders them in assurance of his gratitude , he considers not so much what he hath received as what he expects from them , he easily steps over the obligations received , and remembers only what he hopeth for , and , according to the nature of the passion that possesseth him , he forgets all the grandurs that have raised him friends , to contemplate only the advantages that may render him equal to kings and potentates . as lasciviousness is a lazy vice , and the slavery that bears it company strips it of the power of any generous action ; she also quickly looseth the remembrance of past pleasures , the charms of novelty drive away her fleeting joys , she deemeth them lost that have been ; and although her present contentments may by accidents be interrupted , though they which are to come be as hidden as uncertain , and that no comforts are solid but those which cannot be taken from us , she causeth unclean persons to despise them , to feed upon the new delights which she holdeth forth to their expectation . the desire of wealth , which ariseth as often from our indigence as from our infirmity , looks upon nothing but the time to come , it considers the future and reflects not on the past , it becomes the numerator of expected treasures , but cares not to cast up what it hath in possession , it receives all and pays nothing : and without hunting for many reasons to condemn it , it is sufficient to know that it is insatiable , to judg it unjust and ingrateful . hope , which is the soul of all these passions , hath inspired them with this odious quality ; she teacheth them ingratitude , in shewing them to make excursions into the future ; her forgetfullness causeth her shame , and as that man is accused of unthankfulness who disowns a benefit received , who dissembles it for fear of repayment , or who doth not requite it but when he is forced . he that forgets it ought with much more reason to be deemed ungrateful for suffering a favor to escape his memory which he ought to have retained to his last hour . but hope is sufficiently odious since she is unthankful , and if we ought to hold her promises in suspicion , because she is faithless to her friends , and ungrateful to her benefactors , the unquietness of mind which waits upon her doth not render her less to be rejected , and we need but learn of seneca , that she is the enemy of our rest to perswade us to shun all her employments . for according to the words of that eloquent philosopher , fear pursueth hope : although these two passions be contrary , they rarely part company ; a man must be fallen into dispair to be void of fear , and as it often happeneth that one faculty perisheth by the ruin of another that is it's opposite , fear never forsaketh us till we cease to hope ; from thence it comes that the criminals that are lead to execution , are without apprehension , that they look death in the face without terror , that they are more confident on the scaffold then at the bar , and have no aversion for leaving the world because they have no expectation of life . this truth is so constant , that a certain stoick was of opinion that nothing could be more insupportable then a long suspence , that we suffered more easily the deprivation of hope , then the deferring thereof ; that an extended desire was a tedious torment , and that if in a wise mans judgment the loss of a benefit proved sometimes our advantage , the expectance was always attended with fear and grief . but truly we ought not to wonder that he that hopeth should fear , since the benefits he waites for are doubtful , since the passion by which he is lead is defective in her promises , since , for the most part she deceiveth all that rely upon her word ; and often flatters them with the enjoyment of pleasures that have nothing more in them then a bare shew of truth . as man is not the cause of what is to come , it is not to be expected that he should be able to dispose of the future ; and what knowledg soever he have acquired in the conduct of kingdoms or the oeconomy of families , he is not able to foretel the event of things : this part of time is equally uncertain and out of his ken ; and he must have been of the almighties councel , who is able to render a perfect accompt thereof ; for who is sufficiently enlightned to assure the husbandman that his fields shall be fruitful after a certain time , that the following year shall be more profitable to him , then the foregoing ; and that after a barrenness of his lands , a harvest shall come in which he shall find the reward of his toiles ? who can assure the mariners that their voyage shall be attended with smooth seas , the winds favorable , and their navigation prosperous ? who can warrant the souldiers that their arms shall be victorious , and assure them of the rout of their enemies ? who shall be able to promise a lover that the marriage he designs shall be happy , that the woman he courts will be faithful to him , that the children she shall bring him , will be obedient , and that they shall honor him as their father , and that she shall love him as her husband ? we reason according to outward appearances , and not according to that which shall happen ; we look upon that which is profitable , but we examine not the difficulties that surround it . our arguments are rather grounded upon our opinions then upon reason , and according to the good liking we have to the objects , we easily promise our selves the possession , although it be sometimes impossible . from thence cometh that we live always in instability , that our resolutions are various , that we add injustice to danger , and that we are but little afraid to become guilty , provided we can but obtain what we desire . but we see likewise that when fortune opposeth our designs , that the success of our affairs answereth not our hopes , and that our toilsome labours have only served to increase our unhappiness , we fall into sadness , we leave the event to chance , we condemn our own easiness to hope , and we are troubled that the injustice of our enterprizes was not able to give us possession of the good we had in pursuit . this caused seneca to say , that our parts were fatal to us , and that our good qualities rendred us miserable or guilty . the ingenuity of our spirits serves to discover the evils before they come , our memory calls them back when they are past , and the will often shuns them before they make shew of assaulting us . in fine , we convert all our faculties into torments ; and , as if we had made a conspiracy against our selves , we turn all the distinctions of time to our own affliction . but the wise man that is a friend to tranquillity , and whose felicity consisteth not so much in the calmness of his spirit , as in an innocent assuredness , despiseth all the counsels of hope , he laughs at her promises , he braveth fortune , and , finding nothing out of vertue that is able to content him , he as little desireth her presents , as he feareth her disgraces . he considers indifferently all the advantages of the earth , he builds all his glory or pleasure upon the innocence of his actions ; and , satisfied with vertues merit , he avoids the delights of the unchaste , the grandurs of the ambitious , and the treasures of coveteous men . discourse v. that anger is blind in taking of revenge , rash in quarrels , and insolent in chastisement . although i were not obliged to follow seneca , and betraying the opinion i have conceived of his doctrin , i were disingenious enough to forsake his party , or so unfaithful as to side with his adversaries , yet would it be a repugnance to me to believe that anger can be serviceable to vertue ; and that she must necessarily be employed by commanders in giving of battells , by judges in the condemnation of the guilty , and by kings in the chastisement of the rebells of their state. her fury is too much suspected , to approve her conduct , her manner of proceeding is too much void of equity to justify her decrees ; and the punishments which she ordaineth , are too rigorous to clear her from the imputation of injustice , and cruelty . if our other passions be sufficiently odious because they rebel against reason , and that it is not for nothing that we so much apprehend their tyranny , since they drive us from our selves to the subject of their fury , the benefits wherewith they keep us in hand , do alay their rigor : if their defects beget our hatred , their fair proffers cause us to affect them , and all savage as they are , they have charms that tempt us to give them employment . desire doth not at all times torment us ; if it disturb our mind , it tickles our imagination ; this languishing humor is mingled with delight ; and if it sometimes ravish our rest , it labours to give us possession of the advantages we stand in need of . if love pitch his tents in our souls , if he break in upon our liberty , and if , by an injustice which gives the lye to his name , he give us our slaves to be our mistresses he unites us to the o●ject we affect , and so much delights us with her perfections , that we prefer her enjoyment above all the grandures of of the earth . if hope hold us in suspence , and by a too ingenious foresight , she redouble the measure of that time which we remain in expectation ; she gives us with it the promise of fortunate success , she assures us that our travels shall not be in vain , and our reward shall bear proportion to our patience . if fear darken our judgment , if it fling horror into our spirits , and cause us to apprehend mischiefs contrary to our hopes ; she teacheth us moderation in prosperity , she foretels us of our evils to come , and prepares us to bear them with constancy , when they have laid hold on us . so that all our disorders have some charms : if they persecute us , they do us good service ; if they are violent , they abate sometimes of their cruelty , and give us intervals , that cause us the more to esteem our liberty , but anger is ever insolent , and take her which way you will , she is equally savage and precipitate . if she punish the guilty , her blindness causeth her to commit excess , if she force satisfaction for outrageous actions , she her self becomes guilty of the prophanation of all natures laws ; if she assault her enemies , she often runs headlong into their ambushes , and like unto those tumbling ruins that throw down the houses on which they fall , she finds her own punishment in her revenge , her own defeat in her victory , and her own execution in her condemnations . but that which yet better discovers her blindness , and makes her injustice less supportable is that she makes fuel of all wood , she proceeds from love as well as hatred , takes up armes against friend and foe , and falls not less violently upon those that have obliged , then on those that have done her injury . those pass times which heal or charm the other passions , discompose this , she is as much displeased at play as at serious business , as much offended at a jest as an afront , and it matters but little whether the motives which excite her be considerable , if the person who has them in apprehension be but susceptible of her violence . for as the fire operates but according as it finds the disposition of the matter , and its activity is not always the measure of its working ; as we find bodies that indure not its heat , and others that retain a spark till it amount to a flame , anger waits upon cowardly spirits , she burns them up in giving them courage , and seldom forsakes them , till she hath made them scornful , temerarious , and insolent . to know well the ground of all these disorders it ought to be known that anger is not of the nature of other passions , which gently make their way into the soul by insinuations , which flatter the imagination at their entrance , and by less vigorous accesses disguise their violence . but anger runs in with impetuosity , seizeth on all the faculties in a moment ; and being at full strength from her very birth , she doth that at once which others do but by degrees . so that if these court us , she violently constrains us , if they make us stray from the paths of reason , she leads us into the ways of madness , and if these be slow in their formations , this passion takes growth all at once . in fine , nothing is more blind then she in her undertakings , more violent in revenge , proudly vain in victory , nor more enraged in defeat . for which cause the most wholsom philosophy banisheth her from the soul of the wise man , and she judges that a passion so little subject to reason , and which hath so much affinity with fury , cannot have any useful qualities . though injuries be vexatious to man , though they break in upon his reputation , and equally wound the innocent , and the guilty ; though there be nothing less sufferable , though great spirits hardly bear them , though the most ingenious feel them , and though the one and the other do often want strength to stand under them ; nevertheless nothing so much demonstrates their cowardize as the resentment they shew of injuries , nor doth any thing more discover their pusilanimity , then the meditation of revenge . it belongeth , saith seneca , to men of mean spirits to avenge one afront by another , to sharpen our teeth against them that have bit us , and to hurt our selves because an other would have hurt us ; they resemble rats and emmots who make head against such as only look as if they would hurt them ; and perswade themselves to be wounded every time they are toucht . but if the injury be excuseless , and if the person offering it had design to rob us of our honor , yet ought we to abstain from anger , and take care of being carried away by a passion which instead of abateing increaseth our grief : contests are ever dangerous or to no purpose : and as we cannot contend with them above us without deserving the title of mad men , nor with our inferiours without being sordid ; we cannot hope to be avenged of our equals without the hazard of being worsted . anger is too malignant or too precipitate to be employed in such an adventure : reason must be our judg , we must receive her orders before any thing be undertaken ; and we must learn of her , that it is more glorious by silence to avoid an injury , then by words to overcome it . when we feel our selves offended , let us lay our hand on our breast , let us examin whether the harm done us be just , and whether we drew it not upon our selves by our own indiscretion : if so , it is very reasonable that we should bear it patiently , and receive it as the chastisement of an evil which we our selves caused in the offender . but if the outrage be unjust , if we are wrongfully persecuted , and if our conscience assures us of the innocence of our actions ; why are we conconcerned , and afflict our selves for an act of injustice , which ought to make him that hath committed it to blush ? let us not always believe the reports of men , let us set aside the circumstances that might help to prove them , let us mistrust our own conjectures ; time will tell us the truth , and it may be , that which to day we take for certain , to morrow may be void of all likelyhood . let us raise our selves above the common sort ; let us believe nothing of the unpleasant things that are told us , let us look upon injuries as things out of our power , and conclude that no man is offended but by his own consent . to speak truly nothing puts us into so much agitation as opinion : it is she , saith seneca , which measures offences , which magnifies their injustice , and which seducing our judgments , renders them more hainous and sensible then they are . we see servants that endure blows with patience , but cannot bear a sharp word , that take a bastanade more willingly then a box of the eare , and fancy that death would be less insupportable then a reproach or an abuse . it is not always the injury that torments us , but our imagination that we have received it ; and therefore a man of a large soul , and who knoweth his own innocence or desert , derides all the offences that can be offered him ; he looks upon them as other mens extravagancies , he forgets the injury before it be received , he stifles the resentment be-before it touch him ; and as he feels it not , he is in no perplexity how to be revenged . if anger be dimsighted in revenge , she is unjust in chastisement ; and if she violently break the laws of charity in constraining reparation for an abuse , she sinneth against the rules of equity when she forceth satisfaction for the injury , all her proceedings are irregular , the punishments she ordains do always exceed the greatness of the crime , and without a formal process , it is easie to condemn her by the very sentences which she her self pronounceth against the guilty . for as she is rash , and the flames which she throws into the soul of a judg or a king , puts them into a fury ; she prompts them to punishment , she swells the crime to justify the penalty , she invents new torments for the punishment of offences ; and causeing them to act according to the greatness of their authority , and not according to justice , she puts it out of their power to keep within the bounds of that moderation which teacheth to distinguish between too much and too little . for she will have it , that all her proceedings are regularly equal , that the vengeance which she directs is necessary : and contrary to reason , which esteemeth that only just which is agreeable to equity , she deemeth all that to be equitable which is suitable to her humor : she regards not so much the offence as the cause , she considers not so much the crime as the criminal , and , by a fury as strange as common to her , she is not less heated by the things which serve to the offenders advantage , then by the circumstances which make for his condemnation . she is angry both with the innocent and the guilty , she perverts the integrity of the one , and inlargeth the faults of the other , she is for nothing but punishment ; and , obstinate in her error , she thinks it more honorable to persist in evil then to shew any sorrow for it . the example hereof produced by seneca in his admirable books of anger , is an evident proof of this ; and without giving our selves the trouble of searching into history for any other , let it suffice to relate the particulars of this , to make known it's injustice . he saith that one of the piso's being in anger , espied a souldier of his returning from a party convoy without his companion : this return served him for a pretext to punish him , he thought it warrant enough to pass the sentence of death upon him , to have him but suspected of murder ; and to cause him to be led to execution , for not having his fellow souldier in his company . this unhappy condemned man , stoutly denies the crime , calls the gods to be witnesses of his innocence , craveth some time to justify himself ; and assures him that by his diligence he would bring the man to light who he said was massacred . the general refuses him this favor , is angry at the request , and without farther delay , commands him to be put to death . he is carried out of the trenches ; and the heads-man had already hold on the sword to strike off his head , when the souldier who was supposed to be slain , appeared suddenly in the midst of the assembly : the captain that attended this execution , at the sight of this souldier , directs a stop , commands the executioner to unloose the felon , and not to proceed without new orders from the general . he brings the prisoner then back to piso , to put into his hands an innocent man , whom error had caused him to condemn as guilty . the whole camp concluded that this prince would let himself be overcome of justice , that clemency would succeed his rigor ; and that being undeceived in his belief , he would make no difficulty of pardoning the man a crime , which he had not committed . but seeing the souldier yet alive , and taking his return as a contempt of his commands , he goes back to the tribunal all in a fury , pronounceth sentence of death upon both the souldiers ; and that they should be executed upon the place . what can be imagined more unjust then to condemn two innocent men because one of them was not guilty ? or to make too men felons because one of them was found innocent ? his passion carried him yet farther , and violently throwing him from one precipice to another , adds to these two a third , which was the captain , that had brought back the prisoner . his ingenious rage had furnisht him with reasons to justify this proceeding , and examining their offences , helped him to raise from the diversity of their fortunes , the different causes of their punishment . i caused thee , said he to the souldier , to be lead to execution , because thou wast thereunto condemned , and thou , speaking to his companion , for that thou wast the cause thereof , and thou , looking upon the centurion , for that having received command to put a felon to death , thou hast not done it . he subtilly invented the way to make them all guilty , and to commit three crimes at once , because he could not find any in the persons he condemned . from this example it is easie to discover the cruelty of anger , and to learn how insolent she is in chastisements and dangerous in courts of judicature , and great councels . for as she is proud , and takes no other advices but her own , she pursues the dictates of her own fury and can endure as little to be governed , as reprehended : likewise we see that none but barbarians and men of mean spirits , make use of her , who know not how to forgive an injury when they have it in their power to revenge it . it is true that anger seemeth in some sort more useful in camps then in courts of justice , that her violence hath some thing of agreement with a martial humor , and that her aspect better becometh the face of commanders then the countenance of a judg and a king. for if we credit aristotle , nothing contributes more to valor then anger : she it is that swells the courage of conquerors , that animates them in the thickest of the combat , that awakens their generosity , and causeth them to hazard their own , to become masters of the life of their enemies . fortitude by the doctrin of this philosopher , is feeble without her company , this vertue must be asisted with her fury , to make her despise the dangers that threaten her ; and she must be warmed with her fire , to be able to give battel , and gain the victory . for although man be naturally of a generous spirit , and endued with dexterity sufficient , to cope with , or defend himself against such as would oppress him ; nevertheless he is faint hearted when destitute of this champion , he is weak without this succor ; and he ceaseth to bring forth any thing that is great , from the time that this forsakes him . but surely if this rule were true , that vertue owes the happiness of her successes to anger , and that souldiers are cowards unless they be furious ; i know not why , we may not infer that drunkenness is a necessary martial vertue , since it often makes them fearless , since it renders them bold , pusheth them into the battel , and causeth them to despise both wounds and death it self . some have been seen , that could not be got into the engaged camp but by the animation of wine , they had forsaken their post , had they been sober , and the sight of the enemy had put them to flight , if the vapors that clouded their brains , had not been the author of the greatest part of their courage . who knows not that the most timorous of our passions sometimes inspires us with valor , that fear will make us adventurous , that necessity stirs up our courage , that despair finds us weapons to fight with , and often changeth our timidity into audacity . good successes are not always the works of valor and wisdom ; oftentimes fury doth not less triumph over the enemy then vertue . and the politicks do tell us , that there are rencounters wherein unadvisedness proves more lucky then prudence . but there is no man who confesseth not that these qualities are weak and unbecoming , that they excite the soul without giving it strength , that they corrupt vertue in stead of informing her , and that they make no impression but on the spirits of them that want resolution when they are deprived of anger 's aid . likewise we see not a valiant man , that draws not his courage from the depression of anger , that is not stout without fury ; and who becomes not more couragious when he is heated by her fire , but because he himself is of a generous nature . this passion is too rash , to have any service from her ; her headiness brings her prudence in doubt , she is too impetuous to observe the maximes of battel , and she seeks danger with too much heat , to avoid the perils into which she would draw the enemy . in fine , her service is as fatal to us in war as in peace , since in the midst of peace she is the image of war , she acts there but her furious part , she forgets the vicissitude of arms , and she falls into the power of her adversaries , because she cannot contain her self within her own . the third treatise . of fear . discourse i. of the nature of fear . i know it is accounted a crime amongst modern philosophers , to say any thing in favour of the stoicks , and that a man cannot undertake to plead their cause , without attracting their hatred and censure . i know that the severity of their principles is had in suspicion of many persons , that their sentiments are disliked by popular spirits , that their doctrine surpasseth the belief of aristotle and plato ; and that they both declare nothing more extravagant than that which we admire in their writings : those that side with these , laugh at the others paradoxes , and affirm that they are glorious but in shew , that their words are fuller of ostentation than reason , that the world admires them because they understand them not , and that learned men do not esteem them , but because they raise their thoughts to a higher pitch of sublimity . they protest , they cannot comprehend , that a wise man can be the only rich man of the world , since he often falls into want , since fortune reduceth him to ambs-ace , since he is often without things necessary , and for the most part hath neither clothes to cover him , house to put his head in , nor servant to attend him , that he can always enjoy himself , since he is sometimes at a nonplus , making vain eruptions , forsaking his discretion in discourse , and acting at certain times the part of mad men . that he should be the monarch of the world , since he hath seldom any subjects to command , being often constrained to serve ignorant masters , and do such work for them , as is opposite to that soveraignty he pretendeth to have over them . but amongst the absurdities wherewith they charge their paradoxes , they admire none so much as those which exempt him from opinions , which disintangle him from the knowledg of uncertain things , affirming that it is as impossible for him to doubt of a truth as to be ignorant of it . what , say they , is a wise man infallible in his conjectures ? can he not err in his judgment ? do we not see that he discourses of things he understandeth not ? and , descending to particulars , doth he not undertake to render an account of the influences of the stars and planets , of which he comprehends as little the nature as the power ? would you make a god of him , after you have filled him with pride ? and would you make him partaker of the almighties secrets , after you have assigned him the knowledg of angels , the power of kings , and the government of the creation . but their astonishment will cease if they take the pains to examine the sense of their paradoxes , and to learn from the explication which they give them , that they are grounded upon reason , that they are not so much contrary to truth as to their opinions ; and that they teach nothing but what may be received by the greatest criticks of our age : for if they say , that their wise man is the only man without want ; and make him master of all that wealth which causeth covetous men to be indigent ; it is for that he acknowledgeth no other benefits but those of the soul , he expects nothing from fortune , what he hath he useth with discretion , and judiciously dispising those forreign things , he knows how to enjoy what he contemplates , though he possess it not . if they affirm that he is not deceived in what he doth , it is because the light is ever his companion , and because reason is his counsellor in all his enterprizes . if they make him a king in this world ; and if without the load of a scepter or diadem , they give him the charge of states and empires , it is for that he being in tranquillity knows how to regulate his passions , he is alone capable of commanding his equals , and his integrity makes him not less in humane society , than the pilot in a ship , the magistrate in a city , the general in an army , the soul in the body , and the spirit and reason in the soul. if , in fine , they banish opinions from his mind , and if they will that his knowledg be as certain as himself judges it to be true , it is because he rejects all doubtful propositions , approves no conclusions but what are drawn from infallible principles , and forms no arguments , but what he knoweth before hand , bear a conformity to the matter whereof he discourseth . knowledg is the portion of the wise , and he is simple or temerarious , that perswades himself that he is master of a truth which he knoweth not . for this cause it is , that seneca maintains so bloody a war against fear , and informed of the disorders with which she entertains her guests , he gives her battel whereever he finds her . for as she is but a doubtful knowledg , and the opinion of an absent evil which threatens us , he condemns her foresight , he forbids her the counsel of his wise man , and he would think that he rob'd his soul of tranquillity , if he permitted him to entertain her in his service . to speak truly , nothing so much distracts our quiet as this passion , and nothing so much abaseth our courage , as her provident curiosity . for , as if she were ingenious at nothing but our destruction , she assumes all imaginary forms , to make us miserable . one while she advanceth our disasters , to make us feel them before they come , anon she makes us look upon them through a magnifying glass , to render them less supportable to us ; another while she represents them inevitable , to run us headlong into despair , and already overwhelmed with the evils she gives us to expect , she causeth us to wish for death , that we may be delivered from a passion , which constrains us to suffer it with tedious and divers repetitions : she is of so timorous a nature , that she is afrighted at every thing she fancies to be able to hurt her , she formeth monsters that will never be brought forth , she confoundeth imaginary with real evils , and suffers her self to be so much surprized by the senses , that without knowing the cause , either of the one or the other , she is equally afraid of both . hatred in this particular seemeth more reasonable than fear : for if she resist an evil , if she employ all her dexterity to oppose the violence thereof , it is because it is real , and its presence obligeth her to revenge . if audacity swell against her enemies , and puts her self in a posture to oppose all their fury , 't is for that they attack her , and danger or honour constrains her to a self defence . sadness , all melancholy as she is , regards nothing but the evil that hurts her , she complains of its rigors , for that she feels them , and sinks not under their weight , but because it 's not in her power to avoid them : but fear multiplies our sorrows , she sees them as soon as they threaten us , she seeks them before they come ; and by an ambitious industry , she makes use of the past and the future to torment us . what greater folly , saith seneca , can be observed in a man , than to run to meet his disasters , to feel them ere they touch him , and lose the present by fear of that which is to come ? a man must be extravagant , to afflict himself before the time , to suffer himself to be surprized by an evil , which it may be shall never come nigh him , and to make himself miserable , because he feareth one day to be sofor to shew her vanity , and convince her of folly in her foresight , we need but to examine the object which she apprehendeth , to know that her cares are always as hurtful as dishonourable . for either she respects a real or an imaginary evil , if it be real , it is in our power to avoid it , and nothing is able to draw us to vice against our will : if it be but imaginary , and of the number of them which fortune sends us , we know already that it is not an evil , and that it is to do her injury , to give her the imputation of that which the most sound philosophy attributeth only to sin . to prevent then these vain terrors , which cloud our reason , let us not judg of things rashly , let us examine the nature of the objects which cause our astonishment ; let us pull that vizard from their faces , which gives them so frightful an aspect ; and let us consider them nakedly in their original : then we shall find , that they are not so opposite to our humors as we imagine them , that they are troublesome to us , because we are seduced by opinion , and that they have nothing terrible but the apprehension we have of them . we see some men , who fall into a swound at the report of evil tidings , who grow pale at the thought of an accident that threatens them ; who tremble when men go about to prepare them to bear a misfortune ; and are so much divided between fear and sorrow , that they would sooner be taken for furies than for rational men . as if fear had carried away their reason with their stabillity , they are afraid without cause , they are affrighted at enemies which they have not , they fly from them before they appear ; and , by a blind timidity , they often leave a beaten road to choose a doubtful path. opinion hath nothing of quietness in it ; she is afflicted by every thing which she fancieth capable to hurt her ; she assures us as little of heaven as of the earth , and frighteth us as well with a remote evil , as with that which is ready to assault us . but a wise man that knows perfectly the difference between real and imaginary evils , stands fast against all accidents ; he is armed against fortune , he considereth afflictions as the exercises of vertue , he sees them coming without disturbance ; and , supported by the greatness of his courage , he waits for them with design to oppose and vanquish them . poverty doth as little touch him as the misery of his friends , he looks upon tortures with the same countenance as he doth injuries ; and he knows as well how to defend himself from adversaries that threaten , as from those who prosecute him . it is too great an effeminacy to run to the doctor before we be ill , to bind up the arm before dislocation , to complain of the head-ach ere ever the pain come , and to lay our hand upon the part which hath yet no hurt . but if that fear did not disguise our disasters , and were faithful enough to represent them truly to us , when they do come , yet would she be of no use to us , since she cannot divert them , and it is always a kind of cowardise to complain of grief before the cause , which produceth it , have overtaken us . how often have we seen , that events have deceived our hopes , that our fears have abused us to no purpose , that we anticipated misfortunes that never came at us ; and some have befell us which we did not expect ? let us not be afraid of the things that may arise without our leave ; and , by a prudent deceipt , let us promise to our selves , that those which give us so much horror will be favourable to us . as some fair appearances produce bad effects , sometimes troubles turn us to account . some have gotten out of prison by the means of women , who had brought them to the utmost farthing , and have preserved their liberty by that which might have cost them their lives ; others have escaped shipwrack by help of rocks and precipices ; some have found their preservation in the ruines of a house ; others have survived their executioners , and have seen them put to death , who designed their destruction . evil fortune doth not always persecute us , she hath her cruelties and her clemencies , and it 's not necessary to be a great philosopher , to know that there are times wherein her disgraces are more advantageous to us than her favours . from all these discourses it is easie to conclude , ( me thinketh ) that fear is unnecessary to us , that she can be of no moral good use to us , since she throws us into misfortunes before they come , torments us by her foresight , deceives us by false reports , abuseth us by misapprehensions , and ravisheth our tranquillity and rest , so often as we give our selves up to her conduct , which we shall see by the following discourse . discourse ii. that tortures are not terrible but in opinion , and that fools or cowards only are affrighted at them . those philosophers who so much contend for the gratification of sense , who make pleasure the end of their labors , and put no difference between the felicity of man and the content of a beast , have so much love for their bodies , and exercise so much particular care for its preservation , that they are not ashamed to establish its happiness in its health , and to attribute thereunto all those glorious qualifications which aristotle bestows upon the knowledg of the chief good , and which the wise roman assigns unto vertue . that pain which incommodeth the body seemeth to them the most cruel of all evils ; and they have so much given way to ease , as to affirm , that no life is more miserable than that which is mixt with pains and diseases : for if our other evils , say they , beget our disquiet , if ignominy offend us , if poverty afflict us , and if the death of our friends draw fears from our eyes , they do not so much hurt our body as our imagination ; and we need but a common dexterity , to perswade our selves , that these being things out of our power , they cannot give us any incommodity . but pain is a thing within us , its presence brings down our body , it seizeth our members , and ascending from the meanest to our more noble part , it causeth us to feel all the torments wherewith she exerciseth our companion . but what arguments soever they frame , to justifie the fear of torments , it must be said , that she is the daughter of opinion , that the tortures which appear the most terrible , are not always the most cruel , and that corporal punishments do not seem less supportable than banishment and poverty , but because they are accompanied with less solemnity . nothing doth so much awe us , as that which may happen to us by the displeasure of a potent king ; and who having the disposition of our life in his hands , is able to condemn us to tortures as terrible as infamous . although that diseases destroy the body as well as torments , that the pestilence be not less feared by us than punishments , and that there be natural evils that exceed the cruelty of the most ingenious tyrants ; yet is there not any thing which so much amazteh us as the sight of torments , and nothing so much shakes our stability , as the preparations made to deprive us of life , or to make proof of our faith. other evils which arise from our constitution , seize us silently , and their coming is so sudden , that there is often no distance of time between their first arrivel and their violence . sickness overtakes us without warning , it runs into our veins without noise , and without shew of that which might trouble us , it congeals our blood , or burns up our entrails . poverty hath not so frightful an aspect , she neither hurts our eyes nor our ears , when she enters upon the ruines of riches , and fortune changeth not her countenance , in making us poor , or in placing us in the midst of abundance . but tortures are terrible , we are astonisht at their preparations , the instruments of death which they set out before us , beat down our courage , and that tumultuous noise which attends the ceremony , throws horror into the minds of all that behold it . there they set in order all the cruelties which the malice of tyrants hath invented , here they set up the cross , raise the rack , expose the boiling cauldrons to view , lay open the pitched shirts , and rowze the cruelty of savage beasts , to devour us ; all this attracting matter sends terror into our soul , and it ought not to be thought strange , if we are so much afraid of torments , since they are shewed us with so much addition , and that they appear to our eies in such frightful shapes , that the executioner even redoubles our fear , by gradually exposing the instruments of torture , and causeth the most resolute to abate his constancy , by the preparation of things that are able to offend it . nothing so much abates our spirit as the consideration of the evil that threatens us , and experience lets us see , that pain is always less rigorous than the apprehension we had of it . it is not always the thing that wounds us , but the opinion that we have conceived of it ; and we have found some persons that had endured tortures with constancy , had they not first been overcome by the ceremonies thereof . a man is not miserable unless he think himself to be so , his thoughts are the regulators of his pains , and to become a glorious conqueror , he need but perswade himself , that the evil he suffereth is light . although these arguments be peculiar , they cease not to be true , and it 's sufficient to observe the effects of opinion , to make judgment of what she can say for her self . for as she is the child of the body rather than of the soul , and borrows her activity from the sense : she takes her part in all the accidents that befall it , she shares in his joy and grief , and , by a subtile craft , she raiseth the price of what ever pleaseth it , and augments the horror of what ever is odious to it . from thence it comes that she represents torments with so much frightfulness , and enhauncing upon the evils which the body suffers , she gives them dreadful shapes , which astonish us , and which equally send their horror into the soul of the patient , and of the spectators . she is so suspicious , that she never represents evil nakedly ; and she is so little faithful in her reports , that she is generally found a lyar . if we float upon the sea , and the winds swell her waves , or never so little toss our vessel , we become faint-hearted ; reason and light make their escape ; and , as if we had already suffered shipwrack , or were condemned to drink up the whole sea , we grow pale with fear , and fall into a sweat with fright . if earth tremble under our feet , and if the houses that cover us do but shake , or make shew of falling upon us , what out-cries do we not make , and what deaths faces do we not shew in our countenances ? cold takes possession of all our limbs , fear summons the blood to the heart , all objects astonish us ; and , as if the whole house were to fall on our heads , we are afraid of every part . yet we are not ignorant , that a small quantity of water will choak us , that a tyle from our house is sufficient to knock out our brains , and that we need but a hole of three foot to do our business . it is the same in matters of torture , of which we have so much apprehension , the noise that attends it makes the greatest part of the pain , opinion enhaunceth its violence , and the sight of so many instruments set out for shew , fills us with more grief than that death we are to suffer : yet we know that all those armed soldiers , that that troop of officers , that the executioner trimmed up in a wastcoat , can but remove us out of the world , let out our soul at the wound to be given us , and not to affright our selves with the name of murther , separate our soul from our body . in fine , they can do but what a worm doth among children in a chamber , what the gangreen causeth in the hospitals , and what the feaver every day produceth in the courts of princes and shepherds huts . an ordinary resolution will serve to endure evils that pass in a moment , and which often terminate with the same stroak by which they began . it is indeed a difficult thing to gain this power upon our selves : we find at this day but few scaevolas and regulus's , it appertaineth but to those great souls of antiquity , to brave tortures , and bear them without disturbance . we find no more men , who dare burn their own hands , to abate the confidence of their persecutors , who dare run to meet death in derision of their tyrannical oppressors ; and whose joys , in professing their innocence , are not interrupted under the hand of the executioner . modern philosophy hath made us too tender , and the love of our bodies is become too natural to us , not to be afraid of so many evils as do conspire our destruction , not to fear a wedg of iron which breaks our bones , wild beasts which rip up our bowels , engines by which death is conveyed to us with tedious repetitions , and moderate flames which reduce us not to ashes , till after our patience is tyred out . but as general principles terminate in examples , and that the living draw from them their principal lights , i think i may here propose the courage of a heathen-dame to the cowardise of our christian men , and shew them in the history of her life , that pain is insupportable only to them that are defective in resolution . never was empire more maligned than that of the first cesar : his usurpation begat him the hatred of all the nations of the earth , the romans often attempted their liberty ; and did sufficiently testifie by their enterprizes , that they could no longer endure the government of a man , who had rob'd them of their freedom . brutus engaged covertly in the conspiration , and though he forced himself in hiding the matter from his wife , he could not so well dissemble it , but she perceived , and observed by the change of his countenance the disturbance of his soul. fearing then that her husband mistrusted her weakness , and that he durst not tell her a secret which might be the price of his life , if it took air , resolved to make tryal upon her self , whether she could keep it undisclosed ; for retiring into her chamber , and putting out her servants , she laid hold on a razor , which she lets into her thigh ; her wound bleeds in abundance , her members grow feeble by loss of blood , a feaver slides into her veins , and seemed to lead her toward the grave : when brutus entering the room , and surprized by an accident so little expected , informed himself of the cause and circumstances . porcia constrained them that assisted her to withdraw , prayed her husband to sit down , and promised to tell him her self the original of her indisposition . you know , said she , brutus , that when i came into your house , it was not in the quality of a miss , or of a concubine , and that i preferred not your alliance before that of so many roman gentlemen , to be only the companion of your table and bed , but to lie in your bosom , to be the confident of your secrets , and to have my proportion as well of your misfortunes as of your felicities . it is not that i accuse heaven , or complain that you are my husband , but only that you look not upon me as your wife : you must not imagine that i am content with the duties of marriage , and that i expect from your person only those outward caresses , that unite our bodies rather than our wills and our souls . i aspire to greater things brutus ; i require to be admitted of your privy council , and that you honor me as well with your friendship as your love. this request is too just to be refused , and if you judg it such , why are you so reserved ? why do you dissemble your troubles of mind , and wherefore do you hide from me that glorious resolution you have taken , to put a tyrant to death ? if you cannot hope for help from me , and if my sex forbid me to assist you in your undertakings , you may , at least , expect from me some comfort , or lessening of your griefs , or misfortunes : and may be assured , that if i am not sufficiently strong to be your second , i shall have always courage enough to bear you company where ever ill luck or fate shall call you ; consider not the weakness of those of my condition , but remember only that i am the daughter of cato and the wife of brutus , and that if this body which i received from my father have not vigor enough to suffer death , the love that i have vowed to thee , brutus , shall make me constant in dispising it . then shewing him her wound , see there , said she , brutus , see there the tryal which i have made thereof ; do thou now not scruple to open thy bosom to me , to reveal me thy designs : know that within this body is contained cato's heart , and that if my sex permit me not , to follow thee in that execution thou hast determined , know , that my courage is great enough to die for thee and with thee . if a punctilio of honor , if a vehement desire of fame , and if a short obstinacy animated by vanity , have caused some to triumph over death , conquer pain , and despise the rigor of tortures , what cannot vertue do , when she is supported by integrity ? when she stands up for the preservation of laws , when she suffers for the defence of her temples and her altars ? since she is composed in her actions , and preserves the same measures in delights as in torments . wherefore to acquire this insensibility of pain so familiar to the stoicks , and so little known to other philosophers , let us often have in mind the actions of those generous men , who by their courage surmounted tortures , let us fortifie our selves against the apprehensions of death , let us not love our bodies more than necessity requireth ; let us separate from torments that solemnity which affrighteth us , and let us perswade our selves , that those ceremonies contain no more than what is despised by a man in his bed , sick of the gout , than what is endured by one at a feast , who is sick at his stomach , and what is undergone by a tender woman in child-bearing . discourse iii. that a wise man is not afraid of death , and considereth it as the end of his miseries , and the entrance to felicity . death is so terrible , and the horrors that attend it render it so dismal , that the lawyers have thought the fear of it to be just , and that it might be accounted among the number of those things which seized upon a man of resolution . they say , that the acts then committed are rather forced than voluntary , that our promises are not binding , that our agreements are invalid , and that as she deprives us of liberty , or hinders the use of reason , she acquitted us of performance , and annulled our contracts . divines , who consider death as the production of sin , rather than the effects of our constitution , conclude , that she must needs be a great enemy to nature , since she is so much redoubted , since she gives dread to all sensible creatures , and that those which we stile inanimate , testified some kind of aversness , to be separated from their principle . the chicken hides at the approach of the kite , the hare flies before the dogs , and we find nothing in nature , which useth not its force , or industry , to make defence against death . we cannot seperate the marble from the rocks but by violence , the trees groan under the blow of the ax , the air shuns the fire that rarifies it , and all insensible as it is , it makes opposition for self-preservation . if the animals , saith st. austin , which were created purely for slaughter , love life , and are so much afraid of death , how should not man be therewith affrighted , when it threatens him , since he was born to live for ever , and that he should never have seen seperation between his body and his soul , if he had been careful of his own innocence ? philosophers support the justice of their fear by the necessity of death , they think it reasonable to redoubt an unavoidable evil , and which , though common to all men , hath yet no remedy in nature . they accuse it of cruelty , they say , that it is she alone of all the gods , that will accept no sacrifice , who refuseth the offerings of men , and that it is in vain to dedicate temples to her , or build her any altars , since she is equally blind and inexorable . but what reasons soever these men invent , to excuse the apprehension of death , it is not hard to shew them their error , and to fight them with the weapons wherewith they maintain their principles . for if death be inevitable , if there be no altars of protection against her arrests , if no man have been yet able to secure himself from her ; and if that by which we live , be the means of our death , why are we so much afraid of it ? and why do we afflict our selves , for the suffering of a pain , for which nature hath no remedy ? we are born under this law , we came into the world to go out of it , our ancestors have beaten the road , and all those who shall come after us , will find themselves bound to suffer the punishment of their first fathers offence . who is not moved with compassion to see lewis xi . when affrighted with the horror of death , he courts the physicians , he promiseth them mountains of gold to reform his temper , and by excessive presents engaged them to give him length of years . for as if divine providence had forsaken him , and that his days had been in the hands of men , he summoned the hermits from the forrests , and conjured them to request the continuation of his health by their prayers : and without taking care to amend his life , he only chargeth them with the preservation thereof . sometimes being utterly void of all heavenly confidence , he shuts himself up in his closet , causeth all avenues to be stopt , the doors to be barracadoed , the windows to be close shut ; and , as if death had not been able to pierce the place of his retreat , he converted his pallace into a prison . unhappy man ! what art thou afraid of , is it not what thou must one day undergo ? why art thou affrighted at that which is in thy power not to be troubled at ? chace from thy soul this panick fear , resign thy self to gods will , forgo this vain superstition , that renders thee guilty before him , and then shalt thou see , that thy departure may become an offering to expiate thy offences , that death is but the way of life , and that thou mayst be eternally happy , for having generously despised it . though nature have brought forth nothing into the world , that is to endure to eternity , though all her workmanship be condemned to dissolution , and though all that we behold is but for a few days ; nevertheless we may say , that nothing is totally lost , that her labours are rather extinguisht than annihilated , and that death doth not so much determine , as interrupt them . if the summer pass away ; if the sun retire from our horizon , if the flowers forsake their beds , and if in our fields we see no remains of the vintage and harvest , another year restores them to us , and all those beauties which we look upon as vanisht recover and renew the face of the earth , by the same means which seemed to have caused their annihilation . if winter steal away , if the snow dissolve and leave bare the tops of our houses , if the frost cease to harden our rivers , and if the north-wind forbear to shake our buildings , it comes again after a little time , and his months , though departed for a while , fail not to return , to make good his season . if darkness prevail upon the light , if night hide the sun from us , and if its obscurity keep earths beauties from our eyes , the day following causeth the shaddows to flee away , and makes us restitution of the lights which the precedent darkness had deprived us of . the stars which are never at rest , which are in perpetual motion , and rowl continually over our heads , hasten to the point from whence they departed , and reassume their course by the same degrees by which they began their motions : it is with man as with other creatures , he dies to live again , the parts of which he is composed return to their principle , as his body descends to the earth , his soul mounts to heaven , and , escaping her prison , she flies unclog'd to her original . neither do we see any but impious or criminal persons , that fear this separation , and look upon it as their most rigorous punishment wherewith divine justice can chastise them : they tremble when they are told of death , they dread the judgments of god , which they have despised , and are unwilling to leave the earth , because they do not hope to reign in heaven . but just men look on death without fear , they submissively expect it , and wish for it as the ease of their miseries , they calmly prepare for it , and knowing it to be the sepulchre of vice , and the cradle of vertue , they cease not to supplicate the arrival of their change . they know by faith that the world is but a place of banishment , that heaven is their native country , and that they shall one day be called home , to receive the reward of their labours . descend into those solitudes of the ancient anchorites , and you shall there find the examples of this truth , there you shall see men who are continually employed in the contemplation of death , who think only upon the day in which they shall be discharged from the earth , who expect it with joy , and convert the most dreadful of our punishments into their ordinary imployments . break into their cells , there you shall find them , who are loaden with irons , who having their flesh torn with the whip , lean with fasting , weakened with watching , wish for the end of their life , and , like those generous athletes , or wrestlers of old , offer combat to obtain death , the recompence of their valor and courage . but , waving these christian sentiments , and to return to philosophical arguments , i do not well apprehend , why we are so much afraid of death , since it brings us so much advantage , and that putting an end to our days , it makes us infinitely happy , or renders us uncapable of further offences . for if we have lived as vertuous persons , if we have not misspent the time given us for the working out of our salvation ; and if we have well employed the moments of our life , why are we unwilling to be taken from it , and why desire we not rather to lose it , since death by which it is determined , is the passage to a blessed eternity ? but if we have gone astray from our duty , and if we have been prodigals of our time , why seek we to prolong it , and to augment the number of our sins , by the extension of our years ? if we are innocent , let us not fear to appear before the judg : and if we are guilty , let us not take it in evil part , that heaven calls us from the earth , and taking from us the means of farther crimes prevents the increase of our creator's anger . it is to be ignorant of our own condition , to fancy that death is a cruel thing , and not to look upon it rather as a favor than a grief of nature . for be it , that she give date to the happiness of the just , be it , that she finish the miseries of the afflicted , be it , that she give the aged a long day of payment ; be it , that she violently seize the infant in the cradle ; she becomes equally the end of all their sorrows , and as she is the remedy of the infirm , and of the guilty , she is generally the desire of the just , and of the unfortunate . but of so many persons as call her to their assistance , she is not so much a friend to any as to those to whom she comes without call , and whose miseries and apprehensions she anticipates . the earth hath few men , that are not beholding to death , and who place her not rather amongst the number of their acquisitions than their losses . for by her the slave is taken from under the cruel hand of his master , & breaking the twine that fastened his soul to his body , she gives him a dispensation of his oath of fidelity : it is she that sets the prisoners at large , and who , knocking off their irons , gives their freedom in despite of their malicious oppressors : it is she that shews the banisht persons the ready way to return to their own country , that teacheth them , that they have no abiding place here upon earth , and that it matters not much to what part of the world they be confined , since she brings them back to the place from whence they came . in fine , it is she who fortifies the faint hearted against their misfortunes , who laughs at the cruelty of princes , and who constraineth us to believe , that the life we love is a punishment , since that which gives it a period , puts an end to all our miseries . caius caligula being master of this secret , and who had learnt by divers murthers , that death past for a favor amongst the unfortunate , granted it only to his friends ; he that obtained it must be reconciled to him ; and seneca observed , that it was not so much an effect of his rigor , as of his bounty , to be put to death in the time of his reign . he would have thought himself ignorant of the fundamentals of tyranny , if he had chastised all men with one and the same punishment , if he had not put a difference between persons , if he had condemned the miserable to death , and if he had preserved alive those who deemed themselves happy . there were some men during his time , that wisht for death as a favor , and desired to be bereaved of life , that they might be no longer witnesses of his horrible wickedness ; caninius julius received the sentence of death with joy , he returned the emperor thanks for it in the midst of the senat ; and whether it were to reproach him of cruelty , or that he would blame the cowardise of his compatriots , he let him see , that death was not so terrible , since it was possible to despise it , to avoid the sight of a barbarous tyrant . he knew it was no extraordinary priviledg for a man to live ; that vassals enjoy it as well as their lords , that the condition of beasts in this point was equal to that of reasonable creatures , and that we must have had but small experience of the calamities of the world , to fear what children suffer without complaining , mad men expect without concernment , and what the afflicted receive with satisfaction . death hath nothing of cruelty but opinion , philosophers have augmented our horror by the description of it ; they have increased our apprehensions , in designing to prepare us for it ; and they have represented her frightful even by reasons that might well serve to enable us to support it . some have imagined , that she was the greatest of all our evils ▪ because it was necessary : that it was the chastisement wherewith the most famous criminals were punisht ; and that it was not without cause , that man had so much aversion for it , since natures most useless animals used so much indeavor to avoid or divert it . yet we know that death touches us not , but by depriving us of sense , it makes us incapble of suffering pain , and in separating our soul from our body , it makes us insensible of all evils . the epicureans , who have vowed an inviolable fidelity to pleasure , confess this truth : the living feel it as little as those that rest in the grave ; and as she offends not in the latter , because they are deprived of sense , she toucheth not the former , because they yet breath . if all these reasons cannot perswade the peripateticks not to fear death , at least , they will diminish their apprehensions of it , and will oblige them to confess , that death hath nothing so terrible in it as they had represented her to themselves , since an ordinary resolution will serve to endure or vanquish it . seneca , who knew that it was a part of his essence , and as quantity which hath its extent and termination , it was composed of life , and of death , he prepared to receive it at all times , he lookt on each day as the last of his life ; and to use his own words , he wisht for his change , to put an end to his miseries . he saith in one epistle , which he writeth to lucillus , that he had been a long time prepared for it , that he injoyed not life but because he was ready to surrender it ; and that as he had prevented her arrival by his vertue , he could wait his dissolution without fear , and suffer it without sorrow . discourse iv. that despair is mixt with cowardize fury and injustice . the love which man beareth to himself is so just , and the cares he carries about him for his own preservation are so reasonable , that he may not forgo them without unhinging his frame , nor be exempted from the rules thereof without perverting the very laws of nature . it is the end of all his actions , the foundation of human society , and the principle of that strickt union observed between lovers and friends . if aristotle may be credited in this matter , a man becomes sufficiently useful to his neighbour , from the time that he retains a love for himself , and being governed by the rules of vertue , stirs up others to practise them by his example . from thence the civilians assert , that our will cannot be pure when it considereth a benefit that is out of our power , that there is a self love in all our actions , that interest is the life of our designs , and that we care not to preserve , or defend , a publique good , any further then it concerneth our own particular welfare , the souldier fights not for his native countrey , but because he hopes to secure what himself therein possesseth ; and as he is a member of that body , he fears his own ruin in the destruction of the government . the merchant mounts not the threatning seas but under the hopes of profit , the husbandman doth not cultivate the earth , but because he expects a happy harvest of his labours . in fine , man imitateth his maker in his love : he causeth all creatures to serve his turn , he cherisheth himself with delight , he looks upon himself with respect , and subduing all things to his mind , he adoreth himself as a diety . although this affection be as just as it is natural , and cannot be blamed in a man but so far only as she passeth into excess ; yet doth despair design her ruin , it opposeth all her principles , and engageth the most tractable of all creatures , to become his own enemy . he breaks those cords of love which bind him so strongly to himself , it causeth hatred to succeed his love , and by a fury wherewith miserable souls and mad men only are possest , it forceth him to be his own executioner , to put a period to his misfortunes : i know that seneca did allow his wise man this sentiment ▪ that it was his opinion that we might depart this world without offence , that there was always glory by letting in death by our own hand , and that that man was able to live at liberty , who could die without constraint : that a wise man was master of his life , as well as his actions , that he was to live as long as he ought , and not so long as he could ; and as he withdrew himself from a feast when he was satisfied , or quitted his sport when tired ; he was to leave the world when he became weary of it . in fine , he maintained that this passion was an honor to him : and that if it appertained to men of great courage sometimes to forsake the earth in their prosperity , it was a mark of folly in a man to desire to live , being discontent and unhappy . this sentiment is so often repeated in his works , that we cannot deny but he was of that opinion , and i must give the lye to my own judgment , if i would defend or justifie him in that escape . but he seemeth to me excusable enough , being a stoick , since his error proceeded from the principles of the sect he was of , and for commending despair in his wise man , since it passed in his time for the most glorious act of our courage : yet no sooner was he undeceived in this doctrine , no sooner had christianity forbidden homicides ; and that no attempt could be made upon a mans self , without breaking in upon the rights of his lord , but he quitted his judgment ; he retracts from his errors , and confirmed , by the close of his life , the truth of his belief . for having received the sentence of death , he would not execute it upon himself with his own hands , he permitted his veins to be opened by them about him , and suffered them to let his soul ( with the blood ) out of his body , without his own assistance . in a letter which he writes to lucilius , he exhorteth a wise man not to deprive the executioner of his office , and ( without fear ) to wait for the termination of his days , he saith that there is fortitude in despising but not in hating of life , and that it is rather a sign of madness than of wisdom , to work our own dissolution by the fear of dying . indeed amongst all the passions of the soul , none are more sordid than despair : those that have made use of it , to recover their liberty , or to deliver themselves from the tyranny of princes , have not so much made proof of their constancy as of their weakness ; and they have passed among men rather for impatient than couragious persons . cato is not blamed in history , but for having hearkened to the advice of despair , his death is the shame of the romans , his homicide blemisheth all his other actions ; and what praises soever seneca gives him in his book of providence , he cannot be exempted from the imputation of cowardise , in having recourse to death , to shun the power of a victorious enemy . it is a defect of courage not to be able to undergo adversity , to wish for death , because our life is unpleasant , and to anticipate the end of our days , to free our selves from pain and infamy . regulus , to whom the like evil befell , shewed himself much more generous to posterity than this philosopher : for being fallen into the hands of the carthaginians he would not lend his own to despair , that they might be deprived of the glory of his overthrow : and although he was become the captive of them whom he had formerly vanquisht in pitcht battel , he chose rather to suffer , in being their servant , than violently to ease himself of their tyranny by the commission of a homicide . he received his disaster without murmuring against heaven , he bore the domination of his insulting lords with patience , he retained the same greatness of courage in his captivity as in his authority , and though far removed from the roman people , he ceased not to preserve his affection inviolable for them . if his enimies loaded his body with chains , they could not tear from his soul , the love he had for his country , he was faithful to it in the midst of his miseries , he made vows for its welfare , and as he knew that he could not go out of the world without the leave of him that placed him in it , he waited for death from his enemies , without daring to prevent it , by attempting upon his own life . but cato never surmounted cesar , if he became his prince , he was also become his conqueror by the law of arms , and if he deprived him of liberty , it was after he had subjected the roman commonwealth to his authority . likewise his despair is an evident sign of his imbecillity : he did not kill himself , but because he envyed cesars fortunes , and set not the dagger to his breast , but because he could not bear the prosperity of a victorious antagonist . if despair be found guilty of infirmity , we shall find her no less full of fury : violence gives not way to weakness , and as we deem a man a coward , whose heart faileth him in the day of adversity , he is esteemed cruel , when he contracts with death for his deliverance . those tyrants that break in upon our lives , come short of the violence of despair , they discharge their rage only upon our bodies , they leave our minds at liberty ; and , afflicting the meanest part of us , they often see the more noble victorious over their cruelty . but despair , that exerciseth its fury upon both , it depresseth the soul with the body , it sets us wholy on fire against our selves , and more outragious than the evil that assaults us , it constrains us to make use of steel or poison , to deprive our selves of life . then it is , that we become our own enemies , when we turn our advantages to our destruction , when we employ our reason to procure our ruine , and to avoid pain , which is but the trouble of effeminate men , we summon the worst of evils to our assistance . likewise an orator hath excellently said , that despair was but the passion of furious persons , that it took its laws from impatience , its power from indignation , its weapons from fear and pain ; and that a man called not for death , but because he hated himself , or forgot his own salvation . moreover despair is accounted the most unjust of our inclinations ; and whosoever should approve the use thereof amongst reasonable creatures , would no less offer violence to the laws of nature than those of christianity . life is a gift of god , we enjoy it not but so long as it pleaseth him , we came not into the world but by his favor , and that man would doubtless be insolently audacious , who would dare to abuse a benefit which he received not , but upon condition to preserve it . as none are permitted to choose the country where they will be born , nor the parents that shall beget them , it is not allowable for any to destroy themselves ; and it is but just , that he only that placed us in the number of the living without our consent , should remove us from thence at his pleasure . for although we are born for command , and that we behold nothing upon earth , that is not subject to our authority , nevertheless the disposing of our selves , is not within our commission , our life is in the hands of him that gave it us ; and since the son of god hath redeemed us by his blood , it is no longer lawful for us to undervalue it , because of a few incumbrances that attend it . even as the laws of men forbid particular persons to rescue the guilty from the hands of the executioner , the heavenly commandment permits not that sinners should diminish or change their chastisements ; and they are thereby oblig'd to suffer all sorts of calamitys rather than to abandon the rights which god hath over their life , to the discretion of fortune . if we desire death let it be the death of our passions , let us avoid every thing which makes us miserable , let us forsake all those false opinions which seduce us , and let us die to our selves , if we will not feel the evil which we are so much afraid of . the fourth treatise . of grief . discourse i. of the nature of grief . as nature is an enemy to ease , as she brings forth all things for action , as the more noble of her works terminate in motion , and as she allows them no divertisements but for the reparation of strength decreased by labour ; as sloth is hurtful to the body , as it converts it into excremental humors , as it encreaseth flegm , as it changeth the natural heat , and hindering the concoction of food renders it feeble and weak : the stoicks forbid their wise men to live at ease ; they make it the seed-plot of sin ; and knowing it to be nearer allied to darkness than to light , they enjoyn him to shun those retirements wherein he may learn to practise evil for want of employment . the truth is , it falls out very often , that nothing is more fatal to us than retirement and solitudes : our vices become less vigorous when they are seen ; when the disease is discovered , it 's half cured , and a dissolute life is never more dangerous than when , avoiding the eies of men , we retire into private places . yet such is the humor of grief , she delights in retirement , and seeks out solitary places to entertain her self with her own miseries : and , as if she were possest of an evil spirit , she shuns the company of them that are able to cure her . she resembles those idle delicate persons , who know little or nothing of their own actions , who think not of eating but when they are called to it , and who know not whether they be sitting or standing , unless you ask them : they live without sense , they divert themselves , and know it not , and they are employed , without knowing to what purpose . if the other motions of the soul put us into agitation , they propose some end , and the greatest part of them do aim at things that give us some sort of content . affection pursues the object we love , and laying open its beauties , or benefits , entertains us with the joy of its possession , or advantage ; anger meditates revenge , she considers the injury done her , and is never appeased till she have had satisfaction : covetousness applies her studies to riches ; the comfort she expects from their enjoyment is her motive ; and she ceaseth to hunt after them when she hath once lost the hopes of finding them . but grief is always idle , she propounds to her self no ends ▪ she is altogether taken up with her own misfortunes ; and without extending her thoughts beyond her self , her food is only her own affliction . nothing is so little at our command as this passion , she ariseth without our leave , she encreaseth by her own motion ; and contrary to the other distempers of the soul , she is made worse by the remedies which ought to be her cure. the journies or voyages we undertake wherewith to charm her ; the cares we apply to correct her nature , and the divertisements of which we make use , to allay her anguish , avail us nothing : she soon returns , and all the witty inventions of prudence serve not so much to destroy as to deceive her . for opinion coming in to her assistance , renews her sorrows , shews her the cause with aggravations ; and , as if it drew strength from her respite , it strives to make her yet more miserable . and it is from this reason , that seneca doth infer , that grief is not natural to man , since she is so fickle in her humor , so variable in her wounds , and so inconstant in her affliction . what ever comes from nature is not sensibly apprehensive of alteration , it preserves every where the same order , and the diversity of matter it meets with changeth not its course . fire which is a natural agent , spareth none , it equally devours the prince and the peasant , it consumes the wife and her husband , and it must be brass or diamonds , that is able to resist its fury . steel enters into every part of the body , it divides all metals , it separates the most solid things , it conveys death to the greatest number of men , and we cannot reckon a martyr in our annals , that was able to oppose its violence . but sorrow is partial , she wounds one without touching another ; that which afflicts us , reaches not our neighbours , and we often see , that one and the same disaster makes some contented , and others unhappy . the original of all this disorder is self-love , our griefs proceed from our affections , we grow not sad but because we are in love with our selves , and as that matron said in quintilian , we regret not the loss of outward goods , or of our friends , but because we affected them too much . if the enemy ravage our country , if the pestilence depopulate the provinces , if the hailstones become the harvestors of the husbandmans hopes , if the thunderbolts batter down our steeple-tops , if the famine decrease the number of our compatriots ; we do not so much lament their misery as our own private calamity , we apprehend our own ruine in their destruction , and their misfortunes and losses touch us no farther , than that the same disasters may fall upon our heads . for by a contrary reason , if news be brought us , that the armies have quitted our borders , that they are gone into ethiopia , or marched into persia , and are become masters of their most considerable strong holds , if we receive advice , that the plague hath tumbled twenty thousand indians into the grave , that the sea hath swallowed up a whole fleet of infidels , that the turks have gained some islands from the christians , and violently carried away a great number of innocent persons into miserable captivitie ; all these evil tidings stir us not , we hear them without disturbance ; and though nature oblige us to love all men as our brethren , we are not much concerned , whether they be miserable , provided we are but out of danger ; the misfortunes of our neighbours terrifie us not , but in proportion to the love we bear them , and we fear not their unhappiness , but in as much as it may chance to concern our selves . this was it that caused st. austin to define grief , according to the stoicks , a displeasure of the soul caused by the opinion of an evil , which befalls us contrary to our will. but as the humor of this passion agrees not with that of its companions , she bringeth forth effects , that are different from theirs : for if love and desire treat us with oppression , grief deals with us as a tyrant , and if hope and fear treat their guests as slaves , sorrow makes them martyrs . her malignity extends into all their faculties , she benumbs the body with cold , she extinguisheth the heat , by which they subsist , she dries up the radical moisture , by which they live , she obstructs the digestion of what they eat , she embroils their memory , she perverts their judgment , & she leaves not a member of their bodies nor any power of their soul uncorrupted or not weakened . in fine , if the other passions be diseases , grief is a torment ; if love be subject to discontents , if joy be ligh-theaded , if fear be accompanied with imbecillity , sorrow is attended at once with pining , anguish and pain : she beats down the spirits with the body , and overthrowing the whole order of their government , puts them into a condition uncapable of acting any thing , but what is fatal to their rest . despair ceaseth to torment us when separated from grief , and our apprehensions are supportable , when divided from that unquietness with which the faint-hearted are afflicted . discourse ii. that misfortunes make not a wise man sad , and that they are equally advantageous to the innocent and the guilty . albeit i have ever been perswaded , that there was a god in heaven , that i know well all creatures obeyed him , and that that religion , which i profess , obliged me to pay him reverence , although i owned his power to be infinite , that he was equally just and merciful ; and that the least of his perfections was as well beyond my expression as out of the reach of my thoughts : nevertheless have i sometimes been unable to forbear lifting my head into heaven , to bring his providence in question , and to ask , whether the creator of the universe were the governor of the minutes and adventures of our life . it is true , that my error lasted but a while , and i changed my opinion as soon as i considered the beauties of nature , when i contemplated these azure vaults , which hang over our heads , when i admired the influences of the stars , when i observed the regular order of the seasons , when i examined how the day succeeded the night , and how the sun , which caused both , conveyed his light and his heat into all the quarters of the earth . all these wonders easily undeceived me in my misapprehension ; and wholly ashamed of my infidelity , i confessed without difficulty , that he who divided the seas , who caused the fruits to come forth in their seasons , who upheld the earth by its own weight , was the same who regulated our actions , who took notice of our sufferings , who assisted us in our warfare , and made himself arbitrator of our defeat , or our victory . but when afterwards i saw that all things were in disorder in the world , when i observed in it the guilty happy , and the innocent miserable , when i considered there , the vicious rewarded , and the just afflicted ; i fell again into my first error , i appealed from my last opinion ; and swayed by an injustice , which to me seemed equitable , i acknowledged no other providence but that which the ancients attributed to destiny and fortune : my faith lost her self by too great curiosity , and i became an infidel , by desiring too much knowledg . but the chastisement that waiteth upon sin , cured me of this distemper , the punishment of the wicked opened my eies ; i complain now no more of the afflictions of the just , nor of the felicity of the wicked , i know that these are sufficiently miserable by being guilty ; and that it is not necessary that divine justice should abate their , pride , since vice contributeth to their torment . indeed let a man be as vicious as he will he shall not avoid the chastisement due to his sin : his lewdness is his punishment , and how insensible soever he be of his crimes , he cannot shun their punishment , after he hath committed them . there is no safety here upon earth , but that of innocence , and nothing can give rest to our souls , but the justice of our actions . as it was the custom of the romans to bear the cross upon which they were to be crucified , impious men carry their punishment about them : the remorse of conscience bears them company in all places ; and they feel themselves condemned before the witnesses be called , ere ever the judg pass the sentence , and before the executioner lay hands upon them . those torments that are visible , are not always the most sensible : our body is not at all times the theater of our pain , that which wounds this is often offensive only to our imagination ; and if its violence make it short , its modertaion is not insupportable : but that which proceeds from our crimes is eternal , it is this only which is able to unite different qualities , which is as lasting as cruel , which endures longer than that which caused it , which encreaseth by its silence , and gains strength by its moderation . it resembles that famous tyrant , who gave commandment to the executioners , to give their patients a tedious death , to make them suffer their torments with longer repetitions , to lay on gently , that their death might be the more sensible to them , and to send them into the other world by reiterated pains . for sin gives us no respite , it continues our whole life , and by repeated torments conveys us to eternal death . but without spending more time in summing up the calamities of the wicked , it will not be hard for me to satisfie those complaints , which most men make against heaven ; if i shew , that fortune hath nothing dismal in her , that her disgraces cannot make us unhappy , that they are rather testimonials of gods bounty than of his anger ; and that if they are the exercises of the innocent , they serve also for remedies to the guilty . it is adversity , saith an ancient orator , that reforms our wills , that gives courage to the cowardly , that constrains the obstinate , that teacheth the proud modesty , which instructeth the impious in vertue , which crowneth the just , and punisheth the wicked . seneca esteemed himself happy in his exile , the penury that attended him , contributed to his quiet , he thought he had lost his troublesom business , not his goods , when they spoiled him of his wealth , and that by a happy mischief he had recovered his liberty , in being deprived of the care of preserving his riches : the poor live securely ; and , as fortune is not their landlady , they fear not her displeasure . if a tyrant invade the neighbouring countries , if he send the alarm into their quarters , if he force the walls that surround them , they are not much concerned , they know the soldiers seek not for them , and that that want which makes them unhappy , is their shelter from the pursuits of usurpers . if they be banisht from their country , and if , by a power permitted by the law of arms to conquerors , they be forced to transplant , they leave their cottages without complaint , they seek to get out , and not to carry away ; and knowing that the whole earth is their country , they assure themselves of finding every where sufficient to satisfie their needs . poverty is not insupportable , but to them that think it so , the imagination makes the greatest part of their torments , men must be abused by the noise of the people , to be sensible of it , and be ignorant of necessitous contentments , to be afraid of their condition . if we will take the pains to frequent the habitations of the poor , we shall see that there is nothing frightful in them , but the name they bear ; that joy covers the faces of most of their guests , that they dispute tranquillity of mind with the rich , and that without being loaden with the cares which disturb the wealthy , they tast lifes sweetness with delight . but the rich are unhappy in the midst of pleasures , calamities beset them on all sides , their treasures are their troubles ; and as they get them by labor , they possess them with fear , and lose them with sorrow . but to make it appear , that poverty hath nothing vexatious , and that all its evil consisteth purely in opinion ; do we not see , that rich men often imitate the poor , when they have a mind to divert themselves ? that they appoint days , to be entertained after their manner ? that they lay aside their plate-services for earthen dishes ? that they change their goblets of gold into wooden bowls ? that they prefer the work of the potter before the art of the goldsmith ? and that they set aside the magnificence of their stately dwellings , to come and divert themselves in a shepherds hut ? mean while these unhappy men fly from want , they fear what they sometimes seek ; and , by a blindness which shews their infirmity , they abhor what in their delights they imitate . so much it is a truth , that indigence is but an imaginary thing , that it hath nothing more terrible in it than the common opinion of men , and that the incommodities that attend it hurt not our mind , but in proportion to the wound they give to our imagination . sometimes one and the same cause produceth different effects ; and that which made poverty odious , makes plenty a burthen . as it is of small importance , whether a sick mans bed be of ivory or of wood , and as his being often removed , allays not his grief ; a man is as little satisfied with poverty as with wealth , and because he carries his evil about him , there is no help for his misery . therefore when any misfortune befalls us , let us be assured , that the evil we resent , is only an effect of opinion , that it offends us because we think it doth , and that it afflicts our minds , only because we have suffered our imagination to be seduced by it . if we are fallen into disgrace , if men have violently robbed us of our credit , or good name , and if by the malice of our enemies , or the displeasure of the prince , we are stript of our dignities , let us remember that we have no power over human things , that there is a god above , who hath reserved to himself the jurisdiction thereof , that we cannot be renowned any longer than pleaseth him , and that as the earth hath no pretensions upon the day , which by intervals enlightens it , we ought not to promise our selves eternal advantages here , since men may spoil us of them every moment . fortune doth not imitate nature in her conduct : as this perfecteth her works by gradations , she brings them back by leisurely motions to their principles : the planets withdraw from their points at the same rate as they hastened to them . but that sightless dame doth often make us poor at once ; we lose in one day that which cost our ancestors divers ages to acquire ; and , as if she knew that we are all born equal , that riches fell unequally to our shares , that we stript our neighbours for our own accommodation , that we have encreased them against the laws of nature , she casts us violently into a state of poverty , and makes our condition equal to the meanest creatures on earth . though this method of proceeding be a surprizal , yet is it in some sort advantageous to us : by wounding she cures us , she stifles all our evils at once ; and , as a skilful chirurgion , who nimbly draws an arrow out of the body , she carries away with our goods the care of their preservation and the apprehension of their loss . if the fire violently ravage our fields , if it burn our houses , and consume all the substance we have in them ; we are to consider , that this loss happens to us by an universal cause , that this insatiable element operates according to the matter it meets with ; and that it would be guilty of partiality , if it should spare our habitations , since it pays neither respect to the temples of god , nor to the pallaces of kings . let us represent to our selves , that this burning is a forerunner of that fire which is one day to devour the whole world , that this creature is enraged against us , that it is angry that we use it as a slave , that we employ it in most of our arts : and that it is but just , we should be content to receive some damage from that which affords us so many good services . let us perswade our selves , that the evil befell us by the secret providence of heaven , that god sends it to them that least think of it , and that the flames would never destroy any houses , if they were to stay for the consent of the owners . as the fire is burning up our dwellings , let us implore heaven to consume our passions . by the light of the flames let us behold the vanity of temporal goods , let us therein adore the hand that strikes us , and which chastiseth us in this world , to spare us in the next . if death snatch away any of our friends ; and , by an innocent cruelty , deprive us of them we loved most in the world , let us bear this separation with submission , let us be thankful to providence , that we had them so long ; let us take her favors in the best sense , and not accuse her of having spoiled us , since she could give as well as take ; let us remember that all things in nature are subject to decay , that men have yet brought forth nothing immortal , and that the proudest of their works lasted but a few years . let us , by an ingenious deceit , imagine , that our friends are absent , and not dead , that they have changed their abode , and not their country , that they are removed , but not gone from us . let us not be of the humor of those who love not their friends till they have lost them ; and who , doubting of their own affections , have recourse to tears for their confirmation . if we judg of a man by the more noble part of his composition , we are assured , that those we lament are not dead , that their souls live content ; and that that virtue which caused them to excel upon earth , hath rendred them for ever blessed in heaven . let us apply all these arguments to our adversities , let us thereof make weapons of defence against their assaults when ever they attack us ; and let us hold for truth , that they serve always either to punish our faults , or to make our vertues more perspicuous . discourse iii. that the wise are happy even in exile and prison . nothing doth so much oppose the general opinion of the vulgar , as to assert , that afflictions are beneficial to a wise man , that his misfortunes contribute to his felicity , that his disgraces turn to his glory , that he may be content under oppression , and that that which makes other men unhappy should turn to his profit . what , say they , can it be believed , that he should be beholding to fortune for reducing him to a state of beggary , to be lodged all his days upon a dunghil , to be deprived of his wife and children , and to be ungratefully forsaken of his nearest relations ? is it possible , to think that fabricius could be happy in his exile , when after his retirement from the court , his necessities constrained him to dig and delve , and to gather , with his own hands , the herbs and roots for his supper ? who will judg it a blessing to rutilius to be driven from his native country , forced to forsake his children , make bankrupt of his friends , and to be confined to a barren corner of the earth ? who shall imagine that regulus could be content in a cask set with spikes , by which his wounds were renewed every moment , when he could not stir himself without piercing his body , when they constrained him to a continual watching , and by a new sort of cruelty , they keep open his eies against the beams of the sun ? who shall think , that socrates was used as a faithful citizen , when they present him the fatal cup , when the poison he swallows freezeth his blood , and , dispersing her malignity into all his veins , bereaves his eies of light , his limbs of vigor , and his reason of stability ? a man must be an enemy to himself , to build his felicity upon his misfortunes , and be ignorant of the nature of happiness ; to think of arriving there , by the help of violent injuries which oppose it . mean while we must own , according to seneca's opinion , that fabricius is happy in his poverty , that rutilius is content in his banishment , that regulus meets with nothing of evil in his torments , and that socrates is not miserable , in letting in death by tedious draughts . calamities astonish only men of ordinary spirits , and he must be ignorant of the condition of human life , who fears or flies the miseries that attend it . banishment , which is the midway beween life and death , which deprives the living of conversing with their fellow creatures , and causeth them to bewail the absence of them whom they have not lost ; is in propriety of speech , but a changing of habitation , and a removal from their countries ; the same sun gives them light where ever they go , and without being troubled for the place , whither they are to retire , they are assured to find a heaven to cover , and the same earth to sustain them . a wise man is too generous to be restrained to a portion of earth , the whole globe is his inheritance ; he lives here below as a pilgrim , and not as a citizen , and he thinks himself to be upon his journey every time he is obliged to forsake the place of his nativity . those mountains which distinguish kingdoms , and the rivers which surround their provinces , do not comprehend their territories : his comforts are spread over all the earth , he deemeth that he is arrived in his own country so often as he is brought into another ; and as by his mind he possesseth all things , he perswades himself to be born in every place , into which providence hath cast him . who doth not laugh at those fools , that are fastned with a straw by the leg to a table , who being tied to a post , by a small thread , seem as immovable as if their bodies were loaden with fetters and shackles ? and yet we see some men agitated by the same madness : they are so much in love with their own chimney-corners , that they are not to be hauled thence . they confine themselves to a piece of earth , and like no towns but those they were born in ; and they would think themselves thrown out of the world if they should be forced into fresh quarters . but forsaking the error of the multitude , whose judgment , a false opinion hath disordered , it is not difficult to make appear , that banishment is to be borne , that it hath nothing more terrible than the noise of the world , that the banished may live contented , and that they suffer nothing in exile that is able to make them unhappy . we see some men voluntarily quit their own to inhabit a foreign country . the people who fill the most stately city of europe , are not all born under one hemisphere , the most remote parts contribute to her composition , strangers are not there less frequent than those of the country : and if there were a general muster of the occupants , i know not whether the number of the banished would not exceed all that are natives of rome . either delight or profit is the motive of this exchange of air : some come thither for traffick , others to hide their enormities ; some are perswaded thither by the desire of acquiring arts , and others by a vain hope of heaping up riches , or gaining of reputation : ambitious men have sought it as a theatre whereon to expose their vanities to view ; and we find no nation of which some are not very glad to change their climate for that of this worlds paradise . but go out of this city , which is the common country of all those people , pass into the other towns , which have not her fame nor delights : sum up the inhabitants , and you shall find , that the greater number are strangers , that their language is different from that which they learnt in their infancy , that interest tempted them to remove ; and that by a humour which seemeth strange , they often abandon a pleasant air to seek an iron or a brazen sky . our country is that place where we live contented , our felicity depends on us , and not on our habitation , and it is to little purpose to drive us from the land of our nativity , since into what coast soever we are carried , we bear about us our vertue , which ought to make all our happiness . a prison seemeth to have something more vexations than banishment : for besides that this deprives us of the advantages of nature , that it is the general residence of darkness , that it shuts out the sun beams , and that the light enters not but at the grates and sighing holes ; it debars us of liberty , it tumbleth us alive into the grave , and makes us as exiles in the midst of our own country . the lawyers confound imprisonment with exile , and put no difference between the time that we spend in the dungeon , and that which is wasted in banishment . mean while that which makes others unfortunate , is no incommodity to a wise man : his mind never suffers restraint ; and as he lives content in solitude , he remains at liberty in prison . the walls which enclose his body , the chains by which he is fastned to a corner of the goal , cannot limit his soul : he is free whilest his companion is a slave , and without clearing the gates that enclose him , he takes his advantage to escape into all parts of the world. as in his freedom he loaths voluptuousness , he laughs at pain in servitude ; and he careth little into what place they put him , since he demands not to have his portion here upon earth . that which afflicts the weak , and makes a prison so odious to persons of honour , is because it is infamous , because it passeth in the conceit of men , for satans habitation , the abode of evil spirits , where his family recides , and that letting the innocent go free , they fancy that none but the unfortunate and miserable are there left behind . but all these words ought not to affright us : for if we be true christians , let us go in boldly , let us prepare our selves to fight with a tyrant even in his own house , and to trample under foot an usurper , who is not less an enemy to the just , than to the wicked . if the hole into which we are thrust , be the possession of darkness , let our vertue serve us for a light ; let our patience bruise the fetters , let our inward sweet smell expel the stenches of the place , and let our innocence triumph over the rigour of the goalers . we trade well when we gain by our commerce , when our profits exceed our losses ; and when adventuring some vain pleasures of this life , we exchange them for solid and eternal joys . it is really true , that the guard about us , those fetters with which they load our bodies , and the dungeons in which they bury us alive , are advantageous to us , they attract us from the earth , they are the ladders by which our thoughts climbe into heaven , they give us there the contemplation of divine things , and insensibly pour into us charity , with knowledge . they do what providence daily performs in the world ; and as she gives cessation to the labours of mortals by the sweet refreshments of night , they allay our miseries by the consideration of the rewards they work for us . in fine , a prison restoreth to the soul that which by violence it takes from the body : the liberty of the one ariseth from the servitude of the other , as it causeth our sufferings , it begins our health : and stripping us of the delights of the earth , it leaves us only the desires of heaven . but if the prisoners be not attended with all comforts , yet ought they not to be much afflicted : a prison hath nothing but what may be born with ; if it have its shame , it hath also its glory , and if it have incommodities that cause it to be hated , it hath advantages which have rendred it desirable . some philosophers have made it the habitation of the muses , they stiled it a wise mans retirement ; there they composed the most excellent of their works , and as if it had been a schoole , they there taught their disciples vertue , unfortunate men constancy , and their oppressors mercy ; it was there that anaxagoras studied the square of the circle , by which he put the greatest artists to a nonplus , and proved by reason what they could never demonstrate by experience . it was there that boetius writ his consolations , by which he shews , that it is god that sends afflictions , that philosophy is a proper remedy , and that that which came from so just a hand , could not be offensive , but to such as were without hope of reward . it was there that st. paul preached the gospel , that he writ the greatest part of his epistles , that he confuted both the jews and the gentiles , and proved to all the world , that we cannot enter into glory but through the straight gate of affliction . in fine , it is there that we may learn to be sober , to be contented with what we have , to retrench our selves of superfluous things , to contemn earthly benefits , and by a generous violence , to prepare for those mansions , where the unfortunate shall be happy , the innocent at rest , and the captives free . discourse iv. that pity and envy are enemies to wisdom . as we see nothing in the world purely simple , that all we find there hath a mixture , that the pleasure we tast in it is mingled with pain , and that the highest of human felicity is always attended with troubles and disquiet : as there is hardly any compleat vertue upon earth , as the most excellent have their defects , the most enlightened their mists , the most innocent their faults , and the most couragious their weaknesses , it must not be wondered , that vice doth so often deceive us in its appearance , and that , assuming a proportion of its contrary qualities , it needs only a little outward shew to represent it self glorious ; we magnifie ambition because she apeth generosity , because she despiseth dangers , affronteth death , and , to gain a piece of earth , makes little of all those laborious toyls which give exercise to valor . we esteem prodigality , because it opposeth covetousness , because it claimeth kindred of liberality , and gives largely without hope of reward . we pay reverence to the dissimulation of politicians , because it hath an affinity with prudence , because it hides our designs , covers our anger , and waits for the day of vengeance . we honour compassion , because it resembles charity , because she takes the prisoners out of the dungeon , comforts the distressed ; and without any consideration of their merits relieves equally the innocent and the guilty . all the orators have given her elogies : they make her the vertue of princes , they have lifted up her head above her companions , and do assure us , that if valor and justice made kings great , it was compassion that rendred them worthy of our admiration . nothing likens you so much unto the gods , saith cicero , speaking to cesar , as your compassion , your clemency makes you his image ; and if your fortune have not any thing to present you more glorious than the command of the roman nation , nature cannot endow you with a more excellent gift , than a will to preserve the unfortunate . although this vertue be so fair in her out-side and that it seemeth as if we could not blame her without a renunciation of humanity , nevertheless she ceaseth not to be found guilty of great defects , and to pass for a vice in the stoick morality . for as these generous philosophers strip their wise man of all the maladies of his soul , they allow not that other mens misfortunes should be his miseries : they will have him as little concerned for his neighbours afflictions as for his own disasters : they will have him to be fortune proof ; and that that which discomposeth others , should teach him constancy , and an even temper , what , say they , doth vertue consist in infirmity ? must we be guilty of effeminacy , to perform acts of generosity ? can we not be charitable without being afflicted ? and can we not relieve those that are in misery , unless we mingle our sighs with their sobs and groans , and our cries with their tears ? a wise may ought to consider the poor for their relief , and not himself to share in their calamities ; he ought to protect them from oppressions , and not to be inwardly disturbed for them ; he ought to endeavour their comfort , and not to be a partner in their misfortunes . but as this notion seemeth somewhat strange to them that know not the stoick sentiments , to apprehend it well , we must suppose with seneca , that compassion is a composition of two different parts , whereof one regards the calamity to relieve it , and the other to take a share of the suffering . the stoicks reject the second to embrace the first ; they say that pity is unworthy of a man of courage , they call it the vice of effeminate persons , and do declare , that they cannot become sad without derogating from the excellency of the mind : and that they must resolve to be miserable , if other mens misfortunes may as well pierce their heart as their eyes . as we judge of the weakness of these , when they water at the sight of others that have sore eyes : as it is not so much a chearfulness of spirit as an infirmity of body , to laugh with all that laugh , and to gape every time that another opens his mouth . pity is a badg of weakness , and we must be of the disposition of women , not to be able to look upon other mens troubles , without being assaulted by it our selves . therefore when a wise man giveth alms , when he saves a man from shipwrack , when he hospitably receives the banished into his house ; he preserves still the same tranquility of mind ; he is seen to be as little disturbed when he helps the distressed , as when he rebukes the impious , and chastiseth the guilty . he accosts them without trouble , he comforts them with arguments , he relieves them by his liberality ; and knowing that his grieving can do them no good , he rather draws money out of his purse , than tears from his eyes . if compassion be sordid when she renders other mens misfortunes her own , envy is infamous when she makes her own torment of other mens prosperity : and as we may not excuse the first by reason of her weakness , we cannot but condemn the second , because of her injustice . vices do at sometimes tickle us , they often steal into the seat of vertue , and some of them are so disguised , that hardly we can know them from their contraries . profusion seems so becoming in monarchs , that we make no difficulty of confounding it with liberality , cruelty is often covered with the robe of justice : compassion is so tender hearted , that she is hardly to be separated from clemency , and as she bears all her marks , she is not afraid to pretend to her praises ; but envy is always opprobrious , vertue is her torment , the most innocent feel her fury , she dares not appear to the eyes of men , and as she cannot conceal her malice , she is forced to seek darkness to hide her deformities and discontents . as if she were animated against the whole race of mankind , she maks war against all men ; and without distinguishing their merits , she sets both upon the perfect , and the less accomplished : she opposeth the most eminent , because she cannot arrive to their perfections ; she persecuteth her equals , because they reprove her covetousness and pride ; and she prosecutes her inferiours , as having an apprehension of their happy successors . but though she be an enemy to all the vertues , yet she exerciseth her fury particularly against the more noble , and resembling the scorpions , who sting most fiercely when the sun is most hot and clear ; she assaults those which have the greatest lustre and glory . from thence it comes that tyrants hate the honesty of their heirs , that they fear the valour of their commanders , that they dread the prudence of their ministers , and apprehend the puissance of their friends . they think themselves contemned in the praises of their inferiours ; they fancy that the commendations given to them is an abatement of their own grandeur , and they are afraid of designs to supplant them , every time men speak in their favour . but if monarchs unwillingly suffer vertuous persons , the subjects do not less envy their princes advantages : conspiracy is not always an effect of their evil government , it more often proceeds from the malice of the people , than from the tyranny of kings ; and their inaccessableness is oft times the only cause of their ruine . socrates lost not his life but for being too vertuous : his integrity made all his crimes , and the athenians would not at this day be accused of having put the wisest man of their commonwealth to death , if envy had not furnished them with arms to take him out of the way . but as no crime goes unpunished , envy finds her chastisement in her self ; she drinks the greatest share of her own poyson ; and to make her miserable , we need but leave her to her own fury . all other vices propose to themselves some advantage , and though it be never any thing but shew , it ceaseth not to give vigour to their pursuits ; but envy looks upon good to afflict her self , she rejoyceth not but in other mens harms , and by a blindness proper to avarice , she measures her own riches by the poverty of her neighbours , and her own wants by their treasures . if a passion be never so violent , it lasteth not always , it ceaseth after a time , and often finds its suffocation in the cause that gave it birth . anger takes her ease after she hath tormented us a while , pleasure becomes our pain , when its charms have tired us ; gluttony is wearied in much feasting ; and our soul hath not any faculty , which admits not a truce after a combate : but envy is always in motion , she lasts as long as her cause ; and what efforts soever we use to sweeten her , she is not to be cured but by the death of the author . from all these discourses it is easie to conclude , that grief is not natural , since she is so self conceited , since she doth not equally affect all men ; since she is partial in poverty , effeminate in pity , infamous in envy , dejected , or insolent in misfortunes . he that embraceth the motions of so dark a passion , may assure himself to be never happy , and as the most innocent are attended by injustice , we are not to expect any moral good service from them . finis . a table of the contents of this work. part i. treatise i. discourse . page . . the stoicks defence against passions . that it is mans happiness to live according to the laws of nature . a continuation of the same subject , and of the advantages of reason . that a wise mans felicity is not built on the goods of the body . that the goods of fortune cannot make a man happy . that vertue alone maketh a wise man happy . that the moral vertues of the heathen are not criminal treatise ii. discourse . page . . what the nature of passions is , and in what faculty of the soul they reside . of the number of passions according to the stoicks . that passions are not natural to man . that the senses and opinion are the two principles of passions . that passions cannot be of use to vertue . that no man is more miserable than he that is subject to passions . that a wise man may live without passion part ii. treatise i. discourse . page . . of the nature of joy . that the love of beauty is an enemy to reason , and that it is not so much an effect of nature as opinion . that learning is vexatious , and the pleasures of knowledge are mixt with grief , danger , and vanity . that the buildings , and gardens of grandees are not so much the inventions of necessity as vanity . that the gaudiness of apparel discovereth the impudicity , or pride of them that use it treatise ii. discourse . page . . of the nature of desire ●● that the desire of greatness and wealth plungeth men into misery and sin . that audacity is of no use to wise men in assaulting or defending of evils . that hope is ungrateful , fearful , and uncertain . that anger is blind in taking of vengeance , rash in quarrels , and insolent in chastisement treatise iii. discourse . page . . of the nature of fear . that tortures are not terrible but in opinion , and that fools and cowards only are affrighted at them . that a wise man is not afraid of death , and considereth it , as the end of his misery , and the entrance to felicity . that despair is mixt with cowardize , fury , and injustice treatise iv. discourse . page . . of the nature of grief . that misfortunes make not a wise man sad , and that they are equally advantageous to the innocent and the guilty . that the wise are happy even in exile and prison . that pity and envy are enemies to wisdom errata . page line . for experte read exparte . pag. . l. . for to grandeur r. to her grandeur . pag. l. . for transmitted r. transmuted . pag. . l. . for been r. seen . pag. . l. . for unskilful r. skilful . pag. . l. . for christs r. christ . ag . . l . for dispose r. despise . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e prov. . * to king charles the second . seneca . notes for div a -e * veritati nemo praescribere potest , non spatium temporum , non privilegia regionum . tertul. lib. de veland . virgin. c. . * judicia nullius jus deterius , sed fermius efficiunt . l. . ff . de regul . juris . * lipsius lib. . manuduct . ad stoic . philosoph . notes for div a -e amicus plato , amicus socrates , sed magis amica veritas aristoteles . eth , ad nicom . nascitur ex affectibus virtus , & nata cum illis consistit . architas , apud stob. serm. . interpres apollinis egebat interprete , & sors ipsa referenda erat ad fortes . chrysippus . chilo quid difficilimum interogatus , seipsum agnoscere respondit : unumquemque enim multa ex caeco amore sibi attribuere . stob. serm. . cavenda haec ignorantia , qua de nobis minus sentimus , sed plus illa , qua plus nobis tribuimus : per hanc damonibus , per aliam pecoribus sociamur . bern. lib. de dilig . deo. fieri non potest , certè egrè , ut bona aliquis faciat sine instructo apparatu multa enim , velut per organa , facienda sunt per amicos , opes , civilem gratiam aut potentiam . arist . ad nicom . . cap. . nesciat justus , nisi secundùm naturam vivere ; in cujus instituto dei lex est . ambros lib. . de abrahamo . cap. . non est in homine penitus extinctae scintilla rationis , in qua factus est ad imaginem dei. august . . de civit . dei. cap. . finem zeno ita edidit ; convenienter vivere , quod est secundùm unam rationem , & concordem . sibi stob. in eclog. stoici secundùm naturam vivere finem esse decreverunt , dei nomen in naturae decorè commutantes . clem. alex. . strom. assuesce ita vivere , ut vita tua quandam picturam exprimat , eandum servans semper imaginem quam acceperis ambros. lib. . ep. . quid aliud censes esse beatè vivere , nisi secundùm id , quod est in homine optimum , vivere ? quis vero dubitavarit nihil aliud esse hominis optimum , quam eam partem animi , cui dominanti obtemperare convenit caetera quaeque quae in homine sunt ? haec autem , ne aliam post●les definitionem , mens aut ratio dici potest . augustin . lib. . cont . academ . in homine optimum quid est ? ratio ; haec antecedit animalia , deos sequitur : ratio ergo perfecta proprium hominis bonum est . senec . ep. . sic est faciendum ut contra universam naturam nihil contendamus ; & ea tamen conservata , proprium sequamur . cic. offic. arriaga in phys . . . bonum est , quod omnes appetunt . arist . eth. nusquam pejus , quam in sano corpore , animus aeger habitat . petr. pulchritudo eòs , qui ipsam sentiunt , amicos reddit & inimicum neminem sibi fieri permittit . stob. serm. . animus spectandus est : nihil pulchritudó juvat , cùm quis mentem , non bonam , habet . idem . serm. . nostra longum forma percurrens iter , deperdit aliquid semper , & fulgens minùs , malisque minùs est . sen. in herc. voluptas , cùm maximè delectat , extinguitur , nec multum loci habet , itaque citò implet & tedio est , & post primum impetum marcet . sen. de vita beata . cap. . virtus contemptrix voluptatis & sortis est , & longissimè ab illa resiliens , labori ac dolori familiarior , virilibus incommodis magis quam isti effeminato bono , inserenda . sen. . de benef . cap. . radix omnicum peccatorum , cupiditas . paul. divitias nego bonum esse : nam si essent , bonos facerint . nunc , quoniam , quod apud malos deprehenditur , dici bonum non potest , hoc illis nomen nego : sen. de vita beat . cap. . ex homicidio saepe orta nobilitas , & strenua carnificina . alii pecuniâ emunt nobilitatem , alii illam lenocinio , &c. multis perditionem nobilitas conciliat . agrip. de van . scient . plato ait , neminem regem non ex servisesse oriundum , & neminem non servum ex regibus . omnia ista longa varietas miscuit , & sursum deorsum fortuna versavit . quis ergo generosus ? ad virtutem à natura bene compositus . sen. ep. . quid est in quo erratur ? cùm omnes beatam vitam optent , quòd instrumenta ejus pro ipsa habeant , & dum illam petunt , fugiunt : nam , cùm summa beatae vitae sit solida tranquillitas , & ejus inconcussa siducia , sollicitudinis causas colligunt , & per insidiosum iter , non tantum ferunt sarcinas , sed trahunt . sen. ep. . virtutes pereunt , si ea sententia vivit : nam saepe ab iis bonis est ab eundum ; aut illa deserenda : quod ut fiat paulò promptius , velut à respectantibus fiet , quasi ob majus bonum minora , sed tamen bona , omittentibus . lips . lib. . ad stoic . philos . nemo istorum , quos divitiae honoresque in altiore fastigio ponunt , magnus est : quare ergo magnus videtur ? cùm basi illum suâ metiris , non est magnus pumilio , licèt in monte constiterit . sen. ep. . omnis homo naturâ suâ scire desiderat . arist . . metaph. aurea prima sata est aetas , quae vindice nullo , sponte sua , sine lege , fidem rectumque colebat . ovid. . metamoph . non ex regulâ jus sumitur , sed ex jure quod est , regula fit . l. prima f. de reg . jur . peccatum est , dictum factum vel concupitum contra legem aeternam . aug. lib. . contra caust . ergo illam servare non est peccatum . romani mundi imperium acceperunt à deo , in remunerationem virtutum suarum moralium . august . apud suarez . lib. . cap. . delectatio non est in potestate delectantis , nisi quia actus est in potestate agentis . scotus . . dist . . q. . affectiones nullâ naturae vi commoventur , omniaque ea sunt opiniones ac judicia levitatis . cic. . defin . omnes affectus nihil aliud quàm voluntates sunt . nam quid est cupiditas & laetitia , nisi voluntas in eorum consentionem , quae volumus ? & quid est metus & tristitia , nisi voluntas in dissensionem ab his , qua nolumus . aug. . de civit . dei , cap. . natura intellectualis , scilicet voluntas , habet naturalem inclinationem ad suam perfectionem : nec est magis in voluntate , quàm in lapide . scotus . dist . . si affectus a natura essent , boni essent . lips . . manud . ad stoic . philos . nihil est naturale , quod nimium esse possit . cic. . tusc . lex communis esse debet , ut authoritatem habeat . bald. f. de leg. omnes nostris vitiis favemus ; & , quod propria facimus voluntate , ad naturae necessitatem referimus . hieron . an ira secundum naturam sit , manifestum erit , si hominem inspexerimus : quo quid est mitius , dum in recto animi habitu est ? quid ira crudelius , &c. sen. . de ira cap. . affectus non est oblatas rerum species movere , sed se illis idem . de ira cap. . non tam bene cum rebus humanis agitur , ut meliora pluribus placeant : argumentum pessimi turba est . senec. de . vit . beat . cap. . inter insaniam publicam , & hanc quae medicis traditur , nihil interest , nisi quod haec morbo laborat , illa opinionibus falsis . sen. ep. . numa omnium primùm ( rem , ad multitudinem imperitam , & illis temporibus rudem , efficacissimam ) deorum metum injecit . liv. lib. . affectus velut ubertas est naturalis , ad quam cùm verus cultor accesserit , statim cedentibus vitiis , fruges virtutis oriuntur . lact. . cap. . nihil rationis est , ubi semel affectus inductus est , jusque illi aliquod voluntate nostrâ datum est . sen. . de ira cap. . affectus quidem tam mali ministri quàm duces sunt . idem . cap. . scis pro patria pugnandum , dissuadebit timor : scis pro amicis desudandum esse , sed deliciae vetabunt . sen. ep. . facilius est excludere perniciosa quàm regere , & non admittere quàm moderari . senec. . de ira . cap. . libertati à majoribus tantum impensum est , ut patribus quibus jus vitae & necis in liberos datum erat , non tamen licebat eripere libertatem . l. ult . c. de pat . servit quicunque vel metu frangitur , vel delectatione , vel cupiditatibus ducitur , vel indignatione exasperatur , vel moerere dejicitur : servilis est omnis coactio . amb. de vit. beat . lib. . aestimatio rerum non sumitur ab affectione singulorum , sed secundum quod communiter venditur . l. . f. ad l. acquil . parricidae cum lege ceperunt , & illis facinus paena monstrauit : pessimo loco fuit pietas post quam culeas saepius vidimus quàm cruces . sen. de clem . lib. . cap. . tantum inter stoicos & caeteros sapientiam professos interesse , quantum inter faeminas & mares merito dixerim ; cùm utraque turba ad vitae societatem tantundem conferat , sed altera pars ad obsequendum , altera imperio nata sit sen. lib. const . cap. . quid si sanum voces leviter febricitantem ? non est bona valetudo mediocritas morbi : quomodo oculos major & perfecta suffusio excaecat , sic modica turbat . sen. ep. . non quia difficilia sunt , non audemus , sed quia non audemus difficilia sunt . sen. ep. . notes for div a -e virtus voluptatis ancilla & locum famulae obtinet . athen. lib. . de sin . quid aliud est vitia incendere , quàm authores illis inscribere , & dare morbo , exemplo divinitatis , excusatam licentiam ? sen. de brevit . vit. cap. . si naturalis amor esset , & amarent omnes , & semper amarent , & idem amarent ; neque alium pudor , alium cogitatio , alium satietas deterreret . petr. dial . . amare simul , & sapere ipsi jovi non datur . plato amore contemplationis abstinuit ab omni delectatione venereâ . d. thom. . q. . artic. ad . admitti non debet quis ad probandum id , quod probatum non prodest . lib. . cod. de probat . misera orbis christiani facies sub constantio , ob frequentes ecclesiasticorum disceptationes & conventus . ammian . lib. . mutatur ars quotidie , toties interpolles & ut quisque loquendo pollet , imperator illico vitae & necis fit . plin. lib. . illud humile tugurium nempe vertutes recipit , jam omnibus templis formosius erit . sen. cens. ad helu . cap. . auratas vestes aut murice tinctas nulli licet ferre , & gravi animadversione plectitur , quisquis vetito se , & indebito , non abdicaverit vestimento . cod. de vest . deles picturam a deo datam mulier , si vultum tuum materiali candore oblinas , si acquisito rubore perfundas : illa pictura vitii non decoris est , fraudis non simplicitatis . amb. exam. lib. . quanta haec amentia , essigiem mutare naturae , picturam quaerere ; & dum verentur , maritale judicium perdere suum ? aug. lib. . de doct. christ . quantum a nostris disciplinis aliena sunt , quam indigna nomine christiano , faciem fictam gestare , quibus simplicitas omnis inducitur ? turtul . lib. . de cult . faem . cap. . omne quod contra naturam est , monstri meretur notam penes omnes ; penes nos verò etiam elogium sacrilegii in deum naturae & authorem tertul. lib. de coron . milit . quisquis de accipiendo cogitat , oblitus accepti est , nec ullum habet malum cupiditas majus , quam quod ingraest sen. ep. . divum julium plures amici confecerunt quam inimici , quorum non expleverat spes inexplebiles . sen. . de ira c. . nihil habet ita magnificum , quo mentes in se nostras trahat , praeter hoc quod mirari illa consuevimus : non quia concupiscenda sunt , laudantur , sed concupiscentur , quia laudata sunt . sen. ep. . jure naturali regna edita . d. de just & jur . ut domiti se melius haberent , quum indomiti se deterius habuerant aug. . de civit . cap. . magna servitus magnae fortunae est . sen. consol . ad polib . rato quam justus quisquam fuit , ut non charior populo successor soret . petr. de remed , utriusq . fort . funes ceciderunt mihi in praeclaris . psal . . quod quisque juris in alterum statuerit , ipse eodem jure utatur . sceptra thebarum fuit impuné nulla gerere . sen. in thebaide . admirationem nobis parentes auri argentique fecerunt : & teneris infusa cupiditas altius sedit , crevitque nobiscum . sen. ep. . temperatus sit sapiens & ad res fortiùs agendas non iram , sed vim adhibeat . sen. . de ira cap. . firmiter existimo tempus non dicere aliam rem absolutam , ultra motum , sicut qualitas dicit aliam rem a quantitate , sed eandem rem simpliciter . scotus . q. . de rerum princip . spes metum sequitur , nec miror ista utrumque pendentis animi esse , utrumque futuri expectatione solliciti . sen. ep. . quis enim pollicetur serenti reventum , militanti victoriam , marito pudicam uxorem , patripios liberos ? sequimur qua ratio non qua veritas trahit . sen . benef . cap. . omni vita pendent , & inhonesta se ac difficilia docent coguntque & ubisine premio labor est , torquetillos irritum dedecus , nec dolent prava sed frustra voluisse . sen. de trancq . anim . cap. . nos venturo torquemur & preterito , nemo tantum presentibus miser est . idem . ep. . tam ex amore nascitur quam inter lusus & jocos . sen. ep. . si vis ulcisci injurias , tace & ultus es . chrisost . dandum est tempus , veritatem enim dies aperit ne sint aures criminantibus faciles . sen. . de ira . cap. . causa iracundiae , opinio iniuriae est . idem . . iratus ad paenam qui accedit , nunquam mediocritatem illam tenebit quae est inter nimium & parum . cic. . de ossic . excogitavit quomodo tria crimina faceret quia nullum invenerat . sen. . de ira . cap. . habet iracundia hoc mali , non vult regi ; irascitur veritati ipsi , si contra voluntatem suam apparaverit . idem . . extollit animos & excitat , nec quicquam , sine illa , magnificum in bello fortitudo geris , nisi huic flamma subdita est & hic stimulus peragitavit , misitque in pericula audaces . arist . apud sen. . de ira . cap. . aliquando metus fecit audacem , & morbus ; sed ira , ebrietas , timor aliaque ejusmodi faeda & caduca irritamenta sunt , nec virtutem instruunt , sed segnem aliquando animum & ignavum , paululum allevant . idem . cap. . nec in pace nec in bello unquam bona fuit , pacem enim similem belli efficit : in armis vero obliviscitur martem esse communem , venitque in alienam potestatem , dum in sua non est sen. . de ira . cap. . ista paradoxa , quae appelluntur maxima , videntur esse socratica , longéque verissima . cic. praefat . in parod . zeno & stoici opiniationem repudiarunt opiniari enim te scire quod nescias , non est sapientis , sed temerarii ac stulti lact. . cap. . plura sunt quae nos terrent quam premunt , & saepius opinione quam re laboramus . sen. ep. . lenissima ferè ingenia in tantum venere formidinis ut sibi exciderent : nemo quidem , sine aliqua jactura sanitatis , expavit , similisque furenti , quisquis timet sen. lib. . quest . nat . cap. . quod si vita doloribus referta maximè fugienda est , summum profectò malum vivere cum dolore . eudoxius apud arist . . eth. inopia atque morbi silentio subeunt , nec oculis nec auribus quidquam terroris incutiunt : ad tormenta magno strepitu & apparatu veniunt . sen. ep. cui verba facio ? rem vide , cepi ipse mei experimentum & ecce hoc vulnus , quod sponte inutile ut discerem , ecquid dolori aut tormentis par essem lips . monit . polit . cap. . possum ferre , possum contemnere , & mori , brute , cum marito , & pro marito possum . id. . metus mortis est justus , & talis qui in constantem virum cadere posset : unde & restitutio conceditur l. . ff . quod met . caus . stultum est timere quod vitare non possis . sen. de remed . fortuit . o miser ! assiduo times ; semel faciendum est hoc . quid times quod in tua manu est ne timeas ? lips . mon. polit . ad refrigerium justi vocantur , non est exitus , sed ad aeternitatem transitus . quis ad meliora non festinet ? cyprian . lib. de mort . ignaro malorum suorum , quibus non mors , ut optimum inventum naturae , lauditur . sen. consol ad mort . mortem misericors saepe pro vita dabis sen. in troade . omnium terribilium terribilissimum est mors arist . ante senectutem curavi ut bene moriar ; bene autem mori est libenter mori , & libens moritur qui non repugnat : non qui jussus aliquid facit miser est , sed qui invitus facit . sen. ep. . vix bonum publicum curamus , nisi in quantum privatum bo●● admixtum est . cod. neque interest multum , mors ad nos veniat an ad illam nos : illud imperitissimi cujusque verbum falsum esse tibi persuade , bella res est mori sua morte . sen. ep. . aliquando etiam si mors istabit , & destinatum sibi supplicium sciet non commodabit sapiens poenae suae munum , stultitia est timore mortis mori : veniet qui occidet , expecta , quid occupas alienum negotium ? sen. ep. . nihil agendo malè agere discimus . ea quae à natura originem acceperunt eandem in omnibus servant ; apparet non esse naturale quod varium est . sen. consol . ad helv. cap. . tristitia est dissentio animi ab his rebus quae nobis nolentibus accidunt . aug. . de civ . res humanas ordine nullo fortuna regit , spargitque manu munera caeca pejora fovens . sen. hippo. cognatum imò innatum omni sceleri sceleris supplicium lips . . de const . quod ad me attinet , intelligo me non opes sed occupationes perdidisse . corporis exigua desideria sunt . sen. consol . ad hel. cap. . dementes ! hoc aliquando concupiscunt quod semper timent . idem ibidem cap. . quicquid est , cui dominus inscriberis apud te est , tuum non est : nihil firmum infirmo , nihil fragili aeternum & invictum est . sen. epist . . magnum est exemplum , nisi mala fortunae non invenit . sen. de provid . exiguum hoc , quod si montes coercent , si fluvii cingunt , patriam esse censes ? universus orbis est , quacunque homines sunt coelesti illo semine oriundi . lip. . de const . patria est ubicunque bene est● : illud autem per quod bene est , in homine , non in loco , est . sen. lib. de remed . fortuit . tempus quo quis debet esse in carcere , computatur in tempore quo quit debet esse in exilio . lib. . cod. de poen . nulla de virtutibus tuis plurimis nec gratior nec admirabilior misericordia tua . nihil habet nec fortuna tua majus quàm ut possis , nec natura tua melius quàm ut velis conservare quam plurimes . vere enim aegritudo , nec longè à miseriis est quisquis miseretur . lips . . de const . non miserebitur sapiens , sed succurret , sed proderit : at illa facit tranquillam mentem vultu suo . sen. . de clem. invidia est odium alienae felicitatis : respectu inferiorum , ne sibi aequentur , respectu parium , quia sibi aequantur . august . in serm. natural history of the passions charleton, walter, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing s estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all 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(eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) natural history of the passions charleton, walter, - . senault, jean-françois, - . de l'usage des passions. [ ], p. printed by t.n. for james magnes ..., in the savoy : . based on: de l'usage des passions / by j.f. senault. written by walter charleton. cf. bm. wing erroneously attributed this work to j.f. senault. errata: p. 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ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng emotions -- early works to . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread - emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion natural history of the passions . mihi crede , qui nihil agere videntur , majora agunt ; humana divinaque simul tractant . seneca epist. . in the savoy , printed by t. n. for iames magnes in russell-street , near the piazza in convent-garden , . epistle prefatory , to a person of honor , friend to the author . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , exercetur ad virtutem in solitudine anima ; was the the saying of a bragman or indian philosopher to alexander the the great : and how memorable it is , you may perhaps collect from this diversion . for , the imperfect discourse i herewith send to you , my dear friend , concerning the passions , is the product of my late ten weeks solitude in the country . where being remote from my library , and wanting conversation with learned men ; i knew not how more innocently to shorten the winter evenings , than by spending them in revising some philosophical papers of my own , wherein among other things , i had formerly , out of the best authors , made certain collections concerning the divine art of acquiring constant tranquillity of mind , by wisedom or the right use of reason . and of this serious diversion i then made choice , both because i well understood the best part of human science to be that which teacheth us how to moderate our affections to the deceiptfull and transitory things of this life , and so to regulate our actions , as to reap from them , whatever their events may be , the happy fruit of internal acquiescence and satisfaction : and because my accumulated misfortunes had at that time reduced me to a necessity of consulting that part of philosophy , about the most effectual remedies against discontent . in this state and resolution then , first i remembred , that nature hath made man subject to no other real evil , but only pain of the body ; all grief or pain of the mind , though many times more sharp and intollerable , being created by our own false opinion , that we stand in want of things that are in truth without the circle of ourselves , and therefore not absolutely necessary to our wel-being . then i considered , that most commonly false opinions are occasioned , and so exorbitant desires suggested to us by our passions ; upon which all the good and evil incident to us in this life , seem's to depend : as ioy and grief are the two points in which all human actions end . for , though it be undoubtedly true , that the reasonable soul hath her intellectual delights and disquiets apart , such as are proper to her simple and spiritual nature : yet is it no less true , that those other delights and disquiets that are common to her with the body , depend intirely upon the affections . which when regular , that is , moderated and directed by reason , are indeed of good use to the soul , in that they serve to incite her to desire such objects which she well know's to be pleasant and beneficial to her , and to persist in that desire : but when irregular , by representing as realy good , things that are so only in apparence , provoke her to erroneous desires , and in persuit of them , to actions also repugnant to the dictates of right reason , and consequently to peace and tranquility of mind . from these cogitations it was not difficult for me to infer , that the whole art of attaining unto that internal serenity after which i was seeking , consisteth principaly in directing our desires aright , that is , to things which we clearly and distinctly know to be realy good : and that the only way so to direct our desires , is to imploy our understanding or faculty of discerning , which god hath to that end given us , strictly and attentively to examine and consider the goodness of things recommended to us by our passions , before we determin our will to affect and persue them . for , most certain it is , that as our faculty of discerning , that is our intellect , cannot naturaly tend to falsity : so neither can our faculty of assenting , that is our will , be deceived , when it is determined only upon objects which we clearly and distinctly understand ; and where our will is not misplaced , there can be no just cause of perturbation of mind . being soon convinced of this no less evident than important verity , in the next place i considered , that if our inordinate affections be the bitter fountain from whence the greatest part of , if not all our practical errors , and by consequence most of the evils we suffer , flow ; and if as the diseases of the body , so likewise those of the mind may be more easily cured , when their nature and causes are understood : then would it be requisite for me first to inquire as far as i should be able , into the nature , causes , motions , &c. of the passions , before i proceeded further in my research after the most powerfull remedies against their excesses . to this inquiry therefore i diligently applied myself , both by reading and meditation ; by reading , that i might recall into my memory what i had long before transcribed out of the books of such authors who had written judiciously and laudably of the passions : by meditation , that i might examin the weight of what i read , by comparing it with what i daily observed within the theatre of my own breast ; every man living being naturaly so sensible of the various commotions hapning in various passions , especialy more violent ones , that some have held , the knowledge of their nature and causes may be without much of difficulty derived from thence alone , without any help from foreign observations . and while i proceeded in this course , i digested my collections and private sentiments into such an order or method which seem'd to me most convenient , aswell to show their genuin succession , and mutual dependence , as to make the antecedents support the consequents , and both to illustrate each other reciprocaly . i put them also into a dress of language so plain and familiar , as may alone evince , my design was to write of this argument , neither as an orator , nor as a moral philosopher , but only as a natural one conversant in pathology , and that too more for his own private satisfaction , than the instruction of others . and thus have i succinctly acquainted you with the occasion , subject , scope and stile of the treatise that accompanieth this epistle . but this , noble sir is not all whereof i ought to advertise you , before you come to open the treatise itself . there remain yet two or three things more , which it imports me to offer to your notice , as preparatives against prejudice . one is , that if in the preliminary part of the discourse , where it was necessary for me to investigate the subjectum primarium of the passions , i have declared my assent to their opinion , who hold that in every individual man , there are two distinct souls , coexistent , conjoined , and cooperating ; one , only rational , by which he is made a reasonable creature ; the other , sensitive , by virtue whereof he participateth also of life and sense : i did so chiefly for these two reasons . first , it seem'd to me unintelligible , how an agent incorporeal , but not infinite , such as the rational soul by her excellent faculties and proper acts appear's to be , can act physicaly in and upon a gross and ponderous body , such as ours are , immediately or without the mediation of a third thing ; which though corporeal too , may yet be of a substance so refined and subtil , as to approach somwhat neerer to the nature of a pure spirit , than the body itself doth : and therefore for the more probable explication of the phenomena of the passions which are not raised in the rational soul , i found myself obliged to admit her to have a sensitive one conjoyned with her , to receive her immediate suggestions , and to actuate the body according to her soveraign will and pleasure ; there being less of disparity betwixt the most thin and subtil bodies of light and flame ( whereof many eminent philosophers have conceived a sensitive soul to consist ) and a substance purely spiritual , than between a pure spirit and a gross , heavy body , as ours is . secondly it seem'd to me no less unconceivable , whence that dismal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or intestin war which every man too frequently feels within himself , and whereof even st. paul himself so sadly complained , when ( in epist. ad roman . cap. . ) he cries out , video aliam legem in membris meis repugnantem legi mentis meae ; should arise , if not from a duumvirate as it were of rulers contending for superiority within us , and inclining us two contrary ways at once . for , to conceive that one and the. same simple thing , such as the reasonable soul is rightly presumed to be , can be repugnant to itself , or at one and the same time be possessed with opposite affections ; is manifestly absurd . there are indeed , who to evade this absurdity , imagine it possible , that of one and the same rational , simple soul , there may be two distinct faculties or powers opposite each to other , from whose clashings and contrary inclinations this civil war may proceed . but to oblige us to swallow this palpable contradiction , these men ought to have reconciled those two repugnant notions of simple and compound ; and to have told us , why in the same simple substance of fire there cannot likewise be two mutualy repugnant faculties , heat and cold . in a mixed body there may be , i confess , opposite faculties ; and therefore the like may be imagined also in the rational soul , if she be conceived to be of a mixed or compound nature : but this is against their own supposition , and destructive to the natural immortality of the soul. what then can remain to cause this dire war daily observed within us , betwixt the allurements of our sense , on one side , and the grave dictates of our mind , on the other ; but two distinct agents , the rational soul and the sensitive , coexistent within us , and hotly contending about the conduct of our will ? but you , sir , will perhaps tell me , there may another , and that a more probable cause be given of this hostility ; and that the searching wit of monsieur des cartes hath been so happy to discover what it is , in libr. de passion . part . . art . . where he thus reasoneth . in no other thing ( saith he ) but in the repugnancy that is between the motions which the body by its spirits , and those which the soul by her will , do at the same time endeavour to excite in the glandula pinealis in the brain , consist all the conflicts which men commonly imagin betwixt the inferior part of the soul , which is named the sensitive , and the superior , which is called the rational , or betwixt the appetites natural and the will. for , in us there is only one soul , which hath in her no variety of parts : the same that is sensitive , is also rational , and all the appetites thereof are volitions . the error by which divers persons as it were , that are for the most part mutualy contrary , come to be imposed upon her ; hath proceeded only from hence , that hitherto her functions have not been sufficiently distinguished from the functions of the body ; to which alone is to be ascribed all that can be observed in us to be repugnant to our reason . so that here is no other contrast , but that when the glandule seated in the middle of the brain , is impell'd on one part by the soul , and on the other by the spirits animal , which are nothing but bodies , as i have before declared : it often happens , that those two impulses or impressions are contrary each to other , and that the strongger hindereth the effect of the weaker . now there may be distinguished two kinds of motions excited in the glandule by the spirits : some represent to the soul objects that move the senses , or impressions found in the brain , and use no force upon the will ; others use force , namely those that make the passions , or the motions of the body that accompany them . and as for the first ; though they often hinder the actions of the soul , or be hindered by them ; yet because they are not directly contrary , there is no strife or contention observed in them : but only betwixt the last and the wills that are repugnant to them ; for example , betwixt the endeavour by which the spirits impell the glandule to induce upon the soul a desire of some one thing , and that by which the soul repells the same glandule by her will to avoid it . and this chiefly demonstrateth this strife , that since the will hath not power ( as hath been already shown ) to excite passions directly , the soul is therefore compell'd to use art , and to apply herself to the consideration of various things successively . whence if it happen that any one of those various things hath the force of changing for a moment the cours of the spirits ; it may so fall out , that the next thing that occurs to be considered , may want the like force , and the spirits may resume their former cours , because the precedent disposition in the nerves , in the heart , and in the blood , hath not been changed : whereby it comes to pass , that the soul almost in the same moment feels herself impell'd to desire and decline the same thing . and this hath given men occasion of imagining in the soul two powers mutualy repugnant . but yet there may be conceived a certain conflict in this , that oftentimes the same cause that exciteth some passion in the soul , exciteth also in the body some certain motions , whereunto the soul contributeth nothing at all , and which she stops , or endevours to stop , so soon as she observes them : as is manifest from experience , when that which exciteth fear , causeth also the spirits to flow into the muscles that serve to move the leggs to flight ; and occasioneth the will of exercising courage to stop them . to this objection therefore i answer ( . ) that had this excellent man , monsieur des cartes been but half as conversant in anatomy , as he seems to have been in geometry , doubtles he would never have lodged so noble a guest as the rational soul , in so incommodious a closet of the brain , as the glandula pincalis is ; that use whereof hath been demonstrated to be no other but to receive into its spongy cavities , from two little nerves , a certain serous excrement , and to exonerate the same again into its vein , which nature hath therefore made much larger than the artery that accompanieth it ; and which having no communication with the external organs of the senses , cannot with any colour of reason be thought the part of the brain , wherein the soul exerciseth her principal faculties of judging and commanding . ( . ) this glandule which he supposeth to be so easily flexible and yielding to contrary impulses , is not loosely suspended , but fixed : so that whoever hath once beheld the solid basis , strong consistence , and firm connexion thereof , will hardly ever be brought to allow it capable of any impulse to either side , though by the greatest hurricano of spirits imaginable ; much less by every light motion of them excited by external objects affecting the senses . ( ) though we should grant this gland to be both the throne of the soul , and most easily flexible every way : yet hath des cartes left it still unconceivable , how an immaterial agent , not infinite , comes to move by impuls a solid body , without the mediation of a third thing that is less disparil or disproportionate to both . now these things duely considered , you will ( i presume ) no longer imagine the conflicts or combats that frequently happen within us betwixt the rational and sensitive appetites , to consist only in the repugnancy of the impulses of this little glandule by the spirits on one side , to those of the same glandule by the soul on the other . besides , that the soul hath power to excite corporeal passions directly , that is , without considering successively various things ; is manifest from her soveraignity over the body , which in all voluntary actions is absolute and uncontrollable ; and in the very instance of fear alleadged by our author , where she determineth her will to courage to oppose the danger suggested , instantly and without running through a long series of various considerations , for which she then hath not time sufficient . however , evident enough it is , that this conceipt of repugnant impulses of this gland in the brain , is so far from giving light to the reason of the conflict here considered , that it rather augmenteth the obscurity thereof , by implying two contrary appetites or wills in one and the same soul , at one and the same time : whereas the supposition of two souls mutually opposing each others appetites , doth render the same intelligible . against this opinion of a duality of souls in one man , some have ( i well know ) with not a little confidence urged the sentence of some of the fathers , yea and of whole councils condemning all who should assert it ; and more particularly concil . . act . . vienn . in clem. vii . & lateran . . sess . . but this , sir , is brutum fulmen , dangerous to none , terrible only to the unlearned . for , to any understanding reader of those decrees , it is clearly manifest , that the edge of them is turned against first the doctrin of the maniches holding two human souls in every individual man ; one polluted with the stain of vices , and derived from an evil principle ; the other incontaminate , and proceeding immediately from god , yea more , a particle of the divine essence itself ; then the platonics also , and averrhoists , teaching that the rational soul is not man's forma informans , but part of the anima mundi or universal soul : but not against the asserters of two souls coexistent , one simply reasonable , the other merely sensitive , in every single person , in that innocent sense i deliver it . and thus have the same decrees been judiciously interpreted by the religious philosophers of the collegue of conimbra ; who as of all men they have discoursed most acutely and profoundly of this argument ; so have they with greatest moderation treated the defendents of this opinion by me here embraced . for ( in . de generat . cap. . quaest . . art . . ) though they expresly avow their adherence rather to the common belief of the singularity of the human soul , as most consentaneous to the sense of the church : yet they declare also , that the contrary opinion ought not to be censured as heretical or erroneous . why therefore should i fear to espouse it ? especially if to the reasons here urged , and others no less considerable alledged by me in the third section of the treatise to which this epistle invites you , be added for confirmation , that so celebrated text of st. paul ( ad thessal . . cap. . vers . . ) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , integer vester spiritus , & anima , & corpus , &c. where our most learned dr. hammond of pious memory ( in his annotations on the place ) conceives the apostle to divide the whole man into three constituent parts , viz. the body , which comprehendeth the flesh and members ; the vital soul , which being also animal or sensitive , is common likewise to brutes ; and the spirit , by which is denoted the reasonable soul originally created by god , infused into the body , and from thence after death to return to god ; and this genuin exposition of his he confirms by agreeing testimonies both of ethnic philosophers , and some ancient fathers . to these give me leave to super-add ( ex abundanti ) the concordant suffrages of three eminent philosophers of our own age ; namely the lord chancellor bacon , who ( in his book of the advancement of learning , chap. . ) gravely discoursing of the parts of knowledge concerning the mind or soul of man , divideth it into that which declares the nature of the reasonable soul , which is a thing divine ; and that which treateth of the unreasonable soul , which is common to us with beasts : and then proceeds to affirm at large , that the former hath its original from the inspiration or breath of god ; the later , from the matrices of the elements : the immortal gassendus , de physiologia epicuri , cap. de animae sede , passionibms animi , &c. and the now flourishing dr. willis , in libr. de anima brutorum cap. . whose words i forbear to transcribe , out of design to increase your satisfaction , by obliging you to read them at your leisure in the places cited . now if solid reasons , authority divine , and the judgment of many sublime wits and profound philosophers , aswell ancient as modern , be of any weight to recommend this neither heretical , nor improbable opinion to me ; certainly i need not blush to incline thereunto . notwithstanding this , i recount the same tanquam in hypothesi , only as a supposition convenient to solve the phenomena of the passions ; not as an article of my faith : nor had i so importunely insisted thus long upon arguments to justify my approbation thereof , in this letter ; had i not , through want of books , omitted to doe it where i ought , in the iii. section of the discourse itself . ¶ the second advertisement i owe you , friend , is this , that the greatest part of what is delivered in the same discourse , concerning the nature , substance , faculties , knowledge , &c. of a sensitive soul , hath been borrowed from that elaborate work of our learned dr. willis de anima brutorum , lately published . which i hold my self bound here ingeniously to acknowledge left otherwise you might justly condemn me as a plagiary , and that i may invite you also to the pleasure of attentively reading that useful book . wherein i found great part of what i had formerly read of that subject in various authors , so well collected , digested and explained ; that i chose from thence to copy an image of the sensitive soul of man , whereupon i was often to reflect my thoughts , while i fate to describe the most remarkable of the passions to which it is liable : and this i did the rather , because at that time i had by me no other book of the same subject . you are not therefore to look upon the description of the nature and affections of a sensitive soul therein delivered , as a supposition newly excogitated , and unheard of by former ages . for to men conversant in the theories of physiologists concerning that subject , it is well known , that all the ancients were so far from holding the soul of a brute to be other than corporeal , that they for the most part taught their disciples , that the soul of man was so too : except a few of them , namely pythagoras , plato , and in some favourable sense aristotle ( when he defined the soul by that enigmatical term 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) and his sectators , aristoxenus and dicaearchus , when they called it a harmony . true it is indeed , they were much divided in their opinions about the substance or matter of a soul ; some imagining it to be of fire , as heraclitus , democritus , hipparchus , and the stoicks ; some conceiving it to be on the contrary , of a watery nature , as hippon , and thales ; others fancying it to be composed of water and earth , as xenophanes ; others , of earth and fire , as parmenides ; others again , of all the four elements , as empedocles : and yet notwithstanding they unanimously consented in these points , that this corporeal soul is divisible ; composed of particles extremely small , subtil and active ; diffused through or coextens to the whole body wherein it is contained ; produced at first by generation out of the seed of the parents ; perpetualy recruited or regenerated out of the purest and most spirituous part of the nourishment ; subject to contraction and expansion in passions ; and finally dissolved or extinguished by death . if you doubt of the truth of what i here say , i know not how more easily to convince you , than by referring you to the incomparable gassendus in lib. . diogen . laert. cap. de natura , contexturàque animae ad mentem epicuri : where you find the same more amply delivered . meanwhile suffer me to recite a pertinent and memorable text of the lord verulam's ( of the advancement of learning book . chap. . ) that now comes into my head . the sensible soul ( saith he ) must needs be granted to be a corporeal substance , attenuated by heat and made invisible . i say , a thin , gentle gale of wind swell'd and blown up from some flamy and and airy nature ; indued with the softness of aire to receive impression , and with the vigour of fire to embrace action ; nourished partly by an oyly , partly by a watery substance ; spread over the body ; residing ( in perfect creatures ) chiefly in the head ; running through the nerves ; refreshed and repaired by the spirituous part of the blood of the arteries : as bernardinus telesius ( de rerum natura lib. . ) and his scholar augustinus donius have delivered it . and as for the bipartition of this sensitive soul into two principle members as it were , or active sourses ; vix . the fiery part , upon which life depends ; and the lucid , from whence all the faculties animal are , like so many distinct rayes of light , derived : i will not affirm it to be very ancient : but yet methinks , i discern more than a shadow thereof in some lines of the same most acute lord bacon ( de vita & morte , explicatione canonis quartae ) which are these . spiritus vitalis omnis sibi continuatur , per quosdam canales , per quos permeat , nec totaliter intercipitur . atque hic spiritus etiam duplex est : alter ramosus tantum , permeans per parvos ductus , & tanquam lineas ; alter habet etiam cellam , ut non tantum sibi continuetur , sed etiam congregetur in spatio aliquo cavo , in bene magna quantitate , pro analogia corporis ; atque in illa cella est fons rivulorum , qui inde deducantur . ea cella praecipue est in ventriculis cerebri , qui in animalibus magis ignobilioribus angusti sunt ; adeo ut videantur spiritus per universum corpus fusi , potius quam cellulati : ut cernere est in serpentibus , anguillis , muscis , quorum singulae portiones abscissae moventur diu : etiam aves diutius , capitibus avulsis , subsultant ; quoniam parva habeant capita , & parvas cellas . at animalia nobiliora ventriculos eos habent ampliores ; & maximè omnium homo . alterum discrimen inter spiritus est , quod spiritus vitalis nonnullam habeat incensionem , atque sit tanquam aura composita ex flamma , & aere ; quemadmodum succi animalium habeant & oleum , & aquam . at illa incensio peculiares praebet motus , & facultates . etenim & fumus inflammabilis , etiam ante flammam conceptam , calidus est , tenuis , mobilis : & tamen alia res est , postquam facta sit flamma : at incensio spirituum vitalium , multis partibus lenior est , quàm mollissima flamma ex spiritu vini , aut alias ; atque insuper mixta est magna ex parte , cum substantia aerea ; ut sit & flammeae , & aereae naturae mysterium . this place of that prince of modern philosophers , the lord st. albans , conjoyned to that other of his immediately precedent , seems to me to contain a pourtraiture of the sensitive soul , drawn indeed as in perspective , in colours somwhat faint , and not accurately ground ; yet with good judgment , and bold strokes of the pencill , such as give it no obscure resemblance of the original . and if you ( sir ) please to compare it with the more ample description of the same sensitive soul , lately set forth by dr. willis : it will not be difficult to you , to observe , in how many things they agree . ¶ the third and last thing whereof i am here to advertise you , is , that in the description of many of the passions likewise , i have interwoven some threds taken from the webbs of those three excellent men , gassendus , des cartes , and our mr. hobbes ; who have all written most judiciously of that obstruse theme . nor will i otherwise excuse myself for being so liberal to you , of what i owe to the bounty of those richer wits ; than by reciting what your beloved seneca said to his dear lucilius , in defense of his adopting for his own so many wise and memorable sentences of his , and our oracle , epicurus : adhuc de alieno liberalis sum . quare autem alienum dixi ? quicquid benè dictum est ab ullo , meum est . epist. . i will only add , as a reason of my so frank communication of these unpolished papers to you , who are my lucilius , what the same latin stoic most affectionately p●ofessed to his , on the like occasion : ego vero cupio ista omnia in te transfundere , & in hoc gaudeo aliquid discere , ut doceam . nec me ulla res delectabit , licet eximia sit & salutaris , quam mihi uni sciturus sim. si cum hac exceptione detur sapientia , ut illam inclusam teneam , nec enunciem , rejiciam . epist. . ¶ index of the contents . section . i. introduction , page . sect . ii. article what kind of substance a sensitive soul may be conceived to be . pag. . . two reasons of that supposition . p. . . second supposition that the substance of a sensitive soul is fiery : p. . . because life is seated principaly in the blood ; and can no more than fire itself , subsi●t without aliment and ventilation , p. . . and because a sensitive soul seems to be first formed of the most spirituous particles of the same seminal matter , whereof the body itself is made . p. . . a sensitive soul imagined to be also of the same figure with the body it animates . p. . . that the existence of a sensitive soul d●th , ●s that of flame , depend intirely upon motion . p. . . that the first operation of a sensitive soul , is the formation of the body , according to the modell preordained by nature . p. . . recapitulation of the premises . p. . . the faculties and organs of a sensitive soul , reciprocaly inservient each to other . p. . . a twofold desire or inclination congenial to a sensitive soul ; viz. of self-preservation , and propagation of her kind . p. . . to what various mutations and irregular commotions a sensitive soul is subject , from her own passions ; p. . . from the temperament and diseases of the body ; p. . . from various impressions of external objects ; and exorbitant motions of the animal spirits . p. . . the various gestures of a sensitive soul , respective to the impressions of external objects variously affecting her . p. . . an inquiry concerning the knowledge whereby brutes are directed in actions voluntary . p. . . the knowledge of brutes , either innate , or acquired . p. . . that brutes are directed only by natural instinct , in all actions conducing either to their own preservation , or to the propagation of their species : not by reason ; p. . . nor material necessity , p. . sect . iii. . the excellency of a rational soul. pag. . . manifest from her proper objects , p. . . and acts. p. . . life and sense depend not on the rational soul of man , and p. . . therefore he seems to have also a sensitive soul. p. . . the same inferred from the civil war betwixt the rational and sensitive souls . p. . . the causes of that war. p. . . wherein somtimes the sensitive appetite prevails : and p. . . somtimes the rational . p. . . that the rational soul is created immediately by god. p. . the resemblance betwixt father and son , ascribed to the sensitive soul. p. . . the rational soul seated in that part of the brain which serves to imagination : and p. . . there connexed to the sensitive , by the will of her creator . p. . . where the manner how she judges of the images of things formed in the imagination . seems to be inexplicable . p. . sect . iv. of the passions of the mind in general . . a twofold state of the sensitive soul ; viz. of tranquility , and p. . . of perturbation . p. . . the first , most observable in sleep , and when objects appear indifferent : p. . . the other , manifest in all passions . ibidem . . that in the state of perturbation , the sensisitive soul varieth her gestures , by contraction or expansion . p. . . we are not moved to passion by good or evil , but only when we conceive ourselves particularly concerned therein . p. . . all passions distinguished into physical , metaphysical , and moral . p. . . what are passions physical , p. . . what metaphysical , p. . . and what moral , p. . . all passions referred to pleasure or pain : and p. . . all their motions , to contraction and effusion . p. . . wherein consist pleasure and displeasure of sense . p. . . rehearsal of the heads handled in this section . p. . sect . v. of the passions in particular . . why men have not been able to observe all passions incident to the sensitive soul. p. . . the passions best distinguished by having respect to the differences of time. p. . . admiration , p. . . which causeth no commotion in the heart and blood : and p. . . yet is dangerous , when immoderate . p. . . estimation and contempt , p. . . both consequents of admiration . p. . . no just cause of self-esteem , but the right use our free will. p. . . pride . p. . . humility , virtuous ; and p. . . vicious , or dejection of spirit . p. . . shame and impudence . p. . . that pride , and its contrary , abjectness of spirit , are not only vices , but passions also . p. . . love and hatred , p. . . defined . p. . . love not well distinguished into benevolence and concupiscence ; p. . . but by the various degrees of estimation , p. . . that there are not so many distinct sorts of love , as of objects to excite it . p. , . hatred , less various than love. p. . . desire , alwayes a consequent of love : but p. . . not alwaies a concomitant of it . p. . . the motions of the soul and spirits in love ; and their symptomes . p. . . the motions of the soul and spirits in desire . p. . . the motions of the spirits and blood in hatred . p. . . hate , alwaies accompanyed with sadness . p. . . hope and fear . p. . . pusillanimity and courage . p. , . emulation , a sort of magnanimity . p. . . confidence and despair . p. . . doubting . p. . . remorse and acquiescence . p. . . the motions of the soul and spirits in hope . p. . . the motions of the soul and spirits in fear : and p. . . in desperation . p. . . ioy. p. . . the various degrees of ioy , and their names . p. . . the various degrees of grief , and their distinct appellations . p. . . envy and pity . p. . . generous men most inclined to commiseration ; and why . p. . . commiseration , a species of grief mixed with benevolence . p. . . envy , a sort of grief mixed with hate . p. . . acquiescence of mind , a kind of joy. p. . . repentance , a species of grief , but allayd with a touch of joy. p. . . favour . p. . . gratitude . p. . . indignation ▪ p. . . anger . p. . . two sorts of anger ; one harmless , the other revengeful . p. . . glory and shame . p. . . the motions of the soul and spirits in joy. p. . . laughter . p. . . the occasions of laughter . p. . . laughter from indignation . p. . . a rare example of involuntary laughter . p. . . conjecture concerning the cause thereof . p. . . the motions and effects of sorrow . p. . . sighs and tears . p. . . whence tears flow : and p. . . how they are expressed . p. . . the reason of weeping for joy. p. . . why infants and old men are more prone to shed tears . p. . . the reason of sighing and sobbing . ibid. . the motions and symptomes of anger . p. . . excess of anger , to be avoided ; and that chiefly by the help of generosity . p. . . of all passions hitherto considered , only six are simple : the rest mixed . p. . . reasons against publication of this discourse . p. . sect . vi. conclusion . . that all the good and evil of this life , depends upon our passions , p. . . which yet were instituted by nature , as incitements to the soul. ibid. . that we are liable to errors , not from want of an omniscious vnderstanding ; p. . . but from our ill use of that finite vnderstanding we have , in the conduct of our desires suggested by passions . p. . . that all errors to which such desires expose us , arise from hence ; that we do not sufficiently distinguish things that depend intirely upon ourselves , from those that depend upon others . p. . . which may be obviated by two general remedies ; viz. generosity , and p. . . dependence upon providence divine , p. . . which utterly excluding fortune , doth yet leave us at liberty to direct our desires . p. . . how we may extricate ourselves from the difficulties that seem to make the decrees of providence divine , irreconcileable to the liberty of our will. p. . . whence it is , that we are often deceived by our will , though never with our will. p. . . a third general remedy against error occasioned by our inordinate passions ; viz. premeditation and deliberation . p. . . a fourth vniversal preservative ; viz. the stant exercise of virtue . p. . . toward the acquisition whereof , the study of epicurus's morals is recommended . ¶ p. . errors of this impression to be by the reader thus corrected . pag. . l. . read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . pag. . lin . . read viviparous . pag. . l. . read investing . pag. . lin . . read detests . pag. . lin . . read undetermined . pag. . lin . . read thoughts . summary of the contents . marcus antoninus philosophus libr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . sect. . o , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. quicquid sum , constat id omne caruncula , ammula , & parte principante . proinde mitte libros . nec distrahere amplius : ( nihil obstat , quo minus hoc facias ) sed tanquam qui jam statim moriturus sis , carnes istas ●●ntemnas . cruor est , & ossicula , & reticulum ex nervis , venulis arteriisque contextum . quin & animam considera , qualis sit . spiritus est , sive aer , nec is semper idem , sed qui jugiter efflatus denuò resorbetur . tertium restat , pars illa principatum gerens . tu ergo sic tecum : senex es : partem tui principem servire ulterius ne siveris ; sed nec motibus à communione humana alienis raptari . nec quicquam quod fato destinatum tibi fuerit , vel jam ascitum aversari , vel futurum pavere . natural history of the passions . section i. introduction . the reasonable soul of man seems to be of a nature so divine and excellent , that it is capable of understanding all things that are in this life intelligible : but yet so reserved and abstruse withall , that it cannot understand itself ; as many most sublime wits , who had long exercised and perplex'd themselves in enquiries into the hidden and mysterious essence thereof , have at length ingenuously confess'd . well therefore may we without blushing , own our ignorance of this noblest part of our selves , from which we derive all our knowledge . well may we without regret content our curiosity with those faint glimmerings of light , which shine through the operations of this celestial guest in our frail and darksom tabernacles of flesh ; and which are reflected upon our understanding , only from the illustrious effects of its proper powers and acts. what these powers and acts are , and how vastly they transcend the energie of a sensitive soul , how perfect soever in its kind ; as also in what exercises of the mind they are chiefly observable ; hath been by sir kenelm digby in his book of the rational soul , copiously declared . so that here they need not to be repeated . nor indeed would such a prolix research be consistent with my present design ; which principally aim's at a recollection of some notions , that have partly in reading , partly in meditation , occurred to me , concerning the various passions of the mind , their genealogy , their first sourses and resorts , their most remarkable differences , motions , and forces , and in fine , by what kind of connexion and intercourse betwixt two so disparate natures , the one incorporeal , the other corporeal , it is , that the rational soul is respectively coaffected by them . and this with as much brevity , as the amplitude of the subject can admit ; with as much perspicuity , as my weak reason can attain unto , in an argument so sublime and difficult . that i may then effect this my design , if not so happily , as in the end to arrive at the certain and demonstrative knowledge of the truth i seek ; yet so plausibly at least , as to form an hypothesis by which the nature and reasons of the principal , and most predominant of our passions , may be congruously and with probability explained : it is requisite i begin with these few preliminaries . . what kind of thing i suppose the sensitive soul to be , as well in man , as in brutes . . what seem's to me most consentaneous concerning the original , nature , and royal seat of the rational soul. . how , and after what manner i conceive both souls to be connexed in man , during this shadow of life . . how the rational soul may come to be affected by the motions of the sensitive , in some passions ; and this , by predominion of that , in others ; and whence their mutual consent , and dissent . for , my present conceptions concerning these things , though i foresee , i shall not be able to establish them all upon reasons irrefutable and cogent : are yet nevertheless to be here premised , as postulates or fundamentals , for introduction and support of the following theory about the passions . these therefore i shall in their order , and concisely , and in a plain familiar style , ( such with which i am always best pleas'd , especially in discourses philosophical ) set down , tanquam praecognoscenda . ¶ sect ii. what kind of substance the sensitive soul may be conceived to be . as for the first postulatum ; the sensitive soul of a brute animal , i conceive to be corporeal , and consequently divisible , coextense to the whole body ; of a substance either fiery , or meerly resembling fire ; of a consistence most thin and subtile , not much unlike the flame of of pure spirit of wine , burning in a paper lantern , or other the like close place . first , i think it to be corporeal , divisible , and coextense to the whole body ; and that for two reasons , among many others not the least considerable . one is this ; that many , and divers animal actions are daily observed to be , at one and the same time , performed by divers parts and members of the body : for instance , the eye sees , the ear hears , the nostrils smell , the tongue tasteth , and all exteriour members exercise their sense and motion , all at once . for as much then as betwixt the body and soul of a brute , there is no medium ( both being intimately connexed ) but the members and parts of the body are instruments fram'd for the use of the soul : what else can be imagined , but that many and distinct portions of the soul so extended , do inform and actuate the distinct organs and members of the body ; each in a peculiar manner , respective to the peculiar constitution , fabrique , and office thereof ? the other this ; it is observed also , that vipers , eels , earthworms , and most other reptils being cut into many pieces ; all pieces for a good while after retain a manifest motion , and no obscure sense ; for , being prick'd , they contract and shrink up themselves , as sensible of the hurt , and striving to avoid it . and this probably from hence , that these less perfect animals having their liquors , both vital and animal , of a consistence viscous , and not easily dissoluble or dissipable ; and having their soul , if not equally , yet universally diffused , and all its parts subsisting immediately in those liquors : cannot suffer a division of their body , without division of their soul also ; the parts whereof residing for some time after , in the segments of the body , may perhaps for that time continue to actuate them to motion and sense . it hath been more then once unhappily experimented , that the head of a viper hath bitten a mans finger , and poysoned him too , above an hour after it had been cut off . not by involuntary convulsion of the nerves and muscles of the vipers jaws , such as not rarely happen to animals , in the torments of death ; for those probably could neither last so long , nor so regularly open and shut the mouth , and extend the two fang teeth , by contraction of their erecting muscles : but certainly by an action voluntary , regular and suggested by sense , and perhaps revenge too . whence i am apt to suspect , that not only part of the vipers soul , but anger and revenge also survived in the divided head . for , it is well known , the bite of a viper is never venomous , but when he is enraged : the chrystalline liquor contained in the two little glandules at the roots of his fang teeth , being then by a copious afflux of spirits from the brain , and other brisk motions thereupon impress'd , in anger ( of all passions the most violent and impetuous ) so altered , and exalted , as to become highly active and venenate ; whereas at other times , when a viper is not offended and provok'd , the same liquor is found to be as harmless as the spittle of a man in perfect health . but whether from the dangerous effects of this biting , the dire symptoms that thereupon ensued , it be inferrible , or not , that in the abscinded head of the beast there remained anything of anger and revenge : in my poor judgment 't is very evident from the very act of biting , there still remained somwhat of life , sense , and voluntary motion . which is sufficient to verify my present supposition , that a sensitive soul is divisible and coextense to the whole body it animates . secondly , i think the same sensitive soul to consist of fire , or some matter analogous to fire : and the reasons inducing me to be of this opinion , are many . some i have formerly alleadged , where i discourse of the flame of life perpetually arising from accension of the sulphureous and inflammable parts of the blood , while circulated through the heart and lungs : which therefore i abstain from reciting in this place . others , that have since occurr'd to my consideration , i am obliged here to expose to yours . that the life , or soul of brute animals , is seated principally in their blood ; we are plainly taught even by the oracle of truth itself , the dictates of the divine wisdom that created them : and that blood , and fire subsist by the same principles , viz. aliment and ventilation ; is evident from hence , that a defect of either of these , doth equally destroy both the one and the other . should you here exact from me some description of the essence of fire , i should adventure to tell you , that it seems to be only a multitude of most minute and subtile particles , mutually touching each other , put into a most rapid motion , and by continual succession of some parts , and decession of others , renewed : which conserves its motion , and subsistence , by preying upon , and consuming the sulphureous parts of its subject matter , or fewel , and the nitrous parts of the ambient aer . for , even our sense bears witness , that from the particles of this twofold aliment , sulphureous and nitrous , resolved to the last degree of smalness , and by a most violent and rapid motion agitated , the forms of fire and flame ( which differ only in degrees of density , and velocity of motion ) do wholy result . nor doth the image i find drawn in my brain of the soul of a brute , much differ from this description of the nature of fire . i conceive it to be no other than a certain congregation of most minute , subtil and agile particles , corpuscles or atoms ( call them what you please ) crowded together ; which being , in the very first moment of life , put into brisk and most rapid motion , like that of the particles of fire when first kindled ; do so long conserve that motion , and their own subsistence , as they have a continued supply of convenient nutriment ; sulphureous from the blood within , nitrous from the aer without ; and no longer . for we cannot but observe , that the souls of all brute animals , of what kind soever , stand perpetually in need of a fresh supply of those two sorts of aliment ; insomuch that so soon as the recruit fails , they languish and dye : no otherwise than the flame of a lamp grows weak and dim , and is extinguished , for want of oyl or air . but ( what is very remarkable ) besides fire and life , there is not to be found in all nature any other thing whatsoever , to whose act and subsistence such a supply of sulphureous and nitrous matter is necessary . nor is any other motion in the world , whether it be of fermentation , ebullition , vegetation , or other whatever , besides that of fire and life , subject to be arrested and suppressed immediately from defect of aer . it was not then without very great reason , that our master hippocrates affirmed , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that the soul is perpetually generated , or made anew : and that aristotle held , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , life it self to subsist by respiration . this you perhaps may judge to be but a faint and imperfect representation of the nature of a sensitive soul. and therefore it is requisite i endevour to render it more lively , by adding a few touches more concerning the hypostasis or subsistence of such a soul ; the life , or act ; and the principal functions , or operations of it . for the first of these three considerables , viz. the subsistence of a sensitive soul ; it seems not unreasonable to conceive , that the soul of a brute doth consist of the very same matter , of which the organical body is formed : but of such particles of it as are select , most subtile , and active in the highest degree . which , as the flower of the whole matter , in the formation of the embrion , emerging out of the grosser mass , and mutually uniting ; first force passages convenient for themselves through the whole compage of the body , and then constitute one continued , thin , and as it were spirituous hypostasis , adequate and coextense to the same . for , so soon as any matter is disposed towards animation ; by the law of the creation ( not by epicurus's fortuitous concurse of atoms ) the soul at the same time , which is called the form , and the body , which is called the matter , begin to be formed together , under a certain species , according to the modell or character impressed upon them . when the more agile , and spirituous particles of the seminal matter , having freed themselves from the other parts of it , quickly assemble together ; and by little and little raising a commotion , stir up , and agitate the grosser particles , and by degrees dispose them into fit postures and places , where they ought to remain and cohere ; and so form the body according to the figure or shape preordained by the creator . mean while this congregation of subtile and active particles , or the soul , which by expansion enlargeth it self , and insinuating her particles among others more gross , and as it were interweaving them , frames the body , is it self exactly conformed to the figure and dimensions of the same body , coextended and adapted to it , as to a case or sheath , doth actuate , enliven , and inspire all and all parts thereof . while on the other side , the same soul , apt and prone of it self to be dissolved , and vanish into aer , is by the body containing it , conserved in its act and subsistence . now according to this notion , a sensitive soul may be conceived to be a most subtle body contained in a gross one , and in all points , of the same figure with it ; or as it were a spectre made up of exhalations , such as some vain , or superstitious heads have somtimes imagined to ascend from , and hover over the graves of the dead , and called them ghosts . for , arising together with the body , out of the material principles of generation rightly disposed ; it doth , as well as the body , receive its determinate subsistence , conform to the idea or type consigned to it by the law of nature . but though the same be intimately united to the body , and every where closely intertexd with all parts of it ; as the warp and woof are interwoven in cloth : yet so fine and subtle are the threads of which it doth consist , that it cannot possibly by our senses be discerned , nor indeed be known , otherwise than by its own effects and operations . moreover , when by any violence done either to itself , or its copartner , the body , the life of this soul is destroyed ; instantly the particles of which it was composed , their mutual cohesion being dissolved , disperse themselves , and fly away , not leaving any the least print or mark of their late subsistence : and the body now destitute of its conserving inmate , the soul , speedily tends to corruption ; which sooner or later , according to the less or greater compactness of the parts of the body , dissolves that likewise into its first principles , or elements . for the second ; it is not obscure , that the existence of this corporeal soul depends intirely upon the act , or life of it : and in this very respect , seems exactly like to common flame , and to that alone ; inasmuch as the substance of both ceases to be , in the very instant it ceaseth from motion , wherein the very life of both doth consist ; nor can either of the two be , by any means whatever , redintegrated , so as to be numerically the same thing it was . from whence it seems a genuine consequence , that the essence , or being of a sensitive soul , hath its beginning wholly from life , as from the accension or kindling of a certain subtile and inflammable matter . to render this yet more plain ; when in the genital matter , swarms of active , and spirituous , chiefly sulphureous particles , predisposed to animation , have met with a less number of saline particles , in a convenient focus ; being as it were kindled , sometimes by another soul ( as in all vivaparous animals ) viz. of the generant , somtimes by their own rapid motion ( as it happens in oviparous ) they conceive life , or break forth into a kind of flame , which thenceforth continues to burn so long as it is constantly fed with sulphureous fewel from within , and nitrous from without ; but instantly perisheth , when either through defect of such aliment , or violence from external agents , it comes once to be extinct . this act of the corporeal soul , or enkindling of the vital matter , is in more perfect animals , such as are furnished with hot blood , so manifestly accompanied with great heat , fuliginous exhalations , and other effects of fire , or flame ; that it is difficult for even the most sceptical person in the world to doubt , that the blood is really in a continual burning , and that life is rather flame it self , than only like it . but in other animals less perfect , and endowed with blood less hot ; though we cannot say their soul is properly flame : yet we may say , it is somwhat very like it , namely a swarm of most subtile , active and as it were fiery particles , or a spirituous halitus : which included in the body , doth move and agitate the denser mass thereof , and inspire the whole , and actuate all the members , and in some with admirable agility , even beyond that of more perfect animals ; as may be observed in some reptils and insects . and that even in these there is a fiery vigor or force constantly acting , may naturaly be inferred from hence ; that while they remain not unactive and drowsy ( as in winter usually they do ) they can no more want the aliments of life , a perpetual supply of blood and aer , than animals of a hotter constitution ; as we shall soon declare . * as for the third and last considerable , viz. the faculties and operations of a corporeal or sensitive soul ; i shall only in the general observe , that so soon as she begin's actually to exist , she first frames for herself a convenient seat wherein to reside , the body ; and then organizeth the same body , making it ( according to the platform or model preordained , and intimated by secret instinct ) in all parts sit and commodious for all uses necessary , as well to the propagation of the species ( for still nature doth , though the soul it self may not , aim at eternity ) as to the conservation of the individual . for which uses she is furnished with many and various faculties or powers ; all which she duly exerciseth , according to the various instincts , and intimate suggestions of her governess , nature , in acts of several sorts ; though all performed in almost one and the same manner , and as it were by the conduct of fate , or eternal decree of divinity congenial to her very essence . to enumerate , and particularly recount all the natural faculties with which the souls of brutes are endowed ; all the various habits resulting from practise and long exercise of those faculties ; is neither pertinent to my present institute , nor easy to be done : because of their almost infinite diversity , respective to the immense diversity of kinds of sensitive creatures . for , as some animals are of a more , others of a less perfect order ; and as they are diversly configurated , according to the several places in this great theatre of the world , in which they are consigned to live and act their several parts : so we see their souls are , by the wise bounty of the creator , instructed with diverse inclinations , faculties , and appeties , directive to the ends to which they were predestined . in a word ; since there ought to be an exact proportion and congruity betwixt every organical body , and the soul that informs and animates it ; and that for that reason , nature seems to have diversified and distinguished the various kinds of brute animals , by an equal diversity of their bodily structures and configurations , easily discernable by the sight : we may even from thence alone conclude , that their corporeal souls likewise are no less various , and endowed with faculties and proprieties answerably different . whoever then shall attempt to enrich philosophy with a perfect catalogue of these so different faculties and proprieties observable among brutal souls ; will find himself obliged , first to compose a better natural history of all sorts of animals , than any we yet have , and then to deliver also a true and full account of the various structures of their bodies , from a comparative anatome of them . a work indeed most desirable and highly delightful , but equally difficult , and laborious ; nor to be performed , i fear , by any single hand . but were it much less difficult ; sure i am , you know my incapacity too well , ever to expect it from mine : and what hath been already said by me here , in the general , touching the nature of a sensitive soul ; is enough to render my first preliminary probable . for , from thence it may , without contradiction to either reason , or observations anatomical , be conceived ( ) in what manner the soul of a brute may be at first produced by accension of the most spirituous particles of the seminal humor , in the womb of the parent , as one flame is kindled by another : ( ) how the same soul then form's the organical body out of the grosser parts of the same seed , after the figure or type predesign'd by the divine protoplast at the creation , whose wisdom directs and regulates it in that admirable work : ( ) how it afterwards comes to conserve , expand and augment itself , as the dimensions of the body are by degrees enlarged , until it arrive at its perfection or standard of growth ; by accension of more and more of the inflammable parts of the nourishment dayly renewed , and converted into laudable blood ; as the flame of a lamp is kept alive by a perpetual accension of fresh parts of oyl ; ( ) how the duration of the body depends intirely upon the subsistence , or perpetual renovation or regeneration of the soul ; and how immediately upon the souls extinction , the body submits to corruption ; no otherwise than as wine dyes , and degenerates into a vappa , so soon as the spirit that preserv'd it in vigour and generosity , is evaporated , or suppress'd . now to the end this corporeal soul , or invisible flame , may the better thus animate the body , and actuate it to sense and voluntary motion ; nature hath most wisely instituted , that her organs , and faculties should all of them be reciprocaly inservient or official each to other , in their acts and operations . for , as out of the grosser parts of the nutritive juice , prepared and elaborate in the stomach and other instruments of concoction , the decays of the solid parts of the body are daily repaired : so are the decays of the soul itself likewise repaired out of the more subtile and spirituous particles of the same juice : which continualy brought afresh to the blood , as oyl to a lamp , and kindled therein , restore both the flame and light of the soul , which would otherwise quickly be consumed , and perish . more expresly ; while the purer part of the nutritive liquor feeds and renews the lamp of life , or flame of the blood ; the most active , and most spirituous particles discharged from that flame , are carried up , and insinuated into the brain : and there recruite or regenerate the other part of the soul , viz. the sensitive . and so the conversion of chyle into blood , is an operation not only consequent to , but in some sort also dependent upon the conversion of meat and drink into chyle : and on the other side , the animal faculty gratefully requites the good offices of the vital , and both as amply recompense the services of the faculty of chylification ; in that the animal spirit confers the pulsific power , by which the heart and arteries drive the current of the blood in a perpetual round , for the reaccension of its inflammable parts ; and the bowels ordaind for concoction of the aliment , at the same time borrow , as their enlivening heat from the flame of the blood , so their virtue both motive and sensitive , from the constant afflux of animal spirits , without out which they cannot duely do their offices . thus you see the brain is beholden to the heart , both to the stomach ; and reciprocally the stomach is assisted by them : and all parts conspire , by contributary helps , to continue the soul in its subsistence , as that again acts perpetualy to the conversation of herself and them . to this , the sensitive soul , or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( as aristotle not improperly calls it ) is strictly obliged by a twofold inclination or desire , innate or congenial to her . one is that of self-preservation , which she endeavours constantly to effect by being sollicitous for convenient food , out of whose inflammable parts actually incensed , she may every minute redintegrate her own flame . the other , that of propagating her species , or producing , by the same way of accension , other sensitive souls of the same kind ; that so by an uninterrupted succession of her like , she may attain to that perpetuity , which is denied to her single or individual self . and to this end , she carefully selects out of her stock of aliment , matter fit for generation , stores it up in the genital parts , and is possess'd with an earnest longing to transmit the same into a place most commodious for its accension into new souls . for , as it is by natural instinct , that every living creature is from its very ●irth , directed to choose food most agreeable to its nature , and daily to feed thereupon ; aswell that the grosser web of the body may from thence , by insensible addition and assimilation of new parts , be augmented more and more , until it attain to due magnitude , or perfection of stature : as that the finer intertexture of the soul may be , by continualy repeted supplies of spirits , rendred equal and coextense to the body , and inabled to execute all her functions vigorously and effectualy : so it is also from the same natural instinct , that when by that gradual amplification of all lineaments of both body and soul , the living creature hath at length arrived at its full strength and growth , the animal spirits then begin to abound , and swarm in greater multitudes than is necessary to the uses of th' individual ; and the luxuriant or superfluous troops of them , together with a certain refined and generous humor derived from the whole body , are daily transferr'd into the genitals ( natures both laboratory , and magazin for propagation of the species ) there to be further prepared , and formed into the idea of an animal exactly like to the first generant , which afterwards is in the amorous congress of male and femal , transmitted into the womb , therein to receive its accomplishment . having thus lightly described the principal faculties , and innate dispositions of a sensitive soul , as also the fundamental laws of her oeconomy ; it remains only , that we consider the various mutations , and irregular commotions to which she is liable . that the corporeal soul , while as a flame burning within her organical body , she on every side diffuseth heat and light , is herself subject to various tremblings , noddings , eclipses , inequalities , and disorderly commotions , as all flame is observed to be ; this ( i say ) is not obscurely discernable , in the effects of those alterations , which happen chiefly in her more violent passions : though indeed not so clearly and distinctly discernable in brutes , as in men ; in respect they are subject to fewer passions than man is , and want the faculty of speech to express any one of those few they feel in themselves . wherefore that we may in some order briefly recount the most remarkable at least of these turbulent affections incident to the sensitive soul ; we shall shew what alterations she may suffer ( ) from her own proper passions ; ( ) from the temperament and diseases of the body ; ( ) from various impressions of sensible objects ; and ( ) from exorbitant motions of the animal spirits . most certain it is , that the flame of the soul doth not always burn equaly , or at one constant rate ; but now more , now less ; sometimes briskly and clearly , sometimes dully and dimly . for , it is not only enlarged , or contracted , according as the fewel brought to feed it , is more or less in quantity , and more or less sulphureous in quality : but the very accension of it in the heart , though of itself moderate and equal , is yet sometimes so varied by the fannings as it were of the passions ; that one while it blazeth up to a dangerous excess , as it usualy happens in great anger and indignation ; another while it is in danger of being blown out , by suddain and surprizing ioy ; or almost suffocated , by unexpected terror , or astonishing grief . the like may be said of the rest of the passions , or strong affects , by whose various motions the flame of life , like the flame of a candle exposed to the winds , is variously agitated and changed : as will more clearly appear from our ensuing discourse of the passions in particular . nor is it ▪ from the suddain puffs , or impulses of passions alone , that such immutations and inequalities as these proceed . sometimes it comes to pass , that the vital flame by slow degrees , and as it were hecticaly diminished , becomes little , pale , faint and half-extinct ; as may be observed in colder temperaments , in leucophlegmatic bodies , in hydropic persons , in virgins troubled with the green-sickness , and other the like chronic diseases . in which the blood being more serous or watery than it ought to be , yields but little flame , and that too inconstant , and beclouded with fume and vapour ; like that which ariseth from wet and green wood . on the contrary , it somtimes happens , that the blood being immoderately sulphureous , is almost wholly put into a conflagration ; as is frequently observed in choleric constitutions , and feverish distempers , and great debauches with wine . and as by these and such like disorders of the blood , the accension of the vital flame is with respective variety altered : so likewise do the lucid particles that arise to the brain from thence , and constitute the beamy web of animal spirits , become more , or less luminous , and regular , or irregular in their motions . for instance ; from the diminished or restrained accension of the blood , the sphere of the sensitive soul is contracted into less compass than that of the body , and reduced to such narrowness , that it cannot re-expand itself so as to illustrate all the brain , and actuate the whole contexture of the nerves , with requisite brightness and vigour . and on the other side , when the flame of life is much intended or increased ( provided it blaze not to the hight of a fever ) then the whole system of animal spirits thence deradiated , being proportionably augmented , swells to an expansion beyond the limits of the body ; insomuch that a man transported and exu●●ing for great ioy , or puffed up with pride , seems to be inflated above measure , and hardly able to contain himself within the modest bounds of his own dimensions . besides these alterations which the sensitive or lucid part of the soul suffers from the various changes of the vital ; there are others , and those very many , which it receives immediately both from affections of the brain , and nerves , and from external objects making impressions thereupon : which perturb the consistence , and usual order of its parts . for example ; at night , the brain itself , from a too plentifull infusion of the nutrive liquor , as from a gloomy cloud overcast , seems replete with vapours ; so that in sleep , the lucid part of the soul is wholly obscured , and envellopped as it were with darkness . nor is it rare to have eclipses of one , or more of the faculties animal , meerly from some morbisic matter , or gross humor fixed somwhere in the brain , and obstructing the ways of the animal spirits . somtimes these animal spirits are not themselves sufficieiently pure , clear and bright ; but infected and beclouded with incongruous steams , saline , vitriolic , nitrous , and other the like darksom exhalations ; which deform the images of things drawn in the brain , change them into false and chimerical representations , and raise exorbitant motions of the spirits . whence it somtimes comes to pass , that the whole soul undergoes various metamorphoses , and is invested in strange apparitions , and confused with delusory whimzies : as it too frequently happens to men in hypochondriacal melancholy , and madness ; and likewise in drunken fits . and as for the various gestures of the soul , by which respectively to the various impressions of sensible objects , she expresseth one while gladness and pleasure ; another , aversion and offence : it is worthy our observation , that sometimes she is allured outwardly into the organ of some one of the senses , and that she occasionaly crowds herself into the eye , ear , palate , or other instrument of sense , there more neerly to approach and entertain the pleasing object ; somtimes on the contrary , to avoid an evil she apprehends , and decline an encontre with an ingratefull object , she retreats inwardly , and leaving her watches , shrinks up herself , as if she labourd to hide her head from the danger threatned . so that we can scarcely perceive , or imagine any thing without disquiet and commotion : and at the apprehension of almost any object whatsoever , the whole soul is moved , and put into a trembling , and the substance of it variously agitated , as a field of corn is waved to and fro by contrary gusts of winds . nor do these agitations , especially if they be any whit violent , stop at the sensitive part of the soul , or spirits animal ( which i imagine to make a kind of lucid fluidum , subject to undulations or waving motions throughout , upon either external , or internal impulses ) but , as waves rowl on till they arrive at the shore , are carried on , by an undulating motion , even to the vital part glowing in the blood ; and impelling the flame thereof hither and thither , make it to burn unequaly . for , so soon as an object is either by the sense , or by the memory , represented to the imagination , under th' apparence of good , or evil ; in the very same instant it affects , and commoves the animal spirits destined to maintain the pulse of the heart : and by their influx , causing the heart to be variously contracted , or dilated ; consequently renders the motion , and accension of the blood variously irregular and unequal . and thus you see in what manner the two parts of the sensitive soul , the vital flame , and the animal spirits reciprocally affect each other with their accidental alterations . but this you may understand more clearly and fully from the following theory of the passions , where we shall enquire into the reasons and motions of them more particularly . mean while i find my self in this place arrested by a certain mighty difficulty , which though perhaps i shall not be able to overcome , ought nevertheless to be attempted ; not only for its own grand importance , but because without some plausible explication of it at least , all our precedent speculations concerning the nature and proprieties of a sensitive soul , will fall to the ground ; as an arch that wants a key , or middle-stone to support all the rest . it is concerning the knowledge of brutes , by which they are directed in actions voluntary . for , supposing all we have hitherto been discoursing of the origin , substance , subsistence , parts , faculties , inclinations , passions and alterations of a corporeal soul , to be true and evident ( which is more than i dare assume ) yet doth it not from thence appear , what such a soul can by her own proper virtue do more than a machine artificialy fram'd and put into motion . to speak more plainly ; tho it be granted ; that first th' impression made by an external object upon the instrument of sense , doth by impelling the animal spirits inwards , and by disposing them into a certain peculiar figure , or mode ( as the cartesians speak ) cause the act of sensation , or simple perception ; and that then the same spirits rebounding , as it were by a reflex undulation , outward from the brain into the nerves and muscles , produce local motions : granting this , i say , yet still we are to seek , how this soul , or any one part of it , comes to be conscious of sensation , or how it can , by a reflex act ( as the schools phrase it ) perceive that it doth perceive , and according to that perception , is impell'd to diverse acts , directed to an appetite of this , or that good , and somtimes in prosecution of the good desired , to perform actions that seem to be the results of counsel and deliberation , such as are daily observed to be done by several sorts of beasts , as well wild as domestic . in man indeed , it seems not difficult to conceive , that the rational soul , as president of all th●inferiour faculties , and constantly speculating the impressions , or images represented to her by the sensitive , as by a mirrour ; doth first form to herself conceptions and notions correspondent to their nature , and then proceed to acts of reason , judgement and will. but as for brutes that are irrational ; in what manner the perception , distinction , appetite , memory of objects , and other acts resulting from an inferior kind of reason , are in them performd : this , i confess , is more than i can yet understand . some there are , i know , who rather then acknowledge their insufficiency to solve this problem ; have attributed to brutes also souls immaterial , and subsistent after separation from their bodies . but these considered not , that the soul of a brute , however docil and apprehensive , and using organs in their structure very little ( if at all ) different from those in the head of man , can yet have no capacity of arts and sciences , nor raise it self up to any objects , or acts , but what are material : and that by consequence , the same is different from , and inferiour to the rational soul of man , and material . so that instead of solving the doubt , by teaching us , how from a certain modification of subtil matter , there may result such power , which residing in the brain of a brute , may there receive without confusion all impressions or images brought in by the senses , distinctly speculate , judge and know them , and then raise appetites , and imploy the other faculties in acts respective to that knowledge , and to those appetites : instead of this , i say , they have entangled themselves in an absurd error , ascribing to a thing meerly material , a capacity of knowing objects immaterial , and performing actions proper only to immaterial beings . we are therefore to search for this power of a sensitive soul , by which she is conscious of her own perception , only in matter in a peculiar manner so , or so disposed or modified . but in what matter ? this of the soul , or that of the body ? truely , if you shall distinctly examine either the soul or the body of a brute , as not conjoyned and united into one compositum ; you will have a hard task of it , to find in either of them , or indeed in any other material subject whatever , any thing to which you may reasonably attribute such an energetic and self-moving power . but if you consider the whole brute , as a body animated , and by divine art of an infinite wisdom designed , framed and qualified for certain ends and uses : then you may safely conclude , that a brute is , by the law of the creation , or institute of almighty god , so comparated , as that from soul and body united , such a confluence of faculties should result , as are necessary to the ends and uses for which it was made . do but convert your thoughts awhile upon mechanic engines , and seriously contemplate the motions , powers and effects of them . they are all composed indeed of gross , solid and ponderous materials : and yet such is the design , contrivance and artifice of their various parts , as that from the figures and motions of them , there result certain and constant operations , answerable to the intent of the artist , and far transcending the forces of their divided ingredients . before the invention of clocks and watches , who could expect , that of iron and brass , dull and heavy metalls , a machine should be framed ; which consisting of a few wheels endented , and a spring regularly disposed , should in its motions rival the celestial orbs , and without the help or direction of any external mover , by repeted revolutions measure the successive spaces of time even to minutes and seconds , as exactly almost as the diurnal revolutions of the terrestrial globe itself ? and yet now such machins are commonly made even by some blacksmiths , and mens admiration of their pretty artifice long since ceased . if then in vulgar mechanics , the contrivance and advantagious disposition of matter , be more noble and efficacious than matter itself : certainly in a living creature , in a body animate , the powers emergent from a conspiracy and cooperation of so many , so various organs , and all so admirably formed , ought to be acknowledged incomparably more noble , and more energetic . if the art of man , weak and ignorant man , can give to bodies , of themselves weighty , sluggish and unactive , figure , connexion and motion fit to produce effects beyond the capacity of their single natures : what ought we to think of the divine art of the creator , whose power is infinite , because his wisedom is so ? could not he , think you , who by the voice of his will call'd the world out of chaos , and made so many myriads of different beings out of one and the same universal matter ; could not he , when he created brutes , so fashion and organize the various parts and members of their bodies ▪ thereto so adjust the finer and more active contexture of their spirituous souls , and impress such motions upon them , as that from the union and cooperation of both , a syndrome or conspiracy of faculties or powers should arise , by which they might be qualified and inabled to live , move and act respectively to the proper uses and ends of their creation ? undoubtedly he could ; and t is part of my belief , that he did . nor do i more wonder at the knowledge of beasts , by which they are directed in the election of objects , and in the prosecution or avoidance of them ; than i do at their simple perception of them by their outward senses : since i conceive the one to be as much mechanical , as the other , though perhaps the reason of the one , is of more difficult explication than that of the other . when you hear the musick of a church organ , is it not as pleasant to your mind , as the musick is to your ear , to consider how so many grateful notes , and consonances that compose the charming harmony , do all arise only from wind blown into a set of pipes gradualy different in length and bore , and successively let into them by the apertures of their valves ? and do you not then observe the effect of this so artificial instrument highly to excell both the materials of it , and the hand of the organist that plaies upon it ? the like harmony you have perhaps somtimes heard from a musical water-work , as the vulgar calls it ; an organ that plaied of itself , without the hands of a musician to press the jacks , meerly by the force of a stream of water opening and shuting the valves alternately , and in an order predesign'd to produce the harmonical sounds , consonances and modes requisite to the composition , to which it had been set . now , to the first of these organs you may compare a man ; in whom the rational soul seems to perform the office of the organist , while governing and directing the animal spirits in all their motions , she disposeth and ordereth all faculties of the inferior , or sensitive soul , according to her will and pleasure : and so makes a kind of harmony of reason , sense , and motion . and to the other , or hydraulic organ you may compare a brute , whose sensitive soul being scarcely moderatrix of of herself , and her faculties , doth indeed in order to certain ends necessary to her nature , perform many trains of actions ; but such as are ( like the various parts of an harmonical composition ) regularly prescribed ( as the notes of a tune are prickd down ) by the law of her creation , and determined for the most part to the same thing ; viz. the conservation of herself . so that she seems to produce an harmony of life , sense and motion . but this analogy seems to be much greater in brutes of the lowest order , such upon whose souls or natures there are not many types or notes of actions to be done by them , imprinted ; and which according to that common saying of the schools , non tam agunt , quàm aguntur , act rather by necessary impulse , or constraint , than freely ; and of their own accord : than in more perfect animals , whose actions are ordained to more , and more considerable uses ; and upon whose souls therefore more original lessons are as it were prick'd , down ; and to which we cannot justly deny a power of both varying those innate prints , and compounding them one with another occasionaly . which power seems to be radicated in the corporeal soul , by nature so constituted , as to be knowing and active in some certain things necessary to it ; and capable also of being afterward taught , by various accidents usually affecting it , both to know other things , and to do far more , and more intricate actions . all the knowledge therefore these more perfect brutes are observed to have , must be either innate or adventitious . the former is commonly nam'd natural instinct ; which being by the omnipotent creator , in the very act of their formation , infused , and as an indelible character impress'd upon their very principles or natures ; both urges them to , and directs them in certain actions necessary to the prorogation of their life , and to the propagation of their kind . the other is by little and little acquired , by the daily perception of new objects , by imitation , by experience , by mans teaching , and by some other waies : and in some brutes , is advanced to a higher degree than in others . nevertheless this same acquired cognition and cunning also ( how great soever ) doth in some of them depend altogether upon instinct natural , and the frequent use of it . here it would not perhaps be very difficult for me to recount , what sorts of actions done by more perfect beasts , are referrible to their congenite knowledge alone ; what to their acquired alone ; and what to a combination of both . i could also shew how their acquir'd knowledge ariseth by degrees from impressions of new objects , from examples , or imitation , from experience and other adventitious helps just now mentioned . i might moreover explain in what manner the direct images of things brought into the common sensory , produce first imagination , and then memory ; how the same images reflex'd , instantly raise appetite , if they appear good and agreeable ; or aversion , if displeasing and hurtfull ; and how thereupon in the same instant local motions succeed , for prosecution , or avoidance of the things themselves . all these , i say , i might deduce from notions competent to a corporeal soul , and from the powers of a body informed and actuated thereby , both being comparated for such determinate actions by artifice divine ; without bringing into to the scene any immaterial natures ( as some have done ) to solve the difficulties concerning the science or knowledge of brutes . but because these arguments have been already handled by many excellent men , and curious wits , sir kenelm digby , monsieur des cartes , mr. hobbes , &c. and most accurately by dr. willis , in his late book de anima brutorum , and because a further inquisition into them is not absolutely necessary to my design of explicating the reasons of the passions : i therefore shall ad no more concerning them ; but contenting myself with the hints i have given , conclude this section with two pertinent and remarkable clauses . manifest it is , that all brute animals of what kind soever , are by natural instinct alone , as by an eternal rule , or law engraven upon their hearts , urged and directed to do all things that conduce either to their own defense and conservation , or to the propagation of their species . and hence it is necessarily consequent , that in order to their observance of this congenite law , or accomplishment of these two grand ends of their creation , they must all , by the dictates of the same natural instinct , both know , whatever things are convenient and beneficial , whatever are inconvenient , hurtful and destructive to them ; and according to this knowledge , prosecute these with hatred and aversation , those with love and delight . when therefore we observe brutes to distinguish betwixt wholesome and venomous plants , to seek for convenient food , cunningly to hunt after prey , retreat from injuries of weather , provide themselves denns and other secret places for rest and security , travell from one climate to another , and change their stations at certain periods and seasons of the year , to love their benefactors , and fly from their enemies , to court their mates , build nests and other nurseries for their yong , to suckle , feed , cherish , protect and teach them , to use a thousand pretty shifts and artifices to elude their persuers , in fine , to manage all their affairs regularly and prudently , as it were by counsel and deliberation , in order to the two principal ends preordained by the divine wisedom : when we ( i say ) observe all these their actions , we are not to refer them to a principle of reason , or any free and self-governing faculty ( like the rational soul of man ) wherewith they are endowed ; but only to natural instinct , by which they are incited and directed . neither are we to give credit to their opinion who hold , that all such actions arise from a kind of material necessity ( such as democritus fancied ) and without any intention , or scope aimed at by the beasts themselves ; merely from the congruity or incongruity of images impressed upon the organ of the sense affected : as if brute animals were as little conscious of their own actings , as artificial engines are of their motions , and the reasons of them . for we cannot but observe , that brutes , by virtue of natural instinct , perform not only simple acts excited by some one single impression made upon this or that sensory , by an external agent , or object ; as when the scorching heat of the sun in sommer beating upon them , makes them to retire to cool and shady places for refuge : but also many other compound actions , such to which a long series , or chain of subservient acts is required . for instance ; in the spring , when birds feeling the warmth and invigorating ( i had almost call'd it also the prolific ) influence of th' approaching sun ( that universal adjutant of generation ) find themselves pleasantly instigated to their duety of propagation ; then , without any other impulse , or direction , but that of natural instinct , they dextrously , and as it were with counsel and deliberation , address themselves chiefly to that most delightful work . first , with a kind of chearful solemnity they choose , and espouse their mates , all their femals bringing love , obsequiousness , diligence and feather-beds for their dowry . then they seek for places convenient to reside in , and there with skill and art exceeding the proudest of humane architecture , they build their nests . which are no sooner finished , than they lay their eggs therein . upon these in the next place they sit with admirable constancy and patience ▪ untill they have hatch'd them . and that great work done , they in fine with exemplary tenderness and care feed , cherish and protect their young , till they are able to live of themselves . now here , you see , is a multiplicity of actions regularly and with design done in order to one grand scope , or end : such as cannot possibly proceed from simple impressions of external objects . 't were easy for me here to invite you to reflect on the admirable republics of bees and pismires , in which all the constitutions of a most perfect government are exemplified : yet without writen laws or promulgation of right : but the former example is sufficient . i conclude then , that since in all these , the affairs or businesses of brutes are managed and administred always after one and the same manner , without any variety : that is a convincing argument , that the enterprises and works of brutes of this sort , are excited neither by external objects , whose impulse is ever various ; nor by any internal purpose of mind , which is more mutable than the wind ; but by a principle more certain and fix'd , and always determined to one thing ; which can be nothing else but natural instinct . and how far the power and influence of this instinct may extend toward the excitation of the various passions to which the sensitive soul is of her own nature subject and prone ; will appear more clearly from our subsequent enquiry into their proper causes and motions : to which i now hasten ; having thus long detained you in hearing what seems to me most probable and consentaneous to reason , concerning the substance , original , proprieties and faculties of the sensitive soul , common to man with brutes . which was my first preliminary . sect . iii. of the nature origin , and principal seat of the rational soul in man. how neer so ever brute beasts may be allowed to approach to the divine faculty of reason , or discours : yet most certain it is , no one of them hath ever been observed to attain thereunto . for , if we with all favor and partiality imaginable , examine the effects of either their innate , or acquired knowledge , or of both conjoyned , and improved into habits by long practice and experience : yet in the end we shall be forced to confess , that even the most intricate , and most cunning of all their actions , come far short of those that are ordinarily done by man , by virtue of the reasonable soul , wherewith he is by the immense bounty of his creator , endowed . this is a verity so obvious to every man of common sense and understanding ▪ so evident by its own splendor ; that it needs neither arguments drawn from reason to establish , nor examples drawn from frequent observations to illustrate it : especially now after the many excellent discourses thereupon writen by learned men of almost all ages , all nations , all professions . it being therefore unnecessary for me by prolix reasoning to evince , and superfluous by multiplicity of instances to elucidate the vast disparity betwixt the proper acts and operations of a reasonable soul , and those inferior ones of a sensitive : i shall only in brief , and analytically recount to you a few of those many excellencies and prerogatives essential to the former , and by the law of nature incommunicable to the later . the preeminence then of mans reasonable soul is undeniably manifest from both her objects , and her acts. her objects are all things whatsoever , true or false , real or imaginary , within or without the world , sensible or insensible , infinite or finite : for , to all these can she extend her unconfined power of speculation . i doubt indeed , whether it be possible for her in this life , while she is obliged to speculate all things by the help of images , or corporeal representations , to have an adequate , and full cognition of the superexcellent nature of god : but yet it cannot be denied , that she is capable of knowing for certain , that there is such an incomprehensible being as god , and that he is infinite and eternal . i doubt also , whether the mind of man be capable of any true notion of an angell , spirit , daemon or other the like beings which the schools commonly ( how intelligibly , let others dispute ) call immaterial substances ; because i myself can represent to my thoughts nothing but under some certain figure and quantity , which are inseparable from body : and yet who dares deny th' existence of such beings in the world ? to speculate such objects then , as fall not under the perception of any of the senses , is the prerogative of a rational soul : nor can a sensitive possibly have any knowledge of things above the sphere of her own nature ; all her faculties being corporeal , and by consequence limited to corporeal objects , and those too no other than what are perceptible by the senses . her acts also equaly declare her transcendent powers . that act of simple apprehension , which in brutes is imagination , is in man intellection : and the intellect presides over imagination , discerning the errors of it occasion'd by the senses , and correcting them ; yea subliming the notions thereof into true and usefull ones . and as for forming of propositions , by compounding or dividing the simple notions of sensible things ; that power is indeed common to the sensitive soul also , and usualy exercised by her , when an image of some object newly admitted , meets with one or more images either f●●merly stored up in the memory , or at that instant suggested by natural instinct ; and is found associable , or repugnant to them : but yet the same falls incomparably short of that which belongs to the human intellect . which doth not only review all propositions conceiv'd from the phantasy ; but judges also whether they be true or false , congruous or incongruous ; and then orders and disposes them accordingly into trains of notions convenient either to speculation , or to practice . moreover , it restrains the phantasy , of itself instable and prone to ramble through various phantasms ; calls it away from extravagant and useless conceptions , directs it to others more conform to reason , and at pleasure confines it within certain bounds , that it may not divert , or range too wide from the purpose . all which acts give clear evidence , that there is in man a soul superiour to the sensitive , and which moderates and governs all the faculties and operations of it : yea , more yet , which from representations sensible deduces many other notions of things altogether unknown to sense , and which the phantasy is of itself wholly incapable to imagine . for , it understands axioms , or first principles , and that by its own power alone , without recourse to corporeal species : and ( what is yet more noble and sublime ) by a reflex act views itself , thinks that it thinks , from thence certainly knowing its ' own existence , which cannot be either perceived by sense , or imagined by phantasy . whereas neither the sense , nor imagination ( for of these there are no images extant ) can perceive that they perceive , or imagine . to these royal prerogatives of mans rational soul , let us subjoyn the native right she hath to the whole encyclopaedia or zodiac of arts and sciences ; theology , logic , physic , metaphysics , mathematics , algebra , geometry , astronomy , mechanics : which being all ( theology alone excepted ) the products or creatures of mans mind , sufficiently attest their author to be an agent spiritual , admirably intelligent , immaterial , and therefore immortal . now if this be true ( as most certainly it is ) then one of these two assumptions must be so too . either the rational soul of man doth alone perform all offices not only of vnderstanding and discourse , but of sense also , and life ; and so administer the whole oeconony of human nature . or else there are in every individual man two distinct souls conjoined , and acting together : one , only rational ; t'other merely sensitive ; that as queen regent , this as inferior and subordinate . the first seems to me not a little improbable . for , ( ) all acts of the senses , and animal motions , as likewise the passions , are corporeal , divided and extended , to various parts : and therefore the rational soul , which we conceive to be incorporeal , indivisible and finite , seems incapable to cause or impress those motions immediately , or by herself . to me ( i confess ) it seems unintelligible , how an incorporeal agent , not infinite , can physically act in , and upon a gross body immediately , or without the intervention of a third thing ; which though corporeal too , is yet notwithstanding of parts so spirituous , and of a constitution so subtil , as to approach somwhat neerer to the nature of a pure spirit , than solid and ponderous body doth . flame , and light i acknowledge to be bodies ; but yet methinks there is less of disproportion , or disparity betwixt them and a substance purely spiritual , than is betwixt a pure spirit and a gross , heavy body , such as ours is . and therefore in my weak judgment , it is more conceivable that the reasonable soul should have some spirituous , and subtile thing as flame , or light is , viz. the sensitive soul , conjoyned with her , to be a convenient medium betwixt herself and the gross body , to receive her immediate influence , and actuate the body according to her will and pleasure : than it is , that she should immediately move and actuate the body , betwixt whose nature and her own there is great disparity . ( ) as for that nice and amusing doctrine of the school-men ▪ that in man the sensitive soul is eminently contained in , and ( to use their very term ) as it were absorpt by the rational ; so that what is a soul in brutes , becomes a mere power or quality in man : this i think ( as many other of their superfine distinctions doe ) sounds like nothing put into hard words . for , how can it be imagined possible , the eternal law of nature should be so far violated , as that a substance should be changed into an accident ? that the sensitive soul which is corporeal and extense , and which they themselves allow to be actually existent in the body , before the infusion of the rational ; should upon accession of the rational , lose its former essence , and degenerate into a naked quality ? this is ( i profess ) a mystery much above my comprehension . ( ) if it be affirmed , that the rational soul doth , at her entrance into the body , introduce life also , and sense ; and so there is no need of any other principle of life and sense , where she is : then must it be granted , that man doth not generate a man animated , or endowed with life and sense ; but only an inform body , or rude mass of flesh . and how absurd that would be , i leave to your judgement . these reasons discovering the improbability of the first assumption ; what can remain to hinder us from embracing the other , viz. that there are in every individual man , two distinct souls , coexistent , and conjoin'd ; one by which he is made a reasonable creature , another by which he becomes also a living , and sensitive one ? especially since the truth of this seems sufficiently evident even from that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or civil war too frequently hapning betwixt these twins , which every man sometimes feels in his own breast , and whereof the holy apostle himself so sadly complain'd . for , this intestine war , seeing it cannot arise from one and the same thing possessed with affections mutually repugnant , and inclining us two contrary waies at once ; argues a duumvirate of rulers reciprocaly clashing , and contending for superiority ; and such too that are as remote in their natures , as different in the modes of their subsistence . upon this war depend all the passions by which the restless mind of man is so variously , and many times also violently agitated , to his almost perpetual disquiet and vexation : and upon the success of it depends all the happiness , or misery of not only his present life , but that which is to come . to enquire therefore awhile into the grounds and reasons of this fatal discord ; will be neither loss of time , nor digression from our purpose . that man then is endowed , as with two distinct faculties of knowing , viz. vnderstanding , and imagination ; that proper to his rational , this to his sensitive soul : so likewise with a twofold appetite , viz. will , which proceeding from his intellect , is immediate attendant of the rational soul ; and appetite sensitive , which cohering to the imagination , is as it were the factor or procurer to the corporeal soul : is the common doctrine of plato and aristotle , to this day read and asserted in the schools ; nor ought it to be rejected . but then it must not be so understood , as if the rational soul herself , which seems to be immaterial , and consequently exempt from passion , were upon every appulse of good or evil objects , subject to all the turbulent affections of desire or aversation : for , this would be manifestly repugnant to the excellency of her spiritual nature , and inconsistent with her dignity and superintendency over the inferiour powers . affections she hath indeed of her own , such as are competent and proper to her semidivine essence . it is not to be doubted , but that in the contemplation of true and good , and chiefly of what is supremely both true and good , the deity ; as likewise in works of beneficence , in the cognition of things by their causes , in the exercises of her habits aswell the contemplative , as the practical ; and in all other her proper acts , the reasonable soul feels in herself a very great complacency : as on the contrary , the want of these doth affect her with as great displeasure . nor is it to be doubted , but our love of god , and all other real goods ; and our detestation of vices and vicious men ; as also all other pure and simple affects arising and continuing without perturbation or disquiet : belong only to the reasonable soul , which ( to use the elegant simile of plato ) seated in a higher sphere of impassibility , like the top of mount olympus , enjoys perpetual serenity : looking down the while upon all tumults , commotions and disorders hapning in the inferior part of man ; as that doth upon the clouds , winds , thunders and other tempests raised in the air below it . but as for all vehement affections , or perturbations of the mind , by which it is usualy commoved , and inclined to this or that side , for prosecution of good , or avoidance of evil : these certainly ought all to be ascribed to the corporeal soul ; and seem to have their original in the seat of th' imagination , probably the middle of the brain . nevertheless , for that the intellect , as it reviews all phantasms formed by imagination , and at pleasure regulates and disposes them ; so it not only perceives all concupiscences , and tempests of passions used to be stirr'd up in the imagination , but also ( while it freely exerciseth its native power and jurisdiction ) moderates , governs , and gives law to them : for these reasons , when the rational soul approves some , and rejects others ; raiseth some , and composes others of those passions , and directs them to right ends ; she may also be said , by such her dictates , to exercise acts of will , as arbiter , and to will or nill those things , which the sensitive appetite desires or abhors by her permission or command . but yet this empire of the rational soul is not so absolute over the sensitive , when this proceeds to appetite , as when it is imployed about the discernment and knowledge of sensible objects . for , the sensitive being much neerer allied to the body , and immediate guardian thereof ; is by that affinity and relation obliged to addict itself altogether to the gratification , welfare and conservation of the same . and that this province may be more gratefull and agreeable to so delicate a governess , she is continualy courted and presented by all the senses with variety of blandishments and tempting delights . so that charmed by those powerful enchantments of sensible objects , and intirely taken up with care of the body , and in that respect prone to pursue pleasures : she too often proves deaf to the voice of reason advising the contrary , and refuses to be diverted from her sensual to nobler affections . yea somtimes grown weary of subjection , she takes occasion to cast off her yoke of allegiance , and like a proud and insolent rebell , aspires to unbounded license and dominion . and then , then it is we feel those twins strugling within us , that intestine war betwixt the flesh and the spirit , that dire conflict of the sensitive appetite with reason ; which distracts one man into two duellists , and which ceaseth not , till one of the combatants hath overcome and brought the other to submission . and ( what is yet more deplorable ) the event of this combat is often so unhappy , that the nobler part is subdued and led captive by the ignoble : the forces of sensual allurements then proving too strong for all the guards of reason , though assisted by the auxiliary troops of moral precepts , and the sacred institutes of religion . when the divine politie of the rational soul being subverted , the whole unhappy man is furiously carried away to serve the brutish lusts of the insolent usurper , and augment the triumphs of libidinous carnality : which degrades him from the dignity of his nature , and cassating all his royal prerogatives , debases him to a parity with beasts , if not below them ; for , reason once debauch'd so as to become brutal , leads to all sorts of excess ; whereof beasts are seldom guilty . yet this is not alwaies the issue of the war. sometimes it happens that the victory falls to the right side ; and the princess overpowring the rebell , reduces her to due submission and conformity . nay somtimes reason , after she hath been long held captive , breaks off her fetters ; and remembring her native soveraignty , grows conscious and ashamed of her former lapses : and thereupon with fresh courage and vigour renewing the conflict , vanquishes and deposes the sensitive soul with all its legions of lusts , and gloriously re-establishes herself in the throne . yea more , at once to secure her empire for the future , and expiate the faults of her male-administration in times past ; she by bitter remorse , severe contrition , and sharp penance , punishes herself , and humbles her traitorous enemy the flesh. and as the war itself , so this act of conscience , this self-chastising affection , being proper to man alone ; doth clearly shew , that in man there are either two souls , one subordinate to the other ; or two parts of the same soul , one opposing the other , and contending about the government of him and his affections . but which of these two consequents is most likely to be true , you may have already collected from my discourse precedent . it remains then , that i give you some account of the opinions , or rather conjectures of men ( for they can be no other ) which seem to me most probable , concerning the origin of the reasonable soul ; concerning the principle seat of it in the body ; concerning its connexion with the sensitive soul ; and concerning the manner of its vnderstanding . for the first ; if the rational soul be a pure spirit . i. e. a simple or incompound substance ; as i have already shewn her proper acts , affections and objects seem to infer , and as most wise men , ancient and modern , ethnics and christians , philosophers and theologues have unanimously held her to be : and if it seem inconsistent with the purity and simplicity of such a being , to be generated by the parents , who are compound beings , as reason teacheth us it is : granting this , i say , nothing can remain to divorce me from that common opinion which holds , that she is created immediately by god , and infused into the body of a human embryon , so soon as that is organized , formed and prepared to receive her . for , as to that grand objection , that the son oftentimes most exactly resembles the father , not only in temperament , shape , stature , features and all other things discernable in the body ; but in disposition also , wit , affections , and the rest of the animal faculties : and therefore it must needs be , that the father begets the rational soul , as well as the body : it is easy to detect the weakness thereof , in the violence of the illation . since all those endowments and faculties wherein the chief similitude doth consist , proceed immediately from the corporeal soul , which i grant to be indeed ex traduce , or propagated by the father ; but not the rational , which is of divine original . for the second , viz. the rational souls chief seat or mansion in the body , tho i cannot conceive how , or in what manner an immaterial can reside in a material , because i can have no representation or idea in my mind of any such thing : yet nevertheless when i consider that all impressions of sensible objects , whereof we are any ways conscious , are carried immediately to the imagination ; and that there likewise all appetites , or spontaneous conceptions and intentions of actions are excited : i am very apt to judge the imagination to be the es●urial , or imperial palace of the rational soul , where she may most conveniently both receive all intelligences , from her emissaries the senses , and give forth orders for government of the whole state of man. that the whole corporeal soul should be possessed by the rational , seems neither competent to her spiritual nature , which is above extensibility ; nor necessary to her empire over all : no more than it is necessary for a king to be present in all parts of his dominions at the same time . and if she be as it were inthroned in any one part thereof ; what part so convenient , so advantagious as the phantasy , where she may immediately be informed of all occurrents in the whole body , and whence she may issue forth mandates for all she would have done by the whole or any member thereof ? i think therefore , i may affirm it to be probable , that this queen of the isle of man hath her court , and tribunal in the noblest part of the sensitive soul , the imagination , made up of a select assembly of the most subtil spirits animal , and placed in the middle of the brain . as for the conarion , or glandula pinealis seated neer the center of the brain , wherein monsieur des cartes took such pains to lodge this celestial ghest ; all our most curious anatomists will demonstrate that glandule to be ordained for another , and that a far less noble use , which here i need not mention . for the third , to wit , what obligeth the rational soul to continue resident in the imagination during this life ; truely i cannot think either that she is capable of , or that she needs any other ligament or tye , than the infringible law of nature , or will of her divine creator : who makes and destines her to reside in the body of man , to be his forma informans ; and gives her therefore a strong inclination to inhabit that her inne or lodging : ordaining her to have a certain dependence , as to her operation , upon the phantasy , so that without the help and subserviency thereof , she can know or understand little , or nothing at all . for , it is from the imagination alone that she takes all the representations of things , and the fundamental ideas , upon which she afterward builds up all her science , all her wisdom . and therefore though the mind of one man understands more , and reasoneth better than another ; it doth not thence follow , that their rational souls are unequal in their natural capacity of understanding and discourse : because the disparity proceeds immediately from difference of imagination , mediately and principally from the various dispositions of the brain . for , when the animal spirits , being either of themselves less pure , subtil and active than is requisite , or hinderd in their expansion and motions , are not able duely to irradiate and actuate the brain affected with some distemper , or originally formed amiss : in such case , the phatasms created in the imagination , must be either deficient , or distorted ; and the intellect being obliged to judge of them accordingly , must be misinformed . hence it often happens , that by reason of some wound , contusion , or other great hurt done to the brain , men who formerly were of acute wit , and excellent understanding , are more or less deprived of those noble faculties , and degenerate into mere fools or idiots . for , the acquiring , and loseing the habit of intellection and ratiocination , depends totally upon the brain and imagination , the corporeal subject thereof : but the intellect it self , since it hath no parts , cannot be perfected by parts ; being from the beginning , and of its own nature , a full and perfect power of understanding . nor doth it , by accession of any whatever habit , understand more : but is it self rather a habit alwayes comparated to understand . and in truth the principal function of the human intellect seems to be this , that it be of its own nature merely intelligent , that is knowing things , not by ratiocination , but by simple intuition . but during its confinement within the body , it is surrounded with that darkness , that it doth not simply , nakedly , and as it were by way of intuition perceive all things which it understands ; but attains to most of its knowledge by reasoning , that is , successively , and by proceeding as it were by degrees . if therefore the organ or instrument , by the help of which the intellect is obliged to ratiocinate , or gradualy to attain to the knowledge of things , be unfit , or out of tune : no wonder if it be not able to make good musick thereupon . concerning the fourth and last thing therefore , namely the manner how this unintelligible intellect of man comes to know , speculate and judge of all phantasms or images pourtraid in the imagination : i can much more easily guess what it is not , than what it is . i am not inclined to espouse their conceit , who tell us , that the rational soul sitting in the brain , somewhere near the original of the nerves belonging to the senses ( as a spider sits watching in the centre of her net ) and feeling all strokes made upon them by the species of sensible objects , distinguishes and judges of their several qualities and proprieties , by the different modes of their impressions . because , the supposition of a percussion , or stroke to be made by a corporeal image , is manifestly repugnant to a faculty incorporeal . but whether or no i ought to acquiesce in that other opinion delivered , and maintained by a whole army of contemplative men , viz. that the intellect knowes and discerns things by simple intuition , i.e. by beholding their images represented in the phantasy , as we see our faces represented in a mirror or looking-glass : truely i am yet to learn from wiser heads than mine . for , though i admire the subtilty of the conceipt , and love not to be immodestly sceptical , especially in matters that transcend my narrow comprehension : yet , to speak ingenuously , i as little understand how intuition can be ascribed to an immaterial , that hath no eyes ; as i do how feeling of strokes can be ascribed to a thing that cannot be touched . nevertheless i will not point blanck deny this latter opinion to be true , only because i cannot perceive the competency of such an act as intuition to the incorporeal soul of man : for , that were to make my scanty reason the measure of truth ; and to confide more in my own dulness , than in the admired perspicacity of so many eminent wits preceding me . wherefore having confess'd my ignorance , i refer the matter to your arbitration : allowing you as much time as you shall think fit , seriously to consider the same ; and in the interim contentedly suspending my curiosity , which hath too often perplexed me . for , hitherto could i never drive it into my head , how those terms of infusion , connexion and intuition can be intelligibly applyed to a spiritual , or incompound essence , such as we conceive the reasonable soul to be : and if i have used them in this discourse , it was rather because i could think of none less improper , than because i approved them as adequate to the notions to which they are vulgarly accommodated . besides , i hold it extremly difficult , not to speak some non-sense , when we adventure to treat of the nature of spirits , whereof we understand so little : and you ( i presume ) will rather pitty , than condemn a man for stumbling in the dark . but i have too long detain'd you upon preliminaries : and therefore deprecating your impatience , invite you now from the porch into the little theatre of the passions , which i design'd to erect more for your divertisement , than study . sect . iv. of the passions of the mind in general . taking it for granted then , from the reasons precedent , that in man , besides the rational soul , by which he becomes a reasonable creature , there is also a sensitive one , by which he is made a living and sensitive creature ; and that this later being merely corporeal , and coextens to the body it animates , is by the law of its nature subject to various mutations : i come in the next place to consider what are the most remarkable of those mutations , and the causes whence they usually arise ; as likewise the principal effects of them upon the body and mind of man. obvious it is to every mans notice , that there is a twofold state or condition of his sensitive soul ; one of quiet and tranquillity ; another of disquiet and perturbation : every man living finding his spirit sometimes calm and serene , sometimes agitated and ruffled more or less by the winds and tempests of passions raised within him . in the state of tranquillity , it seems probable that the whole corporeal soul being coextens to the whole body inshrining it ( as the body is to the skin envesting it ) doth at the same time both inliven all parts with the vital flame of the blood , to that end carried in a perpetual round ( as the vulgar conceive the sun to be uncessantly moved round about the earth , to illuminate and warm all parts of it ) and irradiate and invigorate them with a continual supply of animal spirits , for the offices of sense and motion . and this halcyon state certainly is the only fair weather we enjoy within the region of our breast , and the best part of human life . on the contrary , in the state of perturbation , all that excellent oeconomy is more or less discomposed . then it seems that the same frail soul is so strongly shock'd and commoved , that not only her vital part , the blood , the calm and equal circulation being interrupted , is forced to undergo irregular floods and ebbs , and other violent fluctuations ; but the animal spirits also , impelled to and fro in a tumultuous manner , cause great disorders in the functions of sense and motion ; yea more , by their exorbitant manner of influx into the nerves of the heart and lungs , they move them irregularly , and so contribute to render the course of the blood yet more unequal . nor doth the tempest stop here ; it extends sometimes also to other humors of the body , to the solid parts and members of it , and even to the discomposure of the reasonable soul her self . the tranquillity of the sensitive soul is easily observable in sleep , when the spirits are bound up , or at least at rest ; and very often also when we are awake , namely whensoever the objects affecting the sense , or created in the imagination , appear to import neither good , nor evil to us , and we are no further concerned than barely to apprehend and know them . for , then they smoothly and calmly slide into the common sensory and imagination , and soon pass away without any the least disquiet or commotion of the appetite . the perturbation of it is as easily manifest in all the passions , which are the consequents of desire , or of aversation . for , when any object is represented under the apparence of good or evil to us in particular ; instantly the sensitive soul is moved to imbrace , or avoid it ; and imployes not only the animal spirits , her emissaries , but the blood also , and other humors universally diffused through the body , and even the solid parts too , as instruments to effect her design . more plainly ; when the imagination conceives any thing to be embraced as good , or avoided as evil ; presently by the spirits residing in the brain , and ranged as it were into order , the appetite is formed : and then the impression being transmitted to the heart , according as that is contracted or dilated , the blood is impelled and forced to various fluctuations , and irregular motions : and thence the appetite being by instinct transmitted to the nerves ordained for that use , they cause motions of the solid parts respective thereunto . and this we may conjecture to be the order of motions excited successively in the phantasy , spirits , blood and solid parts , in every passion of the mind of what sort soever . nor can it indeed sink into my dull head , by what other means of mutual intercourse , besides such a quick transmission of spirits first from the brain into the praecordia , and thence back again to the brain , by nerves to that end extended betwixt those sources of life and sense , the great and speedy commerce in all passions observed to be maintained between them , can be effected . but however this admirable commerce may be otherwise explained , it is lawful for us us to conceive , that the sensitive soul , when put into this state of perturbation , doth strangely vary her postures , according to the diversity of motions caused in her : and though that diversity be very great , yet that in all perturbations whatever , she is more or less amplified , so as to swell beyond her ordinary bounds ; or more or less contracted within her self , so as to be less extense or diffused , than usually she is at other times , in her state of tranquillity : as will be exemplified in all the passions we design particularly to describe . mean while it is observable , that sometimes she being affected with joy , or pride , and as it were exulting above measure , doth advance and expand her self , as if she strove to be greater , and to stretch her grandure beyond the narrow limits of the body . whereupon the animal spirits being respectively commoved in the brain , enlarge the sphere of their irradiation , and by a more abundant influx vigorously agitate the praecordia or vital parts , so forcing the blood to flow more copiously into all parts , and to diffuse it self more freely and speedily through the whole body . on the contrary , sometimes being surprised with grief , or fear , she contracts her self into a narrower compass ; so that shrunk up to a scantling less than her usual circuit of emanation , she becomes of too small a size vigorously to actuate the body as she ought . whence the animal faculties drooping as it were , perform their actions either slowly and weakly , or perversly : and the praecordia wanting their due influx of spirits , almost flagg , suffering the blood to remain in their conduits longer than it ought , even to danger of stagnation , and consequently of sudden death . these two contrary motions therefore of contraction and expansion , i suppose to be the two general ones , to which all the various postures of the sensitive soul , when she is perturbed , may be commodiously referr'd : it seeming to me , considering her to be exactly like a flame , and obnoxious to the like accidental mutations , that she is not naturally capable of other besides these ; and that how great soever the variety of such her mutations may be in the vast diversity of passions , yet they are all but several degrees , and divers modes of either her extension , or contraction . this being then supposed , i proceed to the first and general causes of all passions . where i observe first , ( what was only hinted a little afore ) that it is not the simple representation of good or evil in any object , how great soever it be , that is sufficient to raise commotion in the sensitive soul ; for , we usualy without perturbation behold the prosperous or adverse events befalling other men no waies related to us : and therefore it is further required to the moving our affections , that the good or evil apprehended , be by us conceived to concern ourselves in particular , or our friends at least , and near relations , who in this case are part of our selves . secondly , that even that good or evil wherein a man conceives himself to be concern'd , is not always apprehended by him under one and the same ration or aspect ; but variously , aswell in respect of the object itself , as of the subject to which it doth more peculiarly and immediately appertain . of the divers rations under which one and the same object , good or evil , may be apprehended by one and the same man , respectively to the various circumstances thereof ; we shall more opportunely speak anon . and as for those that respect the subject , or man apprehending ; it is worthy our serious remark ; that all good or evil represented to man , doth concern the sensitive soul , either as she is distinct from the body , and abstract from all relation ; or as she is intimately conjoyn'd to the body , and interressed therein ; or finally as she is subordinate to the rational soul. for , though every affect or passion be founded in the corporeal soul , yet it always respects the good or evil of one or other of these three subjects , and is first raised on the behalf of this , that , or the other . wherefore according to this triple relation of the sensitive soul , all passions incident thereto ; may be said to be either physical , or metaphysical , or moral : of which in their order . . passions meerly physical , or which properly belong to the sensitive soul alone , are those natural and occult inclinations and aversations commonly call'd sympathies and antipathies , whereby one man , more than another , is not only disposed , but even by secret impuls forced to affect , or dislike such or such a person , or thing , without any manifest cause or inducement so to do . of sympathies betwixt persons there is great variety of examples , especialy in lovers ; among whom many are not allured by that grand bait of the sensitive soul , beauty ; but strongly attracted , and as it were fascinated by they know not what hidden congruity or ( as the french call it ) agreeableness of spirits : which enchains them so firmly to the persons beloved , that notwithstanding the deformities they see and acknowledge to be in them , yea and the contempt they somtimes receive from them , they still doat upon , and with delightful submissions court and adore them . and as for antipathies as well toward persons as things ; instances of them also are without number , and many shew themselves at our very table . where one man abhors a brest of mutton , yet loves the shoulder cut from it ; a second swoons at the sight of eels , and yet will feast upon lampreys or congers ; a third abominates chees , but is pleased with milk ; a fourth devests rosted pigg , yet can make a meal upon bacon . this man sweats at presence of a cat ; that falls into an agony by casting his eye upon a frogg or toad ; an other can never be reconciled to oysters . nay more , there are who feel themselves ready to faint , if a cat be hidden in some secret place of the room wherein they are , though they suspect no such encountre of their natural enemy , till they are wounded with the invisible darts or emanations from her body . and all these admirable effects proceed not from any positive evil or malignity in the things abhorred ; for , what 's one mans meat , is an others poyson : but only from their incongruity , or occult enmity to this , or that particular sensitive soul. for if at any time it happens , that the consistence of animal spirits that constitute the lucid or sensitive part of this soul , be by the encountre of any object , put into great disorder : she ever after abhors the approach , or eff●luvia of the same . whereas the congruity of particles proceeding from an object , to the contexture of the soul , is on the contrary the ground of all her secret amities . . passions metaphysical , or which seem to have their first rise from , and principaly to relate to the rational soul , are those which divines call devout and religious affections directed to objects supernatural , and chiefly to god. for , when our nobler soul reflecting upon the excellency and immortality of her nature , aspires by sublime speculations toward her supreme felicity , the contemplation and love of her creator ; and determines her will to persue that incomprehensible , because infinite subject of all perfections , which alone can satisfy her understanding with light or knowledge , and her will with love : she doth not only exercise herself in simple and abstracted conceptions , such as are proper to her immaterial essence alone , and conformable to the dignity of the thing she speculates ; but communicates her affects also to the sensitive soul , by whose subordinate motions she is obliged to act respectively to her end . and these motions or acts being thus traduced from the superiour to the inferior soul , and thence derived first to the brain and imagination , then to the heart ; produce therein , and so in the blood , the various motions that constitute such passions , as we observe in our selves , when we are most ardently urged to acts of devotion and piety toward the supream being . whence it is doubtless , that divine love , detestation of sin , repentance , hope of salvation , fear of incensing divine justice , and most , if not all other acts ( or passions ) of devotion are commonly ascribed to the heart : and that not without some reason . for , though i cannot admit the heart to be the seat of the passions , as the aristoteleans unanimously hold it to be , only because of the sensible alterations therein produced in most passions : since in truth those alterations are rather consequents , than causes of passions ; and since they are not felt by us as in the heart , but only by means of the nerves descending thither from the brain ; as pain is not felt as in the foot , but by intervention of nerves betwixt the foot and the brain ; and as the starrs appear to us as in heaven , by mediation of their light affecting our optick nerves . so that it is no more necessary the soul should exercise her functions , or receive her passions immediately in the heart , only because she feels her passions therein ; than it is she should be in heaven , because she sees the starrs to be there ; or in the foot , because pain appears to her to be there . notwithstanding this i say , yet the adscription of these devout passions to the heart , is not altogether destitute of reason . for , ( for instance ) when the inferiour soul is commanded by the superior , to humble , and as it were to prostrate ▪ herself in adoration of the sacred majesty of god ; instantly both parts thereof , as well the sensitive , as the vital , are forced to repress and restrain their wonted emanations or effusions . whereupon the animal spirits being in whole legions withdrawn from minis tring to the imagination and senses , are by the nerves transmitted in crowds to the heart : which while they closely contract and shut , they cause the blood to remain longer than is usual , in the cavities thereof , and by that means keep it both from being too much kindled in the lungs , and from being sent from the heart in too great abundance into the rest of the body , and more especialy into the brain ; as if nature itself had instituted , that in sacred passions the blood , or principal seat of life , should be offered up to the author of life , upon the altar of the heart , while the brain , or seat of reason , is kept serene and clear . nor is it difficult to a man praying to almighty god with fervency of spirit , to observe in himself , that his blood is more and more arrested and detained within his breast the while ; insomuch that his heart seems to swell , his lungs to be opprest , and he is forced frequently to interrupt his oraisons with profound sighs , for attraction of fresh aer : as if the reasonable soul not content to devote herself alone , and pour forth her holy desires to god , laboured to make a libation also of the vital blood , for a propitiatory oblation . so that though the soul cannot in strictness of truth be said to receive her passions in the heart ; yet since the alterations caused in us by them , are greater and more sensible in the heart , and consequently in the blood , than in any other part of the whole body beside : i am not so addicted to vitilitigation , as to contend about the propriety of those expressions in scripture , which seem to ascribe all our sacred passions principaly to the heart . . and as for passions moral ; i refer to their classis all those that are excited in the sensitive soul , upon her perception of such good or evil objects as concern her confederate the body , with which she is most intimately conjoynd , and upon whose welfare her safety doth necessarily depend . concerning these in general , it is remarkable ; that though the sensitive soul hath secret loves and aversations of her own , commonly called ( as we have already said ) sympathies and antipathies ; and though she owes obedience to the commands and dictates of her superior , the rational soul : yet being by so strict a ligue , and as it were a conjugal union affianced to the body , she is strongly inclined to prefer the conservation of that her favorite , to all other relations ; and accordingly to gratify and indulge it even in those things that are prohibited by religion and reason . so that no wonder if she be affected with pleasure , or pain , and with all other passions referible to them , for the prosperous or adverse state of the body . to make this our entrance into the spring-head of all passions somwhat more lightsome ; we are here to recount two fundamental verities , both of so conspicuous evidence , i do not remember , i ever heard them contradicted . one is , that all affects which external objects can possibly excite in us , in respect of the various modes or manners by which they fall under our notice , may be commodiously referred to two general heads , namely pleasure , and pain . for , whatever is perceived by the senses , appears to the soul to be good , or evil , gratefull , or offensive ; and whatever is offered to her under the apparence of good , or gratefull , instantly causeth some certain pleasure in her : as on the contrary , whatever is represented to her as evil , or offensive , as quickly raiseth in her some kind of pain , or trouble : provided ( as was before advertised ) she apprehend herself to be any way concerned in such good , or evil . so that we cannot but applaud the judgment of epicurus and aristotle in constituting but two kinds of passions , namely pleasure and pain : the one calling them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , voluptatem & dolorem ; the other naming them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , voluptatem & molestiam . the other is , that all the various motions of the spirits and blood , or of the sensitive soul , excited in the various passions , may likewise be conveniently reduced to two general heads , namely contractions , and effusions ; which our master galen , i remember , terms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : as they are referred to pain and pleasure . because in pleasure , the soul dilateth herself as much as she can , that is , she diffuseth the spirits , as her emissaries , to meet and receive the good represented to her : and in pain , she on the contrary compresseth or withdraws herself inward , that is , she recalls the spirits toward herself , in avoidance of the evil apprehended . manifest it is therefore , that all corporeal passions have their roots grounded in sense , whereof pleasure and pain ●re two opposite affects : one , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , agreeable and familiar to nature ; ●he other , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , alien and offensive . and that i may , as far as i am able , ●xplain wherein pleasure and displeasure of ●●nce doth consist ; i take liberty to sup●ose , that at first when an object affects ●he sensory with soft and smooth tou●hes , or motions , such as are consenta●eous to the delicate contexture of the ●erves of which the sensory is chiefly composed , or to the internal motions of the spirits therein residing ; it instantly causeth that gratefull sense called delight : as on the contrary , if the object invade the sensory with asperity , or violence , such as hurts the tender nerves thereof , or hinders the natural motions of the spirits therein ; then it produceth that ingrateful sense call'd displeasure or pain . the impression being thus made by the object upon the organ of sense , and thence by a certain motion of the spirits resembling the waving of water , carried on to the brain ; if it be pleasant , it immediately puts the spirits therein reserved , into brisker , but regular motions conformable to their nature and uses : if displeasing , it puts them into confusion . if the impression be light , the motion thereby caused in the brain , soon decayeth , and vanisheth of itself : if strong , the motion is continued from the brain down to the breast , and the heart and blood participate thereof respectively ; and so passion instantly succeeds . but whether this be the true manner of objects producing pleasure , or displeasure of sense , or not , most evident it is , that we have , as no conceptions of things without us in the brain , so no passions for them in the heart , but what have their firs● original from sense . now having in this manner shewn as plainly as i could ( ) what mutations are incident to the sensitive soul ( ) what are the most considerable causes of those mutations ( ) what the most remarkable effects and consequents of them upon the body and mind of man ( ) the differences of passions respective to the various relations of the sensitive soul to the rational , and to the body ( ) that all passions are referible to pleasure , or pain ( ) that all motions of the spirits and blood caused in passions , belong to contraction , or effusion : and ( ) wherein consist pleasure and displeasure of sense : our next work must be to speak sect . v. of the passions in particular . not of all that are incident to the mind of man , which were extremely difficult , if not altogether impossible for me to do . for , seeing the objects that raise pleasure and displeasure are innumerable ; and the various waies or manners by which they affect the sense , and excite motions in the brain , spirits and heart , are equaly innumerable : even those philosophers themselves who have with all possible attention of mind laboured to search out the several sorts of passions , have not been able to take notice but of very few , nor to give names to all those neither . besides , considering of how subtil particles , how fluid and easily moveable a substance , and how delicate a contexture the sensitive soul seems to be composed ; we may soon conceive her to be subject to greater variety of impressions , commotions , fluctuations , inclinations , alterations and perturbations , than can possibly be observed and distinguished even by the most curious . it may well suffice then to enumerate and describe the most remarkable of her passions , such as like so many lesser streams , flow from the two general fountains before mentioned , pleasure and displeasure of sense , or motions begun in the sensory , traduced to the brain , and continued to the heart ; and that are of a more simple nature . which that we may perform with more of order , and less of obscurity ; we are to consider , that the passions receiving their most notable diversity from certain circumstances of time , may therefore be most intelligibly distinguished by having respect to the same circumstances . for , since there are of conceptions three sorts , whereof one is of that which is present , which is sense ; another , of that which is past , which is remembrance ; and the third , of that which is to come , which is called expectation : it is manifestly necessary , that the condition of the pleasure , or displeasure consequent to conceptions , be diversified , according as the good or evil thereby proposed to the soul , is present , or absent . for , we are pleased , or displeased even at things past ; because the memory reviving and reviewing their images , sets them before the soul as present , and she is affected with them no less than if the things themselves were present . so also of things future ; forasmuch as the soul by a certain providence preoccupying the images of things that she conceives to come , looks upon them as realy present , and is accordingly pleased or displeased by anticipation : every conception being pleasure , or displeasure present . this being presupposed we proceed to the genealogy of the passions . when the image of any new and strange object is presented to the soul , and gives her hope of knowing somwhat that she knew not before ; instantly she admireth it , as different from all things she hath already known ; and in the same instant entertains an appetite to know it better , which is called curiosity or desire of knowledge . and because this admiration may , and most commonly is excited in the soul before she understands , or considers whether the object be in itself convenient to her or not : therefore it seems to be the first of all passions , next after pleasure and pain ; and to have no contrary : because when an object perceived by the sense , hath nothing in it of new and strange ; we are not at all moved thereby , but consider it indifferently , and without any commotion of the soul. common it is doubtless to man with beasts ; but with this difference , that in man it is always conjoyned with curiosity ; in beasts , not . for when a beast seeth any thing new and strange , he considereth it so far only as to discern whether it be likely to serve his turn , or to hurt him ; and acordingly approacheth neerer to it , or fleeth from it : whereas man , who in most events remembreth in what manner they were caused and begun , looks for the cause and beginning of every thing that ariseth new to him whence it is manifest , that all natural philosophy , and astronomy owe themselves to this passion : and that ignorance is not more justly reputed the mother of admiration , than admiration may be accounted the mother of knowledge ; the degrees whereof among men , proceed from the degrees of curiosity . now this passion is reducible to delight , because curiosity is delight : and so by consequence is novelty too , but especialy that novelty from which a man conceiveth an opinion of bettering his own estate , whether that opinion be true or false : for in such case , he stands affected with the hope that all gamesters have while the cards are shuffling ; as mr hobbs hath judiciously observed . nevertheless it seems rather a calm than a tempest of the mind . for , in admiration , whereby the soul is fixt upon the contemplation of an object that appears to her new and strange , and therefore well worthy her highest consideration ; the animal spirits are indeed suddainly determined , and with great force , partly to that part of the brain , where the image is newly formed , and partly to the muscles that serve to hold the organs of the external senses in the same posture in which they then are , that so the object may be more clearly and distinctly perceived : yet in the heart and blood there happens little or no commotion or alteration at all . whereof the reason seems to be this ; that since the soul at that time , hath for her object , not good or evil , but only the knowledge of the thing which she admires ; she converts all her power upon the brain alone , wherein all sense is performed , by the help whereof that knowledge is to be acquired . and hence it comes , that excess of admiration sometimes induceth a stupor , or astonishment ; and where it lasteth long , that wonderful disease of the brain , which physicians name catalepsis , whereby a man is held stiff , motionless , and senseless , as if he were turned into a statue . for it causeth that all the animal spirits in the brain are so vehemently imployed in contemplating and conserving the image of the object , that their usual influx into other parts of the body is wholy intercepted , nor can they by any means be diverted : whereby all members of the body are held in a rigid posture , inflexible as those of a dead carcas , or of man killed by lightning . of this admirable effect of excessive admiration , nich. tulpius , an eminent physician of amsterdam , hath recorded ( observ . medic . lib. . cap. . ) a memorable example in a young man of our nation , who violently resenting a suddain and unexpected repulse in his love , and astonished thereat , became as it were congeal'd in the same posture , and continued rigid in his whole body till next day . immoderate admiration therefore cannot but be , by fixation of the spirits , hurtfull to health . after admiration followeth esteem , or contempt , according as the thing appears great and worthy estimation , or of small value and contemptible . for which reason we may esteem or contemn ourselves also : from whence arise first the passions , and consequently the habits of magnanimity , or pride ; and of humility or abjection . but if the good that we have a great esteem of in another man , be extraordinary : then our esteem is increased to veneration ; which is the conception we have concerning another , that he hath the power to do unto us both good and hurt , but not the will to do us hurt ; accompanied with an inclination of the soul to subject ourselves to him , and by fear and reverence to purchase his favour . all which is evident in our worship or veneration of god ▪ that these two contrary passions ▪ existimation and contempt , are both consequents of admiration ; is inferrible from hence , that when we do not admire the the greatness or smalness of an object , we make neither more nor less of it than reason tells us we ought to doe ; so that in such case we value or despise it without being concerned therein , that is , without passion . and although it often happens , that estimation is excited by love , and contempt proceeds from hatred ; yet that is not universal , nor doth it arise from any other cause but this , that we are more or less prone to consider the greatness or meanness of an object , because we more or less love it . but though estimation and contempt may be referred to any objects whatsoever , yet are they then chiefly observed , when they are referred to ourselves , that is , when we put great or small value upon our own merit . and then the motions of the spirits upon which they depend , are so discernible , that they change the very countenance , gestures , walking , and in word all the actions of those who think more haughtily or meanly of themselves than is usual . but for what may we have a high esteem of ourselves ? truely i can observe but one thing that may give us just cause of self-estimation ; and that is the lawful use of our free will , and the soveraignity we exercise over our passions . for ( as the incomparable monsieur des cartes most wisely noteth ) take away the actions dependent upon our free will , and nothing will remain for which we can deserve to be praised or dispraised with reason : and that in truth renders us in some sort like unto god almighty , by making us lords of ourselves ; provided we do not through carelesness and poorness of spirit , lose the rights and power that royal prerogative of our nature conferreth upon us . wherefore i am of the same des cartes his opinion , that true generosity , which makes a man measure his own merit by right reason , doth consist only in this ; that he both knowes he hath nothing truely his own , except this free disposition of his will , nor for which he justly can be commended or blamed , but that he useth that liberty well : and finds in himself a firm and constant purpose still so to do ; that is , never to want will to undertake and perform all things that he shall have judged to be the better ; which is perfectly to follow virtue . whereas pride , which is a kind of triumph of the mind from an high estimation of ones-self without just cause , expressed chiefly by haughty looks , ostentation in words , and insolency in action ; is a vice so unreasonable and absurd , that if there were no adulation to deceive men into a better conceipt of themselves than they realy deserve ; i should number it among the kinds of madness . but the contagious aire of assentation is diffused so universaly , and hath infected the tongues of so great a part of mankind , that even the most imperfect frequently hear themselves commended and magnified for their very defects : which gives occasion to persons of stupid heads , and weak minds , and consequently of easy belief , to fall into this tympany of pride or false glory . a passion so far different from true generosity , that it produceth effects absolutely contrary thereunto . for , since other goods , besides the virtuous habit of using the liberty of our wills according to the dictates of right reason , as wit , beauty , riches , honours and the like , are therefore the more esteemed , because they are rare , and cannot be communicated to many at once : this makes proud men labour to depress others , while themselves being inslaved to their own vicious cupidities , have their souls uncessantly agitated by hate , iealousie , or anger . the contrary to self-estimation , is humility : whereof there are likewise two sorts ; one , virtuous or honest ; the other , vicious or base . the virtuous , which is properly named humility , consisteth onely in that reflexion we make upon the infirmity of our nature , and upon the errors we either have heretofore committed , or may in time to come commit : and maketh us therefore not to prefer ourselves before others , but to think them equaly capable of using their freedom of will , as well as ourselves . whence it is , that the most generous are also the most humble . for being truely conscious both of their own infirmity , and of their constant purpose to surmount it , by doing none but virtuous actions , that is , by the right use of the liberty of the will , they easily perswade themselves , that others also have the same just sentiments , and the same good resolution in themselves ; because therein is nothing that depends upon another . wherefore they never despise any man , and though they often see others to fall into such errors that discover their weakness ; yet are they still more prone to excuse , than to condemn them , and to believe their faults proceeded rather from want of knowledge and circumspection , than from defect of an inclination and will to good . so that as on the one side , they think not themselves much inferiour to those who possess more of the goods of fortune , or exceed them in wit , learning , beauty &c. so neither do they on the other , think themselves to be much superiour to others , who have less of those perfections ; because they look upon such qualities as not worth much consideration , in comparison of that goodness of will , upon which alone they have a just valuation of themselves , and which they suppose that every man equaly hath , or at least may have . this humility therefore is inseparable from true generosity : and being well grounded , always produceth circumspection or caution , which is fear to attempt any thing rashly . the vicious humility , which is distinguished by the name of dejection or poorness of spirit , proceeds likewise from an apprehension of our own infirmity ; but with this difference , that a man conceives himself to be so far deprived of the right and use of fre-will , that he cannot but doe things against his inclination , and of which he ought afterward to repent ; and believes himself not able to subsist of himself , but to want many things whose acquisition depends upon another . so it is directly opposite to generosity or bravery of mind , and it is commonly observed , that poor and abject spirits are also arrogant and vain-glorious : as the generous are most modest and humble . for , these are above both the smiles and and frowns of fortune , still calme and serene as well in adversity as prosperity : but those being slaves to fortune , and wholy guided by her , are puffed up by her favourable gales , and blown down again by her gusts . nor is it a rarity to see men of of this base and servile temper , to descend to shamefull submissions , where they either expect some benefit , or fear some evil : and at the same time to carry themselves insolently and contemptuously to ward others , from whom they neither hope nor fear any thing . this ague of the soul then , being ill grounded , doth so shake a man with distrust of himself , that it utterly cows him , and keeps him from daring to attempt any worthy action , for fear of ill success : which vice the lord bacon calls restifeness of mind , and falling out of love with ones-self . there is yet another remarkable passion that seem's to belong to humility , and that is shame . which ariseth from an unwary discovery of some defect or infirmity in us , the remembrance whereof sensibly dejecteth us , and puts us for the most part to the blush , which is its proper sign . that it is a sort of modesty or diffidence of our selves , is manifest from hence ; that when a man thinks so well of himself , as not to imagine another can have just cause to contemn him ; he cannot easily be checkd by shame : and as the good that is or hath been in us , if considered with respect to the opinion others may conceive of us , doth excite glory in us ; so doth the evil whereof we are conscious , produce shame . and yet it cannot be denied but that in this discouraging affect there is also some mixture of grief or secret regret , proceeding from apprehension of dispraise : because being ever accompanied with inward displeasure at the defect or fault uncircumspectly discovered , it cools or damp's the spirits , teaching more wariness for the future . the contrary to this , is impudence ; which is contempt of shame , yea and oftentimes of glory too . but because there is in us no special motion of the spirits and heart , that may excite imprudence ; it seems to be no passion , but a certain vice opposite to shame , and to glory also , so far forth as they are both good and laudable : as ingratitude is opposed to gratitude , and cruelty to commiseration . and the chief cause of this vicious insensibility of honor , is founded in grievous contumelies to which a man hath been accustomed in former times , and which he by degrees comes to despise , as of no force to hinder his enjoyment of commodities belonging to his body , whereby he measures all good and evil : thereby freeing himself from many necessities and streights to which honor would have obliged him . this therefore being no passion , we are not concerned here further to consider it . but as for pride and dejection ; that they are not onely vices , but passions too , is evident enough from the commotion of the spirits and blood that discovers itself outwardly in men surprised by them upon any new and suddain occasion . the same may be said of generosity also and humility . for , notwithstanding their motions be less quick and conspicuous , and that there seem to be much less of convenience or fellowship betwixt virtue and passion , than between passion and vice ; yet no reason appears , why the same motion that serves to confirm a conception that is ill grounded , may not serve likewise to confirm the same conception though itbe well grounded . and because pride and generosity consist equaly in self-esteem ▪ differing only in the injustice and justice thereof : they seem to be but one and the same passion originaly excited by a certain motion , not simple , but composed of the motions of admiration , ioy and love , aswell that love which is conceived for ones-self , as that for the thing which makes one to value himself : as on the contrary , the motion that causeth humility , whether it be vertuous or vicious , seems to be composed of the motions of admiration , grief , and self-love mixt with hatred of the defects that give occasion to one to conceive a mean opinion of himself . now what are the motions of the spirits or sensitive soul , that produce admiration and pride ; we have formerly declared : and as to those that are proper to each of the other passions already considered ; they remain to be particularly described in their due places . ¶ as admiration , the first of all the passions , ariseth in the soul before she hath considered whether the thing represented to her , be good and convenient to her , or not : so after she hath judged it to be good , instantly there is raised in her the most agreable and complacent of all passions , love ; and when she hath conceived the same to be evil , she is as quickly moved to hatred . for love seems to be nothing but a propension of the soul to that thing which promiseth pleasure or good to her : and hatred is nothing but the souls aversation from that which threatens pain or grief . by the word propension here used , is to be understood , not cupidity or desire , which is in truth a distinct passion proceeding from love , and always respecting the future ; but will or consent by which we consider ourselves as already joyned to the thing loved , by a certain conception of ourselves to be as it were a part thereof . as on the contrary , in aversation or hate , we consider ourselves as intirely separate from the thing hated . according to these two opposite notions , i should define love to be a commotion of the soul , produced by a motion of the spirits , which inciteth her to joyn herself , by her will , to objects that appear convenient and gratefull to her : and hatred , to be a commotion produced by the spirits , that inciteth the soul to be willing to be separated from objects that are represented to her as ungratefull and hurtfull . of love there are made by the schools two sorts , whereof the first is commonly called amor benevolentiae , love of benevolence or good-will , whereby we are incited to wish well to the thing we love : the other , amor concupiscentiae , which causeth us to desire to enjoy or possess the object loved . but this distinction , if considered without prejudice , will be found to concern onely the effects of love , not the essence of it . for , so soon as a man hath in will joyned himself to an object , of what nature soever it be ; he is at the same instant carryed toward it by benevolence , or ( to speak more plainly ) he in will also adjoyns thereunto what things he believeth conducible to the good thereof : which is one of the principle effects of love , but doth not infer a different species of it . and the same object , if it be judged good to be possessed , or to be joyned to the soul in another manner than by the will alone ▪ is instantly desired : which also ought to be accounted among the more frequent effects of love . whence i conclude , that desire connexed to love , is benevolence : as connexed with hate , it is malevolence or ill will. i add , that as amity or friendship seems to be nothing but constancy of love : so enmity , nothing but constancy of hatred . if then you seek for a more genuine distinction of love , i know not how better to gratify your curiosity , than by entertaining it with that delivered by the most excellent monsieur des cartes in his book concerning the passions ; which i will therefore faithfully recite . love ( saith he ) may , in my judgement , be with good reason distinguished by the several degrees of esteem we have of the thing loved . for , when a man hath less esteem for an object , than for himself , and yet loves it ; his love is no more but simple propension or benevolence : when as much as for himself , 't is amity or friendship ; when greater than for himself , it may be called devotion . by the first , a flower , a bird , a horse &c. may be loved . by the second , no man of understanding can love any thing but men , who are so properly the object● of this passion , that one can hardly be found so imperfect , but he may be conjoyned to another in the most perfect bond of friendship , if that other conceive himself to be truely and sincerely beloved by him , and think him to have a soul truely noble and generous . and as for the last , devotion ; indeed the principal object thereof is god almighty , toward whom there is no man living , who considers as he ought , the incomprehensible perfections of the divine nature , but must be devote ( for , as seneca , deum colit , qui novit ) yet there is a devotion also to ones prince , or country , or city , or to any private person , whom we esteem above ourselves . and the difference betwixt these three sorts of love , is chiefly manifest from their divers effects . for when in each of them the person loving considers himself as joyned and united to the thing loved ; he is always ready to quit or leave the least part of the whole that he makes with the same , to preserve the rest . whence it comes that in simple benevolence , the lover always prefer's himself to the thing loved : but on the contrary , in devotion , he always prefers the thing loved , so far above himself , that he fears not to dye for the conversation thereof , of which noble love there have been glorious examples in men who have voluntarily exposed themselves to certain death , for defence of their prince , or of their city , yea sometimes also for private persons to whom they had particularly devoted themselves . this distinction being admitted ( as in my opinion it well deserves to be ) there will remain no necessity of constituting so many distinct sorts of love , as they are various objects to excite it : seeing there are many passions very different among themselves , and in respect of their several objects , which yet agree in this , that they all participate of love. for example , the passion by which the ambitious is carried on to glory , the avaricious to riches , the drunkard to wine , the libidinous to women , the honest to his friend , the vxorious to his wife , the good father to his children , &c. differ very much among themselves , and yet so far resemble each other , that they all participate of love. but the love of the first four aimeth at nothing but the possession of their peculiar objects ; nor have they indeed any thing of love for those objects , but only desire mixt with some other special passions . whereas the love of a parent to his children , is so pure , that he desires to obtain nothing at all from them , nor to possess them in any other manner than he doth already , or to bring them to a neerer conjunction with himself ; but considering them as parts of himself , seeks their good as his own , yea with greater care than his own , as not fearing to purchase their felicity at the rate of his own undoing . and the love of an honest man to his friends , is also of the same perfection . but the love of a man to his mistress , commonly distinguished by the name of the erotic passion ; is alwaies mixed with desire of fruition . and as for hatred ; though that be directly opposed to love : yet cannot it be distinguished into as many different kinds ; because the difference betwixt evils from which we are by our will separated , cannot be so well observed , as that which is betwixt the goods to which we are by by our will joyned . from what hath here been said concerning love , as distinguishable chiefly by the several degrees of estimation conceived for the thing loved , it may easily be collected ▪ that from love ariseth cupidity or desire , whereby the soul is disposed to covet for the time to come , those things which she represent's to herself as convenient and likely to afford her pleasure . thus we desire not onely the presence of an absent good , but also the conservation of the good that is present : yea we desire likewise the absence of evil , aswell that which is already incumbent , as that which we believe possible to come upon us in the future . for in cupidity or desire of any thing whatsoever , which the soul judges to be wanting to herself ; she alwaies looketh foreward to the time to come . it may be collected also , that though desire cannot be without love , yet love may be without desire of possessing or enjoying the object , otherwise than by the pure embraces of the will alone . and this may be confirmed by observations of the different motions of the soul and spirits raised in these two passions , and the divers symptoms consequent thereunto . for in love , when it is not accompanyed either with cupidity , or with vehement ioy , or with sadness , but continues pure and simple ; the soul being incited to conjoyn herself in will to objects that appear good and convenient to her , and instantly dilated ; the animal spirits are like lightning dispatched from the brain by the nerves instantly into the heart ; and by their influx render the pulse thereof more strong and vigorous than is usual , and consequently the circulation of the blood more nimble and expedite . whereupon the blood being more copiously diffused by the arteries , and more particularly those ascending to the brain , carries with it a recruit of vital spirits newly enkindled : which being there further sublimed or refined , and corroborating the idea or image that the first cogitation hath formed of the thing loved , oblige and in some sort compell the the soul to continue fixed upon that cogitation , and continually to indulge the same . and herein , if i am not much mistaken , doth the passion of love principally consist . for , they who are affected therewith , have their pulse equal ( the spirits that cause it , being immitted into the cardiac nerves with an equal and placid motion ) but stronger and more frequent then ordinary ; they feel a certain agreable heat diffused in their breast ; they find their brain invigorated by abundance of spirits , and thereby grow more ingenuous ; and in fine they digest their meat quickly , and perform all actions of life readily and with alacrity . all which may be ascribed to the free and expedite , but equal circulution of the blood , caused by a copious influx of animal spirits into the heart . whence we may safely conclude , that this grateful passion is highly beneficial to all parts of the body , and conduceth much to the conservation of health ; provided it continue within the bounds of moderation . but if it exceed them , and break forth into a wild and furious desire ; then on the contrary , by degrees enervating the members , it at length induceth very great weakness and decay upon the whole body . for , love accompanied with vehement desire , doth so intirely imploy the soul in the consideration of the object desired , that she retains in the brain the greatest part of the spirits , there to represent to her the image thereof : so that the whole stock of nerves , and all the muscles are defrauded of the influx of spirits from the brain , with which they ought to be continualy inspired or invigorated . whence in process of time the whole oeconomy of nature is perverted , and an universal languor ensueth . and in cupidity , whereby the soul is so effused towards good or pleasure represented to her as certainly to come , as that she is suddainly checked and contracted again by reflection upon the delay of the same ; there occurs this singular , that it agitateth the heart more violently , and crouds the brain with more legions of spirits , than any other of all the passions . for out of desire to obtain what we ardently pursue , the spirits are most swiftly transmitted from the brain into all parts of the body that may any way serve to do the actions requisite to that end ; but above all into the heart . which being thereby dilated and contracted both more strongly and more frequently than in the state of tranquility , quickly forceth up a more abundant supply of vital spirits with the blood into the brain ; aswell that they may there conserve and corroborate the idea of this desire , as that whole brigades of them may be from thence dispatched into the organs of the senses , and into all muscles , whose motions may more especially conduce to obtain what is so vehemently desired . and from the souls reflexion upon the delay of her fruition , which she at the same time makes ; there ariseth in her a sollicitude or trouble , whereby she is checked and contracted again , and the spirits are by intervals retracted toward the brain . so that the more subtil and spiritual blood being with the spirits recalled from the outward parts , the heart comes to be constringed and streightned , the circulation of the blood retarded , and consequently the whole body left without spirits and vigor . let none therefore admire , if many of those men whom lust , or concupiscence , ambition , avarice , or any other more fervent desire hath long exercised and inslaved , be by continual sollicitude of mind , brought at length into an ill habit of body , to leanness , a defect of nutrition , melancholy , the scurvy , consumption and other incurable diseases . nor are you after this so clear manifestation of the great disparity betwixt the motions and necessary consequents of love when pure and simple , and those of love commixt with cupidity or ardent desire of enjoyment , longer to doubt , but that love and desire are passions essentially different ; notwithstanding it be true , that the later is alwaies dependent upon the former . and as for the motions of the spirits and blood in that anxious affect of the mind , hatred , which is directly opposed to love , evident it is , that when the soul is moved to withdraw herself from any object that appears to threaten evil or pain , instantly the spirits are retracted inwards to the brain , and principaly to that part of it which is the instrument or mint of imagination ; there to corroborate the idea of hatred , which the first thought hath formed of the ungrateful object ; and to dispose the soul to sentiments full of bitterness and detestation : so that the while , very few of them , and those too inordinately and by unequal impulses , are transmitted into the heart , by the pathetic nerves , and from this offensive contraction of the whole sensitive soul , and as it were compression of the animal spirits , and subsequent destitution of the heart , it comes , that in this sowr passion alwaies the pulse is made weak and unequal , and oftentimes frequent and creeping ; that cold , mixt with a certain pricking heat not easy to be described , but sensibly injurious to the vital parts , and repugnant to their regular motions , is felt within the breast ; and that even the stomach itself , diverted from its office of concoction , nauseateth the meats it had received , and strives to reject them by vomit . which often happens upon sight of an odious and abominable object . now all these evil effects of hate , give indisputable evidence , that it can never be either gratefull to the mind , or beneficial to the motions of life , upon which health so nearly depends : and this , because hate always hath sadness for its concomitant ; and because by diversion of the animal spirits , partly to assist the imagination , partly to move the members for avoidance of the hated object , it defrauds the blood of its due supplies of spirits and fewel , retards the motion and equal distribution of it , and by that means destroies concoction , incrassates the humors , heaps up melancholy , and by degrees brings the whole body to poverty and leanness . moreover , sometimes this disagreeable passion is exalted to anger , whereby the soul , offended with the evil or wrong she hath suffered , at first contracts herself , and by and by with vehemency springs back again to her natural posture of coextension with the whole body , as if the strove to break out into revenge : and then it is that the spirits are in a tumultuous manner , and impetuously hurried hither and thither , now from the brain to the heart , then back again from the heart to the brain ; and so there follow from these contrary motions alternately reciprocated , aswell a violent agitation , palpitation , burning and anxiety of the heart ; as a diffusion of the blood , distension of the veins , redness of the face , and sparkling of the eyes , together with a distorsion of the mouth ( such as may be observed in great indignation , and seems composed of laughter and weeping mixt together ) grinding of the teeth , and other symptoms of anger and fury . it is not then without reason physicians advise men to decline this passion , as a powerful enemy to health in all but such as are of a cold , dull , and phlegmatic temperament ; because it inflames first the spirits , then the blood , and when violent , it puts us into fevers , and other acute distempers , by accension of choler , and confusion of humors . and i could furnish you with examples of some whom this short fury hath fired into perpetual madness , of others whom it hath fell'd with apoplexies , others whom it hath thrown into epilepsies , rack'd with convulsions , unnerved with palseys , disjoynted with the gout , shook with tremblings , and the like : but that the books of physicians are full of them . here before we proceed to other consequent passions , it is fit to make a short reflexion upon hatred , that i may verify what was only hinted in the precedent enumeration of the evil effects thereof , viz. that it is ever accompanied with sadness . concerning this therefore i reason thus . forasmuch as evil , the proper object of hate , is nothing but a privation ; and that we can have no conception thereof without some real subject wherein we apprehend it to be ; and that there is in nature nothing real which hath not some goodness in it : it follows of necessity , that hatred , which withdraws us from some evil , doth at the same time remove us also from some good to which the same is conjoyn'd . and since the privation of this good , is represented to the soul as a defect or want belonging to her : it instantly affecteth her with sorrow . for example ; the hate that alienateth us from the evil manners of a man with whom formerly we have been acquainted , separateth us likewise from his conversation , wherein we might find somthing of good : and to be deprived of that good , is matter of regret and sorrow . so in all other hatred , we may soon observe some cause of sorrow . ¶ to the excitement of desire in the soul , it is sufficient that she conceive the acquisition of the good , or avoidance of the evil represented to her as to come , to be possible : but if she further consider whether it be easy or difficult for her to obtain her end ; and there occur to her more reasons for the facility : then there succeeds that gentle effusion or tendency of the soul toward the good desired , which is called hope or expectation of good to come . whereas on the contrary , if the greater weight be found in the other scale , and she apprehend the thing desired , to be difficult ; she is immediately contracted , and coold with that ungrateful passion , fear , which is expectation of evil to come . and as hope exalted to the highest degree , is changed into trust , confidence or security : so on the contrary , fear in extremity becomes desperation . again , if this contraction of the soul by fear , be suddain and profound , and the evil expected very great ; then is the passion called terror , dread and consternation , which sometimes is so violent , as to cause exanimation or suddain death . if the soul , upon apprehension that the good desired , is not indeed absolutely impossible , but highly difficult for her to obtain ; or the evil feared , is not altogether impossible , yet extremely hard to be avoided ; persist in her contraction : she is daunted or cowd into that ignoble weakness called pusillanimity or cowardise . but if after her contraction at first , she exserting her strength , spring forth as it were , and with vehemency dilate herself , to surmount her fear , and overcome the difficulties apprehended : then is she reanimated as it were , or fortified with the noblest of all passions , courage or boldness , or bravery of mind , which makes her contemn all obstacles to her attainment of her end , whether it be the acquisition of good , or declination of evil ; and which ( when it is not a habit or natural inclination ) seems to be an ardor or flashing of the sensitive soul , disposing her to act vigorously , and without fear , toward the vanquishing of difficulties that stand betwixt her and the scope she aims at . and of this animosity , emulation is a species , whereby the soul is disposed to attempt or enetrprise difficult things , which she hopes will succeed happily to her , because she observes them to do so to others . but then it is to be distinguished from simple animosity by two proprieties . whereof one is , that it hath not only an internal cause , viz. such a disposition of the spirits and body , that desire and hope may have greater power in impelling the blood in abundance to the heart , than fear or despair can have in hindering that motion : but also an external cause , namely , the example of others who have been prosperous in the like attempts , which creates a belief in us , that we also shall be able to conquer the difficulties occurring afwell as those others have done . the other , this ; that emulation is ever accompanied with secret grief , which ariseth from seeing ourselves exceeded or excelled by our concurrents . but simple animosity wants both example for incitement , and grief for alloy . but both these passions equaly depend upon hope of good success . for , though the object of audacity be difficulty , yet to animate us to contend bravely with that difficulty , we must be possessed with a strong hope , or certain belief , that we shall at length attain our end . yet this end is not the same thing with that object ; for , there cannot be both certitude and despair of the same thing at the same time . so when the roman decii rushed into the thickest troops of their enemies , and ran to certain death ; the object of their daring was the difficulty of conserving their lives in that action , for which difficulty they had nothing but desperation , being resolved certainly to dye : but their end was , either by their example to inspire courage into the roman army , and by them to obtain the victory they hoped ; or to acquire posthume glory , whereof they were certain . if therefore even in this action that was in itself desperate , courage were grounded upon hope ; we may well conclude , that it is alwaies so . from the reasons we have alleged of hope and fear , it is evident , that we may have those contrary passions excited in us , though the event of the thing expected no way depend upon our selves . but when we proceed to consider the event as altogether , or for the most part depending upon our own counsel , and perceive a difficulty to arise either in our election , or execution of the means whereby to obtain our end : then there immediately follows a doubting or fluctuation of the mind , whereby we are disposed to deliberate and consult ; and which is indeed a species of fear . and this wavering , while it retains the soul as it were in a doubtful balance betwixt two actions which are offered to her election ; is the cause that she performs neither , but takes time to consider before she determineth which to do , for fear of erring in her choice . which fear , if moderate and under the command of prudence , is always of good use ; in that it serves to prevent temerity or rashness : but in some over-cautious persons , it is so vehement , that though but one thing occurr to be done or omitted by them , it holds them too long upon the rack of suspence , and hinders them from proceeding to action . and in this case , the passion is excess of doubting , arising from too ardent desire of good success , and weakness of vnderstanding , which hath indeed many confused notions , but none perspicuous and distinct concerning the means to effect its design . if during this irresolution , we have determined the liberty of our choice , and fixed upon some one action in order to our end ; and the event be not answerable to our expectation : presently we are affected with that disquiet of mind , which is named by the greeks , synteresis ; by the latins , morsus conscientiae ; and by the french , regret ; which yet doth not ( as the precedent passions ) respect the future , but present or past time ▪ this remorse of conscience is no other but a kind of sorrow , arising from a scruple interposed , whether what we are doing , or have done , be good , or not . and it necessarily presupposeth dubitation . for , if we were clearly convinced that the action we are doing , is realy evil ; we should certainly abstain from doing it : because the will is not carried to any thing , but what hath some shew of goodness in it . and if it were manifest , that what we have done , is realy evil : we should presently be touched not with simple regret , but with repentance . for , as the good we have done , gives us that internal acquiescence or satisfaction , which is of all other passions the sweetest : so on the contrary , the ill we have done , punisheth us with repentance , which is of all passions the bitterest . having in this manner discovered the originals and distinct proprieties of these two opposite passions , hope and fear , with their genuin dependents ; it may not a little conduce to the illustration of what hath here been briefly delivered concerning them , if we more expresly describe the divers motions of the sensitive soul and spirits that constitute their formal reasons , so far at least as those motions are observable from their respective characters or effects . in hope therefore ( which we defined to be a gentle and sweet effusion or expansion of the soul towards some good expected to come ) if we be possessed with an opinion , that the thing desired will shortly come to pass ; i conceive that presently the animal spirits , which before were imployed as emissaries , to contemplate the image of the object , returning toward the soul , give notice of the approach of the guest expected : and that thereupon the whole soul composing herself by expansion to receive and welcome the same , sets open all the doors of the senses to admit more freely all the good belonging thereunto ; retains the imagination fixt and intent upon the gratefull idea thereof ; and by copious supplies of spirits dispatched into the nerves of the heart , so invigorates and quickens the pulse thereof , that thereby the blood is more briskly sent forth into the outward parts of t he body , as it were to meet the expected thing . whence it is , that when we are full of hope , we feel a certain inflation both within and without in our whole body , together with a glowing but pleasant heat , from the blood and spirits universaly diffused . but if during this comfortable emotion of the soul , there occurr any suddain cause of doubt or fear ; she is instantly checked and coold into an anxious retraction of herself , and a sinking of the spirits , so that the motion of the heart becomes weaker and slower , and the external parts grow languid and pale . for , in fear , the sensitive soul , which was before expansed , being surprised with apprehension of approaching evil , and willing to decline it , immediately withdraws herself into her retiring room , and shrinks up herself into herself ; at the same time recalling her forces , the spirits , to her aid , and compressing them . if the fear be exalted to the degree of terror , and the evil seem impendent ; then at the same time the spirits are suddainly recall'd from the outguards , the pores of the skin also are shut up by strong constriction ( as if the soul would obstruct and barricado all avenues against her invading enemy ) whereby the hairs are raised an end , and the whole body is put into a horror or shaking , after this , if the passion continue , the whole army of spirits being put into confusion , so that they can not execute their offices ; the usual succors of reason fail , and the powers of voluntary motion become weak ; yea sometimes , by reason of a resolution of the nerves and sphincters of the gutts and bladder , the excrements themselves are let forth involuntarily . from this damp obscuring the lucid part of the sensitive soul , there quickly succeeds an eclipse also of the vital . for the influx of the animal spirits from the brain into the cardiac nerves being intermitted , the motions of the heart must of necessity be renderd weak , and insufficient to maintain with due vigour and celerity the circulation of the blood : which therefore stopping and stagnating in the ventricles of the heart , causeth fainting and swooning by oppression ; and sometimes ( where the passion is hightned into consternation also suddain death . and from this arrest of the blood in the heart , by strong constriction of the nerves thereunto belonging ; we may with reason derive that same anxious oppression , and chilling weight which men commonly feel in their breast , when they are invaded by violent fear ; and upon which the most acute monsieur des cartes seems to have reflected his thoughts , when he defined consternation to be not only a cold , but also a perturbation and stupor of the soul , which takes from her the power of resisting evils that she apprehends to be neer . this fear , when it excludes all hope of evasion , degenerateth into the most cruel of all passions , desperation . which though by exhibiting the thing desired as impossible , it wholy extinguish desire , which is never carried but to things apprehended as possible : yet it so afflicts the soul , that she persevering in her constriction , either through absolute despondency yeelds up herself as overcome , and remains half-extinct and entombd in the body ; or driven into confusion and neglect of all things , contracts a deep melancholy , or flyes out into a furious madness ; in both cases , seeking to put an end to her misery by destroying herself . on the contrary , when fear gives place to hope ; and that hope is strong enough to produce courage ; thereby to incense the soul to encounter the difficulties that oppose her in the way to her end : in this case she first dilates herself with great vigor and celerity , breaking forth as it were into flashes of efforts ; then instantly diffuseth whole legions of spirits into the nerves and muscles , to extend them , in order to resistence or striking with all their forces ; and uniting all her powers into a brave devoir to overcome , undauntedly pursues the the conflict . hence it comes , that the breast being strongly dilated and contracted alternately , the voice is sent forth more sounding and piercing than at other times ; as if to sound a defiance and charge at once : the armes are raised up , the hands constringed into fists , the head advanced into a posture of daring and contempt of danger , the brows contracted , and the whole face distorted into an aspect full of terror and threatnings , the neck swoln , and most other parts distended beyond their usual dimensions . all which symptoms evidently arise from a copious and impetuous effusion of animal spirits from the brain , and of blood from the heart , into the outward parts . ¶ from this concise explication of the motions of the sensitive soul , the spirits and blood , that constitute the passions of hope and fear , with their dependents , animosity and desperation , the clue of our method leads us to the fifth classis of passions . the consideration of good present , and belonging to us in particular , begets in the soul that delight which we call ioy : wherein consisteth our possession of that good , which the impressions of the brain represent to the soul as her own . first i say , that in this delightful commotion doth consist the possession of good ; because in truth the soul reaps no other fruit from all the goods she possesseth : and when she takes no delight or joy in them , it may justly be said , she doth no more injoy them , than if she did not at all possess them . then i add , that the good is such as the impressions made upon the brain represent to the soul as hers ; that i may not confound this joy whereof i now speak , and which is a passion ; with joy purely intellectual , which enters into the rational soul by an action proper to her alone , and which we may call a pleasant commotion raised by herself in herself , wherein consisteth the possession of good , that her intellect represents to her as her own . tho realy so long as the rational soul continues conjoyned with the sensitive , it can hardly be but that this intellectual joy will have the other that is a passion , for its companion . for , so soon as our intellect observes that we possess any good , though that good be so far different from all that pertains to the body , that it is wholy unimaginable ; yet presently the imagination makes some impression in the brain , from whence followeth a motion of the sensitive soul , and of the spirits , that exciteth the passion of joy. of this so gratefull affection there are divers sorts , or ( to speak more strictly ) degrees . for , as various circumstances may intervene , and cause the soul to be more or less affected with her fruition of the good she possesseth : so may we distinguish various differences of the passion itself . to be more particular ; as the good she possesseth , is great or small ; unexpected , or long desired ; durable , or transitory ; and as reason moderateth the appetite , or suffers it to be unbridled : so it comes to pass , that the effusion of the soul , and consequently the pleasure is greater or less , permanent or momentary , immoderate or temperate , &c. and hence the kinds of more remiss joy are call'd complacency , iucundity , gladness , exhilaration : and those of more intens , rejoycing , exsultation , triumph , boasting , transport or ecstasy , laughter , &c. by the same reason , as the evil that causeth the opposite passion of grief , is in the present great or little , suddain or foreseen , long or short , and the like : so are there excited various kinds or degrees of trouble or grief ; and accordingly the passion is distinguished into discontent , sollicitude , vexation , sadness , sorrow , affliction , misery , lamentation , weeping and howling . all which belong to grief , which is an ingrateful languor of the sensitive soul , wherein alone consisteth the incommodity that hapneth to her from evil or defect , which the impressions made upon the brain , represent to her as her own . for , besides this , there is also an intellectual sorrow proper to the rational soul , which is not to be placed in the number of the passions , tho for the most part it hath for its adjunct the passion of sorrow ; by reason of the most strict conjunction betwixt the two souls in this life . as the good or evil present , being represented as belonging particularly to ourselves , produceth joy or grief in us : so when good or evil is proposed to us , as belonging to others ; we so far concern ourselves therein , as to judge them worthy , or unworthy of the same . if we judge them unworthy of the good that is hapned to them ; that raiseth envy in us : if we think them not to deserve the evil that is befallen them , then we are affected with pity or commiseration , which is a species of sorrow , and the contrary to it is hardness of heart , proceeding either from slowness of imagination ( for men of dull capacities are generally less apt to pity the calamities of others ) or from strong opinion of our own exemption from the like sufferings , or from that inhuman temper of mind which the grecians call misanthropia , hatred of all or most men ; or finally from despair after long adversity , whereby the mind being grown as it were callous or brawny ( as seneca expresseth it ) is apt to conceive , that no evil can come to it , greater than what it hath been accustomed to undergo . on the contrary , they are more than others propens to commiseration , who think themselves very weak and obnoxious to adverse fortune : because representing to themselves anothers misfortune , as possible to happen to themselves also ( for the evil that happeneth to an innocent man , may happen to every man ) they are easily moved to pity , but more out of love of themselves than of others . and yet it hath been ever observed , that men of the most generous and heroick spirits , such who having by brave resolutions , and habitual magnanimity , elevated their souls above the power of fortune , and so could fear no evil that she could bring upon them ▪ have nevertheless been prone to commiseration , when they beheld the infirmity of others , and heard their complaints , because it is a part of true generosity , to wish well to every one . but the grief of this heroick commiseration is not ( as the other ) bitter , but like that which tragical cases represented in a theatre , produce , it is placed more in the sense , than in the soul itself which at the same time injoyeth the satisfaction of thinking that she doth her duty in sympathizing with the afflicted . and the difference betwixt the commiseration of the vulgar , and that of generous minds , doth chiefly consist in this ; that the vulgar pittieth the misery of those who complain , as thinking the evil they suffer , to be very grievous and intollerable : but the principal object of generous pity , is the imbecillity and impatience of those who complain n ; because men of great souls think , that no accident can fall upon a man , which is not really a less evil than the pusillanimity of those who cannot endure it with constancy ; which seneca intimateth ( de tranquillitate anim● , cap. . ) where he saith , neminem ●●ebo sientem ; nam suis lacrymis efficit , ne ullis dignus sit : and though they hate the vices of men , they do hate not their persons , but only pity them . manifest it is therefore , that in some , commiseration is nothing but imagination of future calamity to our selves , proceeding from the sense of another mans calamity ; as it is defined by mr hobbs : in others , a species of grief , mixt with love or benevolence toward those whom we observe to suffer under some evil , which we think they have not deserved ; as it is defined by monsieur des cartes . manifest it is likewise , that the contrary passion , envy , is a sort of grief mixt with hate , proceeding from our sense of prosperity in another , whom we judge unworthy thereof . a passion never excusable , but where the hatred it contain's , is against the unjust distribution of the good that is envied , not the person that possesseth it , or that distributed it . but in this corrupt age , there are very few so just and generous , as to be free from all hate towards their competitors , who have prevented them in the acquisition of a good which is not communicable to many at once , and which they had desired to appropriate to themselves ; though they who have acquired it , be equally or more worthy thereof . when we reflect our thoughts upon good done by our selves , there results to us that internal satisfaction or acquiescence of mind , which is a species of ioy ; calme indeed , and serious , but incomparably sweet and pleasant ; because the cause of it dependeth upon nothing but our selves . but then that cause ought to be just , that is , the good upon which we reflect our cogitations , ought to be of great moment : otherwise the satisfaction we fansy to our selves , is false , and ridiculous , serving only to beget pride and absurd arrogancy . which may be specially observed in those who esteem themselves truely religious , and pretend to great perfection of sanctity , when in reality they are superstitious and hypocrites : that is , who because they frequent the temple , recite many praiers , wear short hair , observe fasting-daies , give alms , and perform other the like external duties of religion ; therefore think themselves to be arrived at the highest degree of purity , and to be so far in the favor of almighty god , that they can do nothing that may displease him , and that whatever their passion suggesteth to them , is of holy zeal ; though it not seldome suggesteth the most detestable crimes that can enter into the heart of man , as the betraying of cities , assassination of princes , extermination of nations , only because they follow not their fanatique opinions . and this delusion seems to be the daughter of internal acquiescence grounded upon an unjust cause . again , to excite this most comfortable passion , it is requisite that the good act upon which we reflect , be newly done by us : because that constant satisfaction or self-acquiescence which alwaies is a concomitant and certain reward of virtue , is not a passion , but a pacific habit in the rational soul ; and is therefore call'd tranquility and quiet of conscience . on the contrary , from our remembrance of an evil act by us committed , ariseth repentance , which is a branch of grief , alwaies most bitter , because the cause of it is only from ourselves : but then this grief is allayed by expectation of amendment , or returning into the right way to good ; which is referrible to ioy. nor doth the bitterness of this passion hinder it from being of excellent use in our life , when the action whereof we repent , is realy evil , and we certainly know it to be so : because in such cases it strongly inciteth us to doe better in the future . but it is not universaly profitable . for it is no rarity for men of weak and timorous minds to be touchd with repentance of actions they have done , tho they do not certainly know those actions to be realy evil , but only believe them to be so , because they fear lest they be so , and if they had done the contrary , they would have been equally disquieted with repentance . which is an imperfection in them well worthy commiseration : and they ought to repent of such their repentance . when we observe , or recall to mind good performed by an other , tho not to ourselves ; we are thereby moved to favour the doer : because we are by nature inclined to like and love those who doe actions that we think good , althouh from thence nothing of good redounds to us in particular . favour therefore is a species of love , accompanied with desire of seeing good to happen to the person whom we favour ; and somtimes with commiseration , because the adversity that falls upon those whom we think to be good , makes us the more to reflect upon their merits . but if the good done by another upon which we reflect our cogitations , hath been done to vs ; then to favor is adjoined gratitude : which likewise is a kind of love , excited in us by some action of another , whereby we believe ▪ that eithe●●he hath realy benefited , no● at least intended to benefit us in particular● and accompanied with desire to shew ourselves thankful to 〈…〉 therefore this passion of gratitude 〈…〉 excells simple favour in this , that it is grounded upon an action which concerns vs : so hath it far greater force upon the mind , especialy in men of noble and generous natures . the contrary hereunto is ingratitude , which notwithstanding is no passion ( for nature , as if she abhorr'd it , hath ordained in us no motion of the spirits whereby it might be excited ) but a meer vice , proper to men who are either foolishly proud , and therefore think all benefits due to them ; or fottishly stupid , so as to make no reflexion upon good turns done them ; or of weak and abject minds , who having been obliged by the bounty and charity of their benefactors , instead of being gratefull , prosecute them with hatred ; and this because either wanting the will to requite , or despairing of ability to make equal returns , and falsely imagining that all are like themselves , venal and mercenary , and that none doth good offices but in hope of remuneration ; they think that their benefactors have deceived them ; and so deprave the benefit itself into an injury . hatred then being an adjunct to ingratitude ; it follows that love must attend on gratitude , which is therefore alwaies honest , and one of the principal bonds of human society . on the contrary , when we consider evil committed by an other , tho not against us ; we are moved to indignation : which is a species of hatred or aversion raised in us against those who do any thing that we judge to be evil or unjust , whatsoever it be ; somtimes commixed with envy , somtimes with commiseration , somtimes with derision ; as having its object very much diversified . for , we conceive indignation against those who doe good or evil to such who are unworthy thereof ; but we envy those who receive that good , and pity those who suffer that evil . and yet in truth , to obtain good whereof one is unworthy , is in some degree to doe evil : and to do evil , is in some sort to suffer evil . whence it comes , that somtimes we conjoyn pity , somtimes derision to our indignation , according as we stand well or ill affected toward them whom we observe to commit errors . and therefore the laughter of democritus , who derided the folly , and the tears of heraclitus , who bewail'd the misery of mankind , might both proceed from the same cause , indignation . but when evil is done to ourselves , the passion thereby kindled in us , is anger : which likewise is a species of hatred or aversation , but different from indignation in this , that it is founded upon an action done by another with intention to hurt us in particular ; and in this , that when it hath proceeded to a determination of hurting him who did it , it passeth into revenge ; whereas at first accension , the passion is no more but excandescence or suddain heat of blood . the desire of revenge that for the most part accompanieth anger , whether it aim at the death , or only at the subjection of our enemy ; is indeed directly opposed to gratitude ( for this is desire of returning good for good , and that , desire of requiting evil with evil ) as indignation is to favour : but incomparably more vehement than either of those three affections ; because the desire of repelling harm , and revenging our selves , is a part of natural instinct necessary to self-preservation , and so of all desires the strongest and most urgent . and being consociated with love of ourselves , it affords to anger all that impetuous agitation of the spirits and blood , that animosity and boldness or courage can excite : and its assistant , hatred , promoting the accension of the choleric or more sulphureous parts of the blood as it passeth through the heart , raiseth in the whole mass thereof a more pricking and fervent heat , than that which is observed in the most ardent love , or most profuse ioy. now as men inflamed with this violent passion , or ( as seneca calls it● short fury of anger , differ in point of temperament ; and as this or that of the usual concomitants of it , is more powerful than the rest : so must the effects thereof upon the body be likewise various . and from this variety men have taken notice chiefly of two sorts of anger . one , that is quickly kindled , violent at first , and discovers it self visibly by outward signs : but performs little , and may be easily composed . and to this , they are most obnoxious , who are good-natur'd , i.e. who are inclined to goodness and love . for , it ariseth not from profound hatred , but from a sudden aversion surprising them : because being propens to conceive that all things ought to proceed in that manner which they judge to be the best ; whenever they see others to act otherwise , first they admire , and then are offended ; and so what would be to others matter only of indignation , to them proves cause of anger . but this commotion is soon calmed , because the force of the sudain aversion that raised it , continues not long : and so soon as they perceive that the thing for which they were offended , ought not to have commoved them to passion ; they suppress their displeasure , and repent of it . the other , that wherein hatred and grief are predominant , and which though at first it hardly betray it self by external signs , unless by the suddain paleness of the countenance , and trembling ; is notwithstanding more impetuous within , secretly gnaws the very heart , and produceth dangerous effects . and to this pernicious sort of anger they are most subject , who have prou● , cowardly and weak souls . for , so much the greater doe injuries appear , by how much the better opinion pride makes men to have of themselves ; yea and by how much greater value is put upon the things which the injuries take away : and these things are alwaies so much the more valued , by how much the more weak and abject the soul is ; because they depend upon others , but the generous put little value upon any thing that is not dependent upon themselves . when we consider what opinion other men have of us , the good which we believe to be in us , disposeth us to glory , which seems to be composed of self-estimation , and ioy ; for to see ourselves well esteemed by others , gives us cause to have a good esteem for ourselves : and on the contrary , the evil we are conscious of , forceth us to shame , which is a sort of modesty or humility , and self-diffidence ; for ( as we have formerly observed ) who thinks himself above contempt , will hardly be humbled to shame . these two passions , glory and shame , tho directly opposite each to other , doe yet agree in their end , which is to incite us to virtue ; the first by hope , the other by fear : and that we may make a right use of them both , we are to have our judgment well instructed what actions are truely worthy praise or dispraise ; lest otherwise we be ashamed of virtuous actions , or affect glory from vices ; as it happeneth to too great a part of mankind . thus have we at length recounted all the passions of this our fifth division , and deduced them successively from their several causes or occasions , in that order wherein their most remarkable diversity seemd to us most easily distinguishable . but now because some of these passions are simple , others composed ; and that to our more clear understanding of the nature of both sorts , it is necessary to enquire more profoundly into the motions of the sensitive soul and spirits that constitute their essential differences : it remains that we yeeld obedience to that necessity , so far forth at least , as to explain the motions proper to that couplet of more simple affections , ioy and grief ; the two points in which all human actions end ; and to that most violent one , anger . in ioy therefore , which is a delightful commotion of the sensitive soul as it were triumphing in her fruition of good or pleasure ; i conceive that the animal spirits being in great abundance , but with a placid and equal motion , sent by the nerves to the heart , cause the orifices thereof to be opened and dilated more than at other times ; and so the blood to be imported and exported more copiously and freely : and that by this means , from the blood are brought into the brain a plentious supply of new spirits , which extracted out of the purest and most refined parts of the blood , are most fit to confirm the idea formed of the present good in the imagination , and so to continue the soul in her pleasant emotion . hence probably it is , that in this most agreeable passion , both the pulse is alwaies made equal and more frequent , tho not so intense and strong as in love ; and a certain gratefull heat is felt , not only through the lungs and all the breast , but through all outward parts of the body ; from the diffusion of the blood in full streams into them , which is discernible even by the florid purple colour wherewith they are suddainly tinged , and by the inflation or plumpness of all the muscles of the face , which is thereby rendered more serene , sweet and cheerful . easy therefore it is to infer , that as this passion is most congruous to the nature of the corporeal soul , so are the corporeal motions that accompany and characterize it , most profitable to health ; provided they be moderare . for , this commotion and effusion may be so vehement and suddain , that the soul may become weak , and unable to rule the body , or to actuate the organs of speech , yea swooning , and death itself somtimes follow profuse and insolent joy. so lacon chilo , an eminent philosopher , suddainly expired in excessive joy , beholding his sonne a victor in the olympic games . so sophocles the tragedian also , and dionysius the tyrant died of a surfet of suddain joy. the reason whereof seems to consist , not in a vehement effusion and dissipation of the vital spirits , and a destitution of the heart consequent thereunto ; as fernelius would have it ; because the faster the blood is effused through the arteries from the heart , the swifter must it return to the heart through the veines , so that the heart cannot be totaly exhausted and left destitute of blood : but rather in a surcharge and suffocation of the heart by too redundant an afflux of blood . for , upon extraordinary dilatation of the floud-gates of the heart by immoderate joy , the current of blood both out of the vena cava , and from the arteria venosa , may pour itself with so much violence , and in so great a quantity , into the ventricles thereof , that the heart , unable to discharge itself soon enough of that oppressing deluge , by retruding its valves , may be suffocated , its motions stopped , and the vital flame in a moment extinguished . for certain it is , that in the state of health , the blood is not admitted into the heart beyond a certain proportion : nor can that proportion be much exceeded , whatever the cause be that maketh an apertio portarum there , without manifest danger of life . among the signs of this delightful passion , some have given the upper hand to that distortion of the countenance , accompanied with a loud , but inarticulate voice , which we call laughter : but this being neither proper to , nor inseparable from ioy , cannot therefore belong to it essentialy . that it is frequently a concomitant of mirth or hilarity , is not to be disputed : but mirth is the lowest degree of joy , a light and superficial emotion of the sensitive soul and spirits , a kind of short tickling of the imagination , usualy expressed by laughter : whereas ioy is serious , profound and grave , according to that memorable sentence of seneca ( epist. . ) res severa est verum gaudium . laughter then ( as i said ) is not proper to all joy ; because common to some other affections : for some are observed to laugh out of indignation , others out of contempt and disdain , neither of which belong to any kind of joy. nor is it inseparable from joy ; because in truth joy cannot produce laughter , unless when it is very moderate , and hath somthing of admiration or hate mixt with it . for , we have it from the oracle of experience , that in great and profound joy , the cause of it , whatsoever it be , doth never force us to break forth into laughter : nay more , that we are most easily provoked to laugh , when we are sad . whereof the reason seems to be , either because in solid joy , the sensitive soul is so deeply commoved , so intirely taken up with the delight of fruition , that she cannot attend to shake the midriff , lungs and muscles of the breast ; nimbly and strongly enough to create laughter : or because at that time the lungs are so distended with blood , that they cannot , by repeted concussions , or alternate contractions and relaxations , be further inflated with air , whereof no little quantity is required to produce that loud sound emitted in laughter . that we may understand this matter more fully , let us examine the cause or occasion , and the motions of laughter . as for the first , viz. the occasion or motive ; whatsoever it be , there must concur therein these three conditions following . ( . ) it must be new and surprising ; because whatsoever is ridiculous at first , ceaseth to be so when grown stale , ( . ) it must be such a novelty as may suggest to us a conception of some eminency or advantage in our selves above another whom the occasion chiefly concerns : for , why are we naturally prone to laugh at either a jest ( which is nothing but a witty or elegant discovery and representation of some absurdity or indecency of another , abstracted from his person ) or at the mischances and infirmities of others ; unless from hence , that thereby our own abilities are the more set off and illustrated , and recommended to us by way of comparison ? ( . ) it must not touch our own , or our friends honour ; for , in that point we are too tender to tolerate , much less to laugh at a jest broken upon our selves , or friends , of whose dishonour we participate . these requisites in a ridiculous cause considered , we may adventure to conclude , that laughter is an effect of sudden , but light joy arising from the unexpected discovery of some infirmity in another not our friend , and from imagination of our own eminency , and exemption from the like . here then ( you see ) is something of admiration from the novelty , something of aversion from the infirmity , & something of ioy or triumph from our opinion of some eminency in our selves . and as for that laughter which is sometimes joyned with indignation ; it is most commonly fictitious or artificial , and then it depends intirely upon our will , as a voluntary action : but when 't is true or natural , it seems likewise to arise from ioy conceived from hence , that we see our selves to be above offence by that evil which is the cause or subject of our indignation ; and that we feel our selves surprised by the unexpected novelty of the same . so that to the production of this laughter also is required a concurs of ioy , aversion and admiration ; but all moderate . if this be so , what then shall we think of that odd example of laughter in ludovicus vives ; who writes of himself ( lib. . de anima , cap. de risu ) that usually when he began to eat after long fasting , he could not forbear to break forth into a fit of loud laughter ? this doubtless was not voluntary ; because he strove to suppress it : nor could it be convulsive , such as physicians call risus sardonius ; because he was in perfect health , sensible of no pain therein , nor incommodity thereupon . it must therefore be natural , though not passionate ; proceeding from some cause very obscure , and idiosyncritical , that is peculiar to his constitution : perhaps this , that in this learned man , either the lungs were more apt to be distended with blood , or the midriff more easily put into the motions that produce laughter , than commonly they are in most other men . the first , because in general , whatsoever causeth the lungs to be suddenly puffed up and distended with blood , causeth also the external action of laughter ; unless where sorrow changeth that action into groaning and weeping : the other , because all laughter is made chiefly by quick and short vibrations of the midriff . but this rare phenomenon we shall perhaps be better able to solve , when we have considered how the action of laughter is performed in all other men . concerning this problem therefore , it is observable that in man , there seems to be a greater consent or sympathy , or rather commerce of motions betwixt the midriff and the heart , yea and the imagination also ; than in brutes of what order or tribe soever : and that the reason given hereof by the most accurate of our modern anatomists , is this ; that the principal nerve of the midriff is rooted in the same nerve of the spine ( named nervus vertebralis ) from whence there comes a conspicuous branch into the grand plexus of the intercostal nerve ; and that commonly two , sometimes three other branches more are derived from that same notable plexus , into the very trunk of the nerve of the diaphragm ( as you may see most elegantly represented by dr. willis in the th table of his most elaborate book de anatomia cerebri ) which are not found in beasts . for , from this plenty and singular contexture of nerves , it may be conjectured , not only why the diaphragm doth so readily conform its motions to those of the praecordia , and of the animal spirits excited in passions of the mind , and cooperate with them ; but also why risibility is an affection proper only to man. for ( as the same most curious dr. willis reasoneth , in his chapter of the functions and uses of the intercostal pair of nerves ) when the imagination is affected with some pleasant and new conceipt , instantly there is caused a brisk and placid motion of the heart , as if it sprung up with joy to be alleviated or eased of its burden . wherefore that the blood may be the more speedily discharged out of the right ventricle of the heart into the lungs , and out of the left into the aorta or grand artery ; the diaphragm , being by abundance of animal spirits immitted through so many nerves proceeding from the aforesaid plexus , briskly agitated is by nimble contraction drawn upwards ; and so making many vibrations , doth at once raise up the lungs , and force them to expell the blood out of their vessels into the arteria venosa , and to explode the aire out of their pipes into the windpipe ; and this by frequent contractions of their lax and spongy substance , answerable in time and quickness to the vibrations of the midriff . and then because the same intercostal nerve , which communicateth with the nerve of the diaphragm below , is conjoyned above also with the nerves of the jaws and muscles of the face ; thence it is , that the motions of laughter being once begun in the brest , the face also is distorted into gestures or grimasces patheticaly correspondent thereunto . and this is the most probable account i am able at present to give of the occasions and motions of passionate laughter in general : nor can i at present think of any more plausible conjecture concerning the reason of the admirable laughter of ludovicus vives , than this ; that in him the nerves inservient to the motion of the midriff , might be after such a peculiar manner contrived and framed , as easily to cause quick and short reciprocations thereof , upon the pleasant affection of his imagination by the grateful relish of his meat , after long abstinence , which doth alwaies highten the pleasure of refection : but we have insisted too long upon the motions of ioy. in the contrary whereof , viz. grief or sorrow ( which we have above described to be an ingrateful languor of the soul , from a conception of evil present , moving her to contract herself , that she may avoid it ) the animal spirits are indeed recalled inward , but slowly and without violence : so that the blood being by degrees destitute of a sufficient influx of them , is trasmitted through the heart with too slow a motion . whence the pulse is rendered little , slow , rare , and weak ; and there is felt about the heart a certain oppressive strictness , as if the orifices of it were drawn together , with a manifest chilness congealing the blood , and communicating itself to the rest of the body . from which dejecting symptoms it is easy to collect , that this dolefull affection , especialy if it be vehement and of long continuance , cannot but infer many , and grievous incommodities to the whole body . for , besides this that it darkneth the spirits , and so dulls the wit , obscures the judgment , blunts the memory , and in a word beclouds the lucid part of the soul : it doth moreover incrassate the blood by refrigeration , and by that reason immoderately constringe the heart , cause the lamp of life to burn weakly and dimly , induce want of sleep by drying the brain , corrupt the nutritive juice , and convert it into that devil of a humor , melancholy . no wonder then if in men overcome with this so dismal passion , the countenance appears pale , wan and liveless ; the limbs grow heavy and indisposed to motion , the flesh decays and consumes through want of nourishment , and the whole body be precipated into imbecillity , cachexy or an evil habit , languishing and other cold and chronic diseases . all which the wisest of men , king salomon , hath summ'd up in few words in chap. of his proverbs , where he advertiseth , that a sorrowful spirit drieth up the very bones . and yet notwithstanding , it is very rarely found , that from grief either long and obstinate , or violent and suddainly invading , any man hath fallen into a swoon , or been suddenly extinguished . which i am apt to refer to this ; that in the ventricles of the heart , tho but very slowly commoved , there can hardly be so smale a quantity of blood , but it may suffice to keep alive the vital flame burning therein , when the orifices of them are almost closed , as commonly they are by immoderate grief . somtimes this bitter passion is signified by a certain uncomely distortion of the face , somwhat different from that of laughter , and acompanied with tears ; somtimes only by sighs : by sighs , when the grief is extreme : by tears , when it is but moderate . for as laughter never proceeds from great and profound joy , so neither doe tears flow from profound sorrow ; according to that of the tragedian , leves curae loquuntur , ingentes stupent . nor is weeping the pathognomonic or infallible sign of grief , for , all tears are not voluntary ; every light hurt or pain of the eyes causing them to distill against our will : nor all voluntary ones the effect of grief . some weep for sudden joy joyned with love , especialy old men : some when their revenge is suddainly frustrated by the repentance and submission of the offender ; and such are the tears of reconciliation . some again weep out of anger , when they meet with a repulse or check of their desires , which causing them with regret to reflect upon their own weakness and insufficiency to compass their wills , affects them with displeasure , and dissolves them into tears , as if they fell out with themselves upon a sudden sense of their own defect : and this kind of weeping is most familiar to children and women when they are crossed in their wills and expectation ; as also to revengefull men , upon their beholding of those whom they commisserate , and their want of power to help them . notwithstanding the occasions of weeping be thus various , yet since tears are frequently both an effect and testimony of sorrow , the nature and motions whereof we have now attempted to explain : it can be no impertinent digression , to inquire further into their original or sours , and the manner how they are made to flow , when we are willing to signify our present sorrow by shedding them . as for the fountain therefore whence all our tears flow , and the matter whereof they consist ; the succesful industry of modern anatomists hath discovered , that in the glandules placed at each corner of the eyes , there is either from the blood brought thither by the arteries ( as the vulgar doctrine is ) or ( as i , upon good reasons elswhere delivered , conceive ) from the nutritive juice brought by nerves , separated , and kept in store a certain thin , clear and watery humor , partly saline , partly subacid in tast ; the use whereof is aswell to keep the globes of the eyes moist and slippery , for their more easy motion ; as to serve for tears when we have occasion to shed them . and to this some have added , that because there are certain branches of nerves ( like the tendrels of a vine ) incircling the vessells leading to and from those glandules , and by their tension somtimes constringing them : therefore it is probable , that when the serous humor is too abundant in the blood brought into the brain , the same is by the arteries ( whose pulse is quickned somwhat by the pressure of these nerves ) brought more copiously than at other times , into those glandules , and after its separation , there detained from returning by the veins , that are likewise streightned by constriction of the same nerves . whether this ingenious conjecture be true or not ; certain it is , that the matter of tears is the same with the liquor of the lymphae-ducts , and that they flow from the aforesaid glandules , which are therefore named lacrymales . and as for the manner of their expression from thence in some passions of the mind ; the most rational account i have hitherto met with concerning it , is this . when any occasion of weeping occurrs , and affects the sensitive soul ; instantly the ventricles of the heart , with all the praecordia , are by the blood in abundance brought into them , more than usualy crowded and distended , and the lungs also stuffed and inflated , so that they cannot perform the action of respiration but by sobbs intermixed ; and the midriff , to give room to such distension of the heart and lungs , is pressed downward , with a more intense contraction alternately succeeding ; which great depression and brisk contraction being repeted , is the efficient cause of sobbing . and at the same time the air being with difficulty admitted into the lungs , by reason they and the midriff are so exceedingly distended , and with no less difficulty exploded again by the windpipe : thence comes that whining sound of crying and howling . to this affection of the vitals , the parts of the face also , being distorted into a sad and mournfull aspect , exactly correspond : because the nerves which contract the praecordia , have a communion of continuity , and cooperate with those which are inserted into the muscles of the face , and which compose it into the postures of weeping and laughter in passion . nor doth the disorder cease here , but extend itself to the upper region also , to the brain , where the spirits being put into confusion , and the arteries surcharged with too great an afflux of blood from the oppressed heart ; the palace of the soul itself is brought into danger of a purple deluge . for prevention whereof , the nerves incircling and binding the trunks of the arteries in many places , strongly constringe them ; so that the commotion of the blood is much repressed , the liquor thereof ( in the beginning of the passion highly rarefied ) suddainly condensed , and the serous part of it being put into a flux , is transmitted into the above mentioned glandules of the eyes , there placed and destined by nature to receive it . and then because these glandules are in like manner constringed , and as it were squeez'd by certain nerves that are of the same original and community with the pathetic nerves of the face and heart : the serous liquor is expressed out of them through their excretory channels leading to the corners of the eyes ( most accurrately described , with their uses , by that diligent anatomist nichol. steno , in a singular treatise ) and forced to distill in a shower of tears ; the strong contraction of the membranes investing the whole brain , concurring to that expression . the same may be said likewise of the shedding tears for ioy. for in suddain and great ioy conjoyned with admiration , the sensitive soul very much expanding herself , and diffusing the animal spirits ; the blood is sent from the heart in great abundance to the brain , so as to distend the vessels that contain it : which being soon after strongly contracted again by the same soul withdrawing herself inward , ( as if she feared a dissolution by so ample an effusion ) the blood is in a sort put into a flux or melted , and the serous part of it separated in the glandules of the eyes , and thence by constriction of the nerves squeezed forth in tears . this being supposed , it will not be difficult for us thence to infer , that infants and old men are indeed more prone to weep than those of middle age : but for divers reasons . old men for the most part weep out of love and ioy together ; because both these affections causing a great effusion of the sensitive soul , and consequently a large apertion of the orifices or sluices of the heart ; must therefore ( especialy where they are conjoyned ) cause also a transmission of the blood from thence to the brain in great abundance : and the blood being generaly more thin and diluted with serum in old men , must yield more matter for their tears . but infants commonly weep out of mere sorrow and vexation , such as is not accompanied with the least of love : because the contraction of the soul and nerves caused by sorrow , expresseth out of the blood ( which is alwaies abundant in children ) brought by the arteries to the brain , a sufficient quantity of serum to replenish the glandulae lachrymales , and supply the sourse of their tears . there remains yet that other sign of sorrow , which doth usually accompany it when it is profound and extreme ; and that is sighing ; the cause whereof is very much different from that of weeping , though both proceed from grief . for , the same occasion that moves us to shed tears , when our lungs are stuffed and distended with blood ; provokes us also to fetch deep sighs , when they are almost empty , and when some sudden imagination of hope or comfort opens the sluice of the arteria venosa in the lungs , which sorrow had lately contracted . for , then that little blood that remained in the lungs , in a moment passing down through that pipe into the left ventricle of the heart ; the ambient aire instantly rusheth by the mouth into the lungs , to replenish that place the blood had left free : and this great and quick repletion of the lungs with aire , is what we call sighing . you have now heard what conjectures seem to me most consentaneous to reason and anatomical observations , concerning the corporeal motions excited in those two eminent passions , joy and sorrow , with their usual adjuncts , laughter and weeping : be pleas'd to hear also a few words touching the more violent motions proper to anger , which i have promised next to consider . that the effects of this most vehement commotion of the sensitive soul are various , not only as the occasion or injury is conceived to be greater or less ; but also according to the various temperaments of persons , and to the diversity of other passions conjoyned therewith : is obvious to common observation , and we have already hinted . and from this variety it is , that men have distinguished anger into harmless and dangerous , or simple heat of blood , and thirst after revenge : assigning moreover to each sort its proper signs or characters observable in the outward parts of the body , and especially in the face . for some when they are angry , look pale , or tremble ; others grow red , or weep : and the vulgar judgeth the passion of the first sort to be much more dangerous , than that of the other . whereof the reason may be this ; that when we either will not , or cannot shew our resentments , and revenge otherwise than by our change of countenance , and by words ; we then put forth all our heat , and exert all our force at the very beginning of the commotion ; so that the blood being in this sudden effort copiously effused from the heart into the face . and there detained a while by constriction of the veines by those branches of the fifth pair of nerves that are inserted into the muscles of that part ; we are forced to appear in the scarlet livery of shame , that is , to blush out of indignation and regret or grief at the unworthy affront . and sometimes the first emotion of desire to vindicate our selves , together with commiseration of our own want of power to revenge more effectually , causeth us also to shed tears . but they who on the contrary , reserve themselves for , and strongly resolve upon revenge in time to come , grow deeply sad and pensive at the present ; as conceiving themselves thereunto obliged by the nature of the injury done to them , and casting about in their thoughts how to accomplish their revenge : and all this while the sensitive soul persisting in her contraction and revocation of the spirits inwards , there is no extraordinary , nay but little diffusion of the blood outwards . and sometimes they also fear the evils that may ensue from the revenge they intend ; which strikes them into paleness , shivering and trembling : the sensitive soul being then distracted betwixt the contrary motions of desire of revenge , and of fear of the ill consequents thereof ; like a sea beaten by two contrary winds . yet after this first conflict is over , when they come to execute their revenge , then fear giving place to rage , they soon grow the more inflamed and daring , by how much the colder they were during their deliberation : as in fevers that invade with cold and shivering , the following heats are alwayes most ardent and unquenchable . you see then how the motions , and consequently the efforts and effects of this violent passion may be diversified even by diversity of other affections conjoyned therewith . for in the harmless and blushing or weeping anger , there is alwayes a mixture of shame and self-pity ; which by allaying the desire of revenge , helpeth much to check and moderate the commotion of the blood ; and therefore such anger seldom lasteth long , and is more easily composed : when on the other side , in the pale and trembling , but dangerous anger , there is first deep indignation , then fear , and at last furious persuit of revenge ; by which the blood being most violently agitated , and the sulphureous parts of it all kindled into a flame , is not to be calmed and reduced to temper , unless by the pleasure of revenge , or by triumph in the submission of the enemy , or by the cold damp of repentance . for prevention of which most bitter passion , by moderating our anger ; i think my self in charity obliged to conclude this argument with an excellent moral remark of monsieur des cartes . although the passion of anger be in itself usefull , in that it inspires us with vigour and courage necessary to repell injuries : yet the excesses of no other passion are with greater care and caution to be shunned . because by perturbing our judgment , they often induce us into those errors , whereof we ought afterward dearly to repent : yea somtimes they hinder us from repelling injuries so safely and honourably , as otherwise we might , if we were less commoved . but as nothing doth more increase the flame of anger , than pride : so ( i am perswaded ) nothing can more abate and restrain the excesses of it , than true generosity . because while generosity makes us to have but little value for all things that may be taken from us ; and on the other side , to prize above all temporal things , our liberty and empire over ourselves , which is lost when we are capable to be hurt by an other : it makes us with contempt alone , or at most with indignation to revenge those injuries , with which weaker minds are wont to be offended . ¶ being now at length arrived at the end of this my divertising exercise , wherein i proposed to my self to inquire into the occasions , causes , differences , motions and effects of the most powerfull and remarkable of all the passions , by which the mind of man is apt to be perturbed ; so far as my weak understanding assisted by reading and meditation would permit : before i lay aside my pen , i find it requisite to advertise you briefly of two things , one whereof may conduce to your more easy comprehension of what i have hitherto delivered concerning the more general differences of the passions ; the other may serve to my exemption from the censure of the illiterate . the first is , that of all the passions recounted and described in this impolite discourse , there are only six that seem to be simple and principal , namely admiration , love , hatred , desire , ioy and grief ; which are therefore said to be simple , because they consist of only one single act or commotion of the sensitive soul disturbed with the apprehension of things whether real or imaginary . for , as to all the rest ; either they are but various species of those simple ones , or they result from divers mixtures and combinations of them ; being therefore named mixt passions , because they consist of more than one act or motion . if therefore i have chiefly considered the nature , motions , and principal effects of the six simple or primitive passions ; contenting myself only with a brief genealogy of the compound or derivative , as sufficient to direct your cogitations to the various mixed commotions whence they result : it was only lest i might abuse your patience by undecent repetitions , or oppress your mind with too great multiplicity of particulars , which is none of the least impediments of science . the other is , that notwithstanding the excellency , and singular vtility of the argument whereof i have treated in this discourse ; yet seeing my design in composing it , hath been partly to render my present solitude less tedious to my self , and chiefly to give you some testimony that i convert not my leisure into idleness : you ought not to frustrate my confidence of your secrecy , or to expose my defects , by communicating these papers to others . not to philosophers , least they find nothing new in them but my lapses . not to the vnlearned , because they are incompetent judges of truth or error , especially in such philosophical enquiries ; more addicted to barbarous contempt of knowledge in others , than to confess ignorance in themselves . to these therefore ( you may be most assured ) i am not ambitious you should recommend this treatise , wherein is contained nothing that can either please , or reform them . i know it is no less difficult to teach them the art of regulating their exorbitant passions , than it is to bring them to prefer the severe dictates of reason , to the flattering suggestions of sense ; or to convince them , that realy nothing is pleasant , but what is also honest ; nothing very desireable , but the right use of their freedom of will ; nothing formidable , but the evil they themselves commit . i know , that in the vulgar , religion is fear ; constancy , bruitish obstinacy ; zeal , pride ; friendship , interest ; and virtue itself but dissimulation . i know also , that the multitude is not led by merit , but carried headlong by prejudice , to praise or dispraise : and that they are more propens to malignity and detraction , than to charity and candor . the vulgar then , and all that herd with them , i exclude from my studies ; lest by perversely interpreting them ( as they do all things ) they should interrupt my tranquility , which i value infinitely above their favour , and wherein i endeavour to find a happiness , which neither their hatred , nor the iniquity of fortune shall take from me . that i may find this the sooner , i now and then entertain myself with serious reflections upon my own defects , as the only impediments that have hitherto hindered me from attaining unto it : and among the rest , i hold my mind longest fixed on this following meditation : which i therefore freely impart to you who are my friend , both because i think it may be of equal use to you also , by helping you to moderate your affections to the transitory things of this shadow of life ; and because the precedent discourse will perhaps be somwhat the less imperfect , after it hath received so pertinent a conclvsion . that all the good and evil of this life depends upon the various passions incident to the mind of man ; i need no other document than my own dearly bought experience : which hath too often convinced me , that while i out of weakness suffered my self to be seduced and transported by the ardor and excesses of my affections , i have fallen into errors , that have more dejected my spirit , than a long succession of infortunes could ever doe ; and from whence i could not expect better fruit , than that of shame , sorrow and repentance . notwithstanding this , i ought not to be so unjust , so ingrateful to nature , as to transfer the blame of such errors upon her ; as if she had been less careful than she might have been , to secure man from infelicity : only because she thought fit to make him obnoxious to so great a multitude of inward perturbations . no , i ought rather to remember , that among all of them , there is no one but hath its vse , and that a good one too : provided we rightly imploy the forces nature hath given us , to keep it within the bounds of moderation . and it may suffice to natures vindication , that reason obligeth me to acknowledge , that her design in instituting our passions , was in the general this ; that they might dispose and incite the soul to affect and desire those things , which nature by secret dictates teacheth to be good and profitable to her ; and to persist in that desire : as the same commotion of the spirits that is requisite to produce them , doth dispose the parts of the body also to those motions that serve to the execution of her will. and hence doubtless it is , that they who are naturaly most apt to be moved by passions , have this advantage above others of duller and grosser constitutions , that they may ( if they will ) tast more of the pleasures belonging to the sensitive soul : but then again they are likewise thereby more exposed to drink of the gall and wormwood of pain and remorse , when they know not how to regulate their passions , and when adverse fortune invades them . i am confirmed then , that because man is constituted propens to passions , he is not therefore the less perfect , but rather the more capable of pleasure from the right use of the good things of this life : and by consequence , that nature by making him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , hath therein signalized both her wisedom and indulgence . but had he not been more perfect , if it had pleased his creator to endow him moreover with such excellency above all other animals , as might have secured him from committing errors through the violent instigation of his passions , whenever they should incite him to desire and persue things not realy , but onely apparently good for him ? certainly no. for it is not only impious , but highly absurd , to imagine that god can be author of our errors , because he hath not given to us an understanding omniscious : for it is of the formal reason of a created intellect , that it be finite ; and of a finite intellect , that it extend not itself to all things . but that man should have a will unconfined or extensible to all things , this indeed is convenient to his nature : and it is a transcendent perfection in him , that he can and doth act by his own will , that is freely ; and so is , by a peculiar prerogative , author of his own actions , and may deserve praise and reward for them . for no man praiseth a watch , or any other self-moving engine made by art , for performing the motions thereby designed ; because those motions necessarily result from the figure and construction of its parts : but the artist himself deserves praise , because he framed the engine not by necessity or compulsion , but freely . so we by the same reason deserve the more by well doing , that is by embracing truth , because we do it voluntary or by election ; than we should , if we could not but do it . when therefore we fall into errors , occasioned by our passions ; the defect lieth in our own act , or in the use of our liberty , not in our nature : for that is the same when we make an erroneous judgement of things represented to us , as it is when we make a right judgment . and although almighty god might , if he had thought good , have given so great perspicacity to our understanding , as that we could never have been deceived : yet by what right can we require that privilege from him ? true it is ( i confess ) that among us men , if any hath power to hinder this or that evil , and yet doth not hinder it ; we accuse him as cause of it : and justly too , because the power that men have one over others , was instituted , and committed to them to that end , that they should use it to the restraining of others from evil . but there is not the same reason why we should think god to be author of our errors , only because it was in his power to have prevented them , by making us superior to deception : for the power that god hath of right over all men , is most soveraign , most absolute , most free . and therefore we are obliged to ascribe to his divine majesty , all possible praise and thanks for the good gifts he hath out of his infinite benignity been pleased to bestow upon us his creatures : but we have no pretext of right to complain , because he hath not conferred upon us all things that we conceive he might . besides , although the intellect of man be not omniscious ; yet is it not so narrow , so limited , as not to extend to the conduct of his unlimited will , in the election of good , and avoidance of evil ; and consequently to his exemption from error by the violence of his passions . for , first , by virtue of his understanding , man is capable of wisedom , which is alone able to teach him how to subdue and govern all his affections , and how to dispense them with such dexterity , as not only to make all the evils they produce , easily tollerable , but even to reap internal satisfaction and joy from all . and secondly , it is evident from the very nature of our passions , that they cannot carry us on to any actions whatsoever , but only by the desire they excite in us : and therefore if we can but direct that desire to right objects , that is to things realy good ; we may by that alone prevent our being deceived , that is our being carried to evil actions by violence of our passions : but that right reason is of itself able so to direct our desire arising from passions , is manifest from the known utility of moral philosophy , which prescribeth certain rules to that end . i will conclude then , that i commit errors in passion , not because i am naturaly prone to passions , nor because i want an omniscious understanding : but only because i make not a right use of that finite indeed , yet sufficient vnderstanding god hath given me , in the conduct of that cupidity my passions excite in me . that i may therefore be henceforth better able to make use of my understanding as i ought , in such occasions ; it highly concerneth me to enquire in the next place , into the origin of that error , to which the cupidity accompanying our passions , doth most frequently expose us : for , that being once known , will be the more easily avoidable . this error then doth arise ( if i mistake not ) from hence ; that we do not sufficiently distinguish those things that depend intirely upon ourselves , from those that depend upon others , as to their events : it being a general rule , that desire is alwaies good , when grounded upon certain knowledge ; and on the contrary alwaies evil , when founded upon some error . now as to things that depend upon ourselves alone , that is upon our free-will ; to know them to be good , is sufficient to assure us we cannot desire them too fervently : because to doe good things that depend upon ourselves , is to pursue virtue , which cannot be too fervently desired , nor can the event of our desire of such things possibly be unhappy , because from the conscience that by desiring them we have rightly used the freedom of our will , we receive all the satisfaction we expected . but alass ! the error that is too commonly committed in such cases , lieth not in the over fervent , but in the overcold desire . and the best remedy against this defect , is to free the mind as much as is possible , from all other desires less profitable ; and then to endeavour clearly to understand , and with due attention to examine the goodness of the thing that is represented as worthy to be desired . as for the things that are altogether independent upon vs ; however good they may be , yet we are never to desire them vehemently : not only because t is possible they may never arrive , and so vex and torment the mind so much the more bitterly , by how much the more eagerly they have been desired ; but chiefly because by preoccupating our thoughts , they withdraw our study from other things whereof the acquisition depends upon ourselves . and against these vain desires there are two general remedies ; whereof the first is true generosity ; the other , a firm belief of , and tranquill dependence upon providence divine . for , that noble and heroic habit of the mind , which is called generosity , and which seems to comprehend all other virtues ; though it animateth men to great and honorable enterprises , doth yet at the same time restrain them from attempting things which they conceive themselves incapable to effect ; inspiring courage , not temerity . then by teaching , that nothing is either more worthy of , or more delightful to a spirit elevated by the love of virtue , above the vulgar , that to doe good to others ; and in order thereunto , to prefer beneficence to self-interest : it makes us perfectly charitable , benign , affable , and ready to oblige every one by good offices , when it is in our power so to do . again , being inseparable from virtuous humility , it makes us both to measure our own merits by the impartial rule of right reason , and to know that we can have no just right to praise or reward , but from the genuin and lau●●ble use of the freedom of our ▪ will. and from these and other the like excellent effects of this divine virtue , it is that the generous attain to an absolute dominion over their exorbitant passions and desires . they conquer iealousie and envy , by considering , that nothing whereof the acquisition depends not wholy upon themselves , is realy valuable enough to justify their earnest desire of it . they exempt themselves from hatred towards any , by esteeming all as worthy of love as themselves . they admit no fear , by being duely conscious of their own innocency , and secure in the confidence of their own virtue . they banish grief , by remembring that while they conserve their will to doe good , they can be deprived of nothing that is properly theirs . and anger they exclude , because little esteeming whatsoever depends upon others , they never yeeld so much to their adversaries , as to acknowledge themselves within the reach of their injuries . it is not then without reason , that i fix upon generosity , as one of the universal remedies against our inordinate cupidities . and as for the other , namely frequent reflection upon providence divine ; this doubtless must likewise be of soveraign efficacy to preserve us from all distempers of mind . for , it establish us in a certain perswasion , that it is absolutely impossible that any thing should come to pass otherwise than this providence hath from all eternity determined : and consequently , that fortune is but a chimera , hatch'd in the brain out of an error of human understanding , and nourished by popular superstition . for , we cannot desire any thing , unless we first think the same to be some way or other possible : nor can we think those things to be possible , that depend not upon us , unless so far as we imagine them to depend upon fortune , and that the like have hapned in times past . but this opinion proceeds only from hence , that we know not all the causes that concurr to single effects . for , when a thing that we have apprehended to depend upon fortune , and so to be possible , succeeds not : that is a certain sign , that some one of the causes necessary to make it succeed or come to pass , hath been wanting ; and consequently , that the same was absolutely impossible ; as also that the like event , that is such a one to the production whereof the like necessary cause was wanting , hath never come to pass . so that had we not been ignorant of that deficient cause , we never had thought that event to be possible , nor by consequence ever desired it . we are therefore utterly to renounce that vulgar absurdity , that there is in the world a certain power called fortune , that makes things to happen or not to hapen as she pleaseth : and in the ●oom thereof to establish this great verity , that all things are directed by divine providence , whose decree is so infallible and immutable , that excepting those things which the same decree hath left to depend upon our will , we ought to think , that in respect of vs , nothing doth or can come to pass , that is not necessary , and in some measure fatal : so that we cannot without error desire any thing should come to pass otherwise than it doth . but forasmuch as our desires for the most part extend to things that depend neither wholy upon us , nor wholy upon others : therefore we ought in them to distinguish exactly what dependeth intirely upon ourselves , that so we may extend our desires to that alone . and as for the rest ; though we ought to look upon the success as fatal and immutable , lest we place our desire thereupon : yet ought we also seriously to weigh and consider the reasons that suggest more or less hope , that they may serve to direct our actions accordingly . for reason requires we should follow the more probable and safe way to our end : and when we have done so ; whatever the event be , we ought contentedly to acquiesce in this , that we have done what our vnderstanding judged to be best . and truely when we have learned thus to distinguish providence divine from fortune , we shall easily acquire a habit of directing our desires in such a manner , that because the accomplishment of them depends upon ourselves only , they may alwaies afford us full satisfaction . but doe we not here intangle ourselves in great difficulties , by endevoring thus to reconcile this eternal preordination of god , to the liberty of our will ? we doe , i confess ; but conceive withall , that we may disentangle ourselves again , by remembring , that our vnderstanding is finite , but the power of god by which he hath from eternity not only foreknown all things that are or can possibly be , but also willed and preordained them so to be , is infinite : and then that it is enough for us , clearly and distinctly to know that this infinite power is essentialy in god ; but too much for us so to comprehend the same , as to see in what manner it leaveth the actions of men undermined and free . for of the liberty or indifferency that is in us , we are all so conscious within ourselves , that there is nothing we can comprehend more evidently , more perfectly . and it were absurd , because we cannot comprehend one thing which we know to be of its own nature incomprehensible to us ; therefore to doubt of another which we do intimately comprehend , and by daily experience find to be in ourselves . again , since we thus know most certainly , that all our errors depend upon our will ; is it not wonderfully strange that we are ever deceived , when no man is willing to be deceived ▪ 't is so indeed ; but nevertheless the problem seems capable of solution by considering , that it is one thing to be willing to be deceived , and another to be willing to give assent to those things wherein it hapens that error is found . and though there be no man , who is expresly willing to be deceived : yet there is scarcely any , who is not often willing to assent to those things wherein error is , unknown to him , contained . yea it often falls out ; that the very desire of attaining to truth , causeth those who do not rightly know by what way it is to be attained , to give judgment of things they do not clearly perceive , and so to err . so that the summe of all this perplex and intricate matter is this , that error ariseth from our assent to things whose truth or falsity , good or evil , we have not clearly and distinctly discerned . for , since god cannot without impious absurdity be imagined to be author of deceipt , the faculty he hath given us of perceiving and discerning , cannot naturaly tend to falsity : as neither can our faculty of assenting , that is our will , when it extends itself only to those things that are clearly perceived . whence it follows , that to direct our desires aright , our main business must be to imploy our vnderstanding or faculty of discerning , strictly and attentively to examine and consider the goodness of the objects , before we determin our will upon them : wherein doth chiefly consist the use of all moral wisedom , and whereupon great part of our temporal felicity dependeth . but do not i here propose a lesson very hard to human frailty to learn ? is it not extremely difficult thus accurrately and calmly to examine things , when the imagination is vehemently commoved by the object of some more violent passion , and the judgment strongly surprised ? i acknowledge it to be difficult indeed : but this difficulty hath its proper remedy , namely premeditation and deliberation . i find in myself ( and so do all men , i believe ) that the motions raised in my blood by the objects of my affections , doe so promptly follow upon the first impressions made by them in my brain , and from the mechanical disposition of the organs of my body , though my soul contribute nothing toward their advancement , but continues indifferent ; that all the wisedom i can call to my assistance , is not sufficient to resist and arrest them . and others there are , i know , who being naturaly propens to the commotions of joy , or of commiseration , or terror , or anger ; have not the power to refrain themselves from swooning , or tears , or trembling , or heat of blood , whenever their phansy is vehemently assaulted by objects apt to excite those passions . nay , as if all mankind were equaly subject to the same defect , it is held for a maxim , that the firs● motions of our passions are not in our power . and yet notwithstanding , this so universal defect is not incurable by premeditation and care . when therefore we first feel any such strong commotion of our blood , we ought to be premonished and to remember , that all things that offer themselves to the imagination , respect only the deception of the reasonable soul , and to perswade her that the reasons which serve to recommend the object of her passion , are far more firm and considerable than in reality they are : and on the contrary , that those which serve to discommend it , are much weaker and less considerable than in truth they are . and when passion comes at length to perswade us to do those things whose execution admits of any the least pause or delay : we must remember to abstain from giving judgment concerning them , much less assent to them , and to avert our cogitations to other things , untill time and quiet have wholy composed the commotion in our blood . finaly , when heat of passion inciteth us to actions that allow little or no time for counsel or deliberation ; in this case we are to convert our will chiefly upon following those reasons that are contrary to what that passion suggesteth , although they appear less valid . so when an enemy invades us unexpectedly , that suddain occasion permits us not to take time for deliberation whether of the three is best , to resist , to submit , or to fly . here therefore , when we feel ourselves surprised with fear ; we should endeavor to avert our thoughts from the considerat●on of the danger , and fix them upon the reasons for which there is greater security and honor in resistence than in flight : and on the contrary , when we perceive ourselves to be by anger and desire of revenge provoked to rush turiously upon him who assaults us ; we must remember to think , that it is great imprudence to precipitate ones self into manifest danger , when safety may be obtained without infamy : and where we are inferior to the aggressor in point of strength , there we are likewise to consider , that it is better to retreat honorably , or to consent to terms of submission , than like a wild beast to expose ourselves to certain death . this therefore i ought to prescribe to my self , as a third pancreston or vniversal antidote against the incommodities impendent from passions ; viz. to give myself time for deliberation , where the occasion will allow it : and where it will not , there to convert my thought chiefly upon the reasons that contradict the suggestions of my passion : and alwaies to remember that the reasons that offer themselves to recommend the object of my passion , are not realy so valid and considerable , as my imagination represents them to be . nor doth this counsel seem difficult to be put in practise , especialy by considerate men and such who are wont to make serious reflections upon their actions . but what need i thus perplex my thoughts in searching for medicins to mitigate the violence of passions , when there is one singular remedy infallibly sufficient to secure us from all the evils they can possibly occasion , and that is the constant exercise of vertue ? for , seeing that the internal commotions of the reasonable soul touch us more neerly , and by consequence are much more prevalent over us , than the affections of the sensitive , which though different from , are yet many times conjoyned with them : most certain it is , that all the tumults raised in the sensitive , have no power to perturb the tranquillity of her superior , the rational , provided she have reason to be in peace and content within herself ; but serve rather to augment her joy , by giving her occasions to know and delight in her own perfection , as often as she finds herself much above any the least discomposure or disturbance from them . and that she may be thus content within herself , she need do no more but intirely addict herself to the love and persuit of virtue . for , whoever hath so lived , that his conscience cannot accuse him of ever neglecting to do those things which he judged to be best ( which is exactly to follow the conduct of virtue ) this man doth from thence receive that intellectual joy and satisfaction , which is of such soveraign power to make him happy , that the most violent commotions of his affections can never be of force enough to perturb the tranquility of his soul ; and which being the summum bonum of human life , is not to be attained ( as seneca from his oracle epicurus most judiciously observes , epist. . ) nisi ex bona conscientia , ex honestis consiliis , ex rectis actionibus , ex contemptu fortuitorum , ex placido vitae ac continuo tenore unam prementis viam . nor is there indeed any other internal satisfaction or joy belonging to the rational soul , but what she thus formeth to herself out of herself ; and what can therefore be no more interrupted than she can be destroyed : the assurance whereof made the fame seneca say ( epist. . ) sola virtus praestat gaudium perpetuum , securum : etiam si quid obstat , nubium modo intervenit , quae infra feruntur , nec unquam diem vincunt . and these , my dear friend , are some of those philosophical considerations upon which i sometimes reflect ( as i lately told you ) as universal and efficacious remedies against vain desires suggested by our passions , and the various evils to which they usualy expose us . which now you have with so great patience heard ; 't is fit i should gratefully resign you to a more profitable conversation with your own thoughts , which i know to be for the most part imployed in the study of things noble and worthy your excellent wit. but first , lest you should think i do it somwhat abruptly , and by omitting to prescribe also special preservatives proper to the excesses of each particular affection , end this discourse before i have finished it : suffer me in a word to advertise you , that i make this omission , not from incogitancy , nor out of weariness , but only for your greater benefit . for , being of opinion , that the ethicks of epicurus are ( after holy writ ) the best dispensatory i have hitherto read , of natural medicines for all distempers incident to the mind of man : i conceive , i may do you better service by recommending that book to your serious perusal , than by writing less accurately of the same most weighty argument . this therefore i now do ; not doubting but that in the morals of that grave and profound philosopher , you will find as good precepts for the moderating your passions , as human wisedom can give . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e article . first supposition , that a sensitive soul is corporeal . art. . two reasons of that supposition . art. . second supposition , that the substance of a sensitive soul is fiery . art. . because life is s●ated principaly in the blood ; and can no more than fire subsist without perpetual aliment and ventilation● art. . because it seems to be first formed of the most spiritual particles of the same seminal matter , of which the body it self is made . art. . a sensitive soul imagined to be of the same figure also with the body wherein it is contained . art. . that the existence of a sensitive soul doth , as that of flame , depend intirely upon motion . art. . that the first operation of a sensitive soul , is the formation of the body , according to the modell preordained by nature . art. . a recapitulation of the premises . art. . the faculties and organs of a sensitive soul , reciprocaly inservient each to other . art. . a two fold desire or inclination congenial to a sensitive soul ; viz. of self preservation , and propagation of her kind . art. . to what various mutations and irregular commotions a sensitive soul is subject from her own passions ▪ art. . from the temperament and diseases of the body . art. . from various imp●essions of s●●sible object● , and exorbitant motions of the animal spirits . art. . the various gestures of a sensi●ive soul , respective to the impressions of external objects variously affecting her . art. . an enquiry concerning the knowledge whereby brutes are directed ●● actions vol●ntary . art. . the knowledge of brutes , either innate or acquired . art. . that brutes are directed only by natural instinct , in all actions that conduce either to their own preservation , or to the propagation of their species : not by reason . art. . nor material necessity . notes for div a -e art̄ . . the excellency of a rational soul. art. . manifest from her proper objects . art. . and acts. art. ▪ life and sense depend not on the the rational soul of man. art. . and therefore he 〈◊〉 to have also a sensitive soul. art. . that there are in every individual man two distinct souls coexistent , argued from the civil warr observed betwixt them . art. . the causes of that warr . art. . wherein somtimes the sensitive appetite prevails . art. . and sometimes the rational . art . that the rational soul is created ▪ immediately by god. art. . the resemblance betwixt father and son , imputed to the sensitive soul. art. . the rational soul seated in that part of the brain which serves to imagination . art. . and there connexed to the sensitive by the will of her creator . art. . where how she exerciseth her faculty of judging of the images of things formed in the imagination , seems to be inexplicable . notes for div a -e art. ▪ a two-fold state of the sensitive soul. viz. of tranquillity . art. . and perturbation . art. . the first , most observable in sleep , and when objects appear indifferent . art. . the other , manifest in all passion . art. . that in the state of perturbation , the sensitive soul va●●●th her gestures , by contraction or expansion . art. . we are not moved to passion , by good or evil , but only when we conceive the same to concern our selves in particular . art. . all passions distinguished into physical , metaphysical , and moral . art. . what are passions physical . art. . what metaphysical . art. . and what moral . art. . all passions referred to pleasure or pain . art. . and all their motions , to contraction and eff art. . wherein consist pleasure and displeasure of sense . art. . a rehearsal of the heads handled in this section . notes for div a -e art. . why men have not been able to observe all passions incident to the sensitive soul. art. . the passions best distinguished by having respect to the circumstances of time. art. . admiration . art. . which causeth no commotion in the heart and blood . art. . and yet is dangerous , when immoderate . art . estimation and contempt . art. . both consequents of admiration . art. . that there is no just cause for a man to have a high value for himself but the right use of his free-will . art . pride . art. . humility ▪ virtuous ▪ art . vicious or dejection of spirit . art. . shame and impudence ▪ art. . that pride and its contrary , abjectness of spirit , are notonly vices but passions also . art. . love and hatred . art. . defined . art. . love , not well distinguished into benevolence and concupiscence . art. . but by the various degrees of e●●imation . art. . that there are not so many distinct sorts of love , as of objects to excite it . art . hatred less various than love. art. . desire , alwaies a consequent of love. art. . but not alwayes concomitant of it . art. . the motions of the soul and spirits in love , and their symtoms . art. . the motions of the soul and spirits in desire . art. . the motions of the spirits and blood in hatred . art. . hate alwaies accompanied ▪ with sadness art. . hope and fear . art. . pusillanimity and courage . art. . emulation , a species of magnanimity . art. ●● . confidence ▪ and despair . art. ▪ doubting . art. ▪ remorse and acquiescence art. . ▪ the motions of the soul and spirits in hope . art. . the motions of the soul and spirits in fear . art. . the motions in desperation . art. . joy. art. . the various degrees of ioy and their names . art . the various degrees of grief , and their names . art. . envy and pitty . art. . generous men most inclined to commiseration ; and why . art. . commiseration , a species of grief mixed with benevolence . art. ▪ envy , a sort of grief mixed with hate . art. . acquiescence of mind , a kind of ioy. art. . repentance , a species of grief , but allayd with somthing of ioy. 〈◊〉 . ●avour . 〈◊〉 . gratitude . art. . indignation . art. . anger . art. . two sorts of anger ; one , harmless the other revengefull . art. . glory and shame . art. . the motions of the soul and spirits i● ioy. art . laughter . art. . the occasions of laughter . art . laughter out of indignation . art. ● . a rare example of involuntary laughter . art. . a conjecture concerning the cause thereof . art. . the motions and effects of sorrow . art. . sighs and tears . art. . whence tears flow . art. . how they are expressed . art. . the reason of weeping for ioy. art. . why infants and old men are more 〈◊〉 prone than others to shed tears . art. . the reason of sighing and sobbing . art. . the motions and symptoms of anger . art. . ●xcess of anger , to be avoided ; and that chiefly by the help of true generosity . art. . that of all the passions hitherto considered , only six are simple ; the rest mixed . art. . reasons against publication of this discourse . notes for div a -e art. . that all the good and evil of this life depends upon the passions : art . which yet were instituted by nature as incitements to the soul. art. . that we are prone to errors , not from want of an omniscious understanding : art. . but from our ill use of that understanding we have , in the conduct of our desires suggested by passions . art. . that all errors to which the desires excited by our passions , expose us , arise from hence , that we doe not sufficiently distinguish things that depend intirely upon ourselves , from those that depend upon others . art. . and that they may be prevented by two general remedies , viz. generosity . art. . and frequent reflections upon providence divine . art. . which utterly excludeth fortune , but leaveth us at liberty to direct our desires . art. . how we may expedite our selves from the difficulties that seem to make the decree of divine providence irreconcileable to the liberty of our will. art. . how it comes that we are often deceived by our will ▪ though we are never deceived with ou● will. art. . a third general remedy against error occasioned by inordinate passions , viz. premeditation and deliberation . art. . a fourth universal remedy , viz. the constant exercise of vertue . art. . the study of epicurus's morals recommended the use of passions written in french by j.f. senault ; and put into english by henry, earl of monmouth. de l'usage des passions. english senault, jean-françois, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : - (eebo-tcp phase ). a wing s estc r ocm this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons . universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) the use of passions written in french by j.f. senault ; and put into english by henry, earl of monmouth. de l'usage des passions. english senault, jean-françois, - . monmouth, henry carey, earl of, - . [ ], [i.e. ] p. : ill. printed by w.g. for john sims ..., london : . added engraved t.p. translation of: de l'usage des passions. many pages are tightly bound in the filmed copy. pages - photographed from newberry library copy and inserted at the end. reproduction of original in huntington library. marginal notes. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng emotions -- early works to . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - rina kor sampled and proofread - rina kor text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion henricus dom. cary baro. de loppington com de . monmovth the vse of passions written in french by j. f. senault . and put into english by henry earle of monmouth● ● passions araing'd by reason here you see , as shee 's advis'd therein by grace divine : but this ( yowll say ) 's but in effigie ! peruse this booke , and you in ev'ry line thereof will finde this truth so prov'd , that yow must reason contradict , or grant it true. the use of passions . written in french by i. f. senault . and put into english by henry earl of monmovth . london , printed by w. g. for iohn sims at the kings-head at sweetings-alley end , next house to the royal exchange in cornhil , . the authors dedication of his work to our saviour jesus christ. it is not without reason ( adored jesus ) that i offer up unto thee this work , wherein i endevor to teach thy servants how to use their passions : for to boot , that all our thoughts are due unto thee , because thou art the eternal thought of the father , and that whatsoever our soul produceth , are as so many images of thine ; this belongs to thee by a double title , and cannot without some sort of injustice , be dedicated to any other than thee . passions , in that state whereunto they are brought by sin , are monsters which ought to be immolated upon thy altars ; this sacrifice succeeds those of the old testament . as thou delightest in receiving a heart struck through with sorrow , and consumed with love , so dost thou with joy receive such passions as grace and reason do consecrate unto thee ; neither dost thou despise the motions of our soul , when they are enlightned by faith , and inanimated by charity ; thou art well pleased , that being priests and victimes for thy glory , as thou hast been for our salvation , we find some feelings in ourselves , which we may immolate unto thee ; that in obedience to thy just laws , we sacrifice unto thee our love , and our desires ; and that courageously suffocating our anger , and our hatred , we appease thy iustice by the death of a part of our selves . thou likewise dost permit , that without shedding the blood of these savage beasts , we tame them , to make them serviceable to thy designes ; and that we employ our hopes and fears to overcome vice , and acquire virtue . but assuredly , we cannot undertake this combat , nor hope for victory therein , without thy assistance ; for passions hold of thy empire : and since these slaves are become rebels , they are only to be reduced by thy grace . thou , by thy eternal birth , art the primitive reason ; and the same term which we make use of in all languages , to express thy personal proprieties , teacheth us , that thou art as well the reason , as the word of thy father : to thee it belongeth to regulate all the passions ; and if wise men have any command over theirs , 't is for that their reason flows from thine : they are only wise , in that they are reasonable ; and they are reasonable only , in that they have the honour to be thy images : grace it self , whence the strength and light of thy saints do derive , flows from thy divine person : those great ones are not only gods , but sons of god , they bear thy character in their souls ; and the father , who looks upon them as thy brethren , loves them as his children . this divine quality makes them triumph over their passions ; they owe all their victories to thy alliance ; and if they tame the motions of their souls , 't is because they have the honour to unite , as thou dost , reason and grace in their personages , and to be by priviledge , that which thou art by nature . thy actions , since thou hast vouchsafed to become man , serve us for instructions ; and we find examples in thy life , which we may securely imitate . before thy temporal birth , we had no model which was not imperfect : virtue and vice were intermingled in all men ; and the greatest saints did no good works , which were not accompanied with some defects . their passions out-ran their wisdom ; the first motions of them were so sudden and so violent , that they could neither foresee them , nor hinder them : when they were once up , and that reason gathering her forces together , gave them battel ; these rebels joyned insolence to fury , and argued authority with their soveraign . thus thy faithfullest servants needed forgiveness in the war , which they made against their passions ; and it behoved thy goodness to give light to illuminate these blind men , wisdom to conduct these giddy-headed people , and fortitude to overcome these rebels . but in thy sacred person , passions have no defect : these wild beasts are tamed , these troublesom seas are always calm , these revolted subjects are alwayes obedient , and by a miracle , as rare as illustrious , these enemies of our reason , do always agree with thine : they raised themselves when thou ordainedst them so to do , their first motions were in thy power , they waited thy leave to be troubled : sorrow seized not on thy heart , tears distilled not from thine eyes ; and red-hu'd anger , or pale fear appeared not in thy face , before thy will , which ruled all their motions , had given them permission . they were so well instructed in all thy designes , as they seemed to be indued with reason ; and reason found such obedience in the inferior part of thy soul , that no clouds were gathered together there , which she her self had not there formed . in the world tempests are raised from the lower elements : thunder-claps , which make so hideous a noise in the clouds , take their original from the valleys or the rivers ; and all those storms that trouble the clearness of the ayr , proceed from vapors of the sea , or exhalations of the earth : in men that are composed of mud and dirt , their passions arise from their bodies ; their revolts proceed from the senses ; and all these tempests which molest their quiet , take their vigour from flesh and bloud ; but in thy divine soul it fares clean otherwise ; thy passions sprung from thy reason ; it was the soul that wrought upon the body ; it was the superior part that inanimated the inferior ; and it was the primum mobile that gave motion to all the other spheres , which did depend thereon . hence came it that thou didst enjoy a profound peace , that thy victories were without combat , or thy triumphs without victories : thou feltest no disorders in thy person , all was calm in thy soul , and even when sadness was grown to such a height , as it was able to cause thee to die , it was so submiss to reason , that to obey her , it agreed with ioy its enemy . thou wert the most content , and the most afflicted of all men : thou wert able to cause envy in the most happy , compassion in the most miserarable , and astonishment in them both . love and hatred were never at odds in thy heart : these two contraries bear respect to each other . thy reason had such absolute power , over them , that they preserved their opposition , without losing their good intelligence ; and men were astonished to see , that thy soul , which was the theatre , where two so violent motions were formed , should enjoy peace amidst war. in fine , fear and audacity ended their differences in thy person ; thou didst suffer these two affections to possess thy heart without dividing it ; whilst thou wert in thine agony in the garden , thou gavest confidence to thine apostles ; and when the thought of death made such havock in thy soul , thou didst encourage martyrs to the combat ; thou preparest crowns for their victories ; and procuring them strength by thy weaknesses , thou ordainest them to be the champions of thy church militant . but whatever help they received from thy grace , their victories were never like thine ; they found more obedience in the world , than in themselves ; and have confessed , it cost them less to overcome wild beasts , than to vanquish their own passions . famous martyrs have been known , who having overcome lyons , could not quell their own choler ; and have suffered themselves to be born away with impatience , after they had endured tortures : their combats were not always followed with good success ; they were oft-times in one and the same day , both conquered and conquerors : they gave way to voluptuousness , after they had triumphed over grief ; and having had courage enough to be martyrs , they wanted resolution to be continent . how often have they wisht for death , that they might be freed from these domestick enemies ? and to that end , sighed and made vows ? when thy providence gave them over to their own weakness , they despaired of their salvation ; finding no support save in thy goodness , they begun all their wrestlings by prayer , and professed , that to overcome their passions , they must be animated by thy spirit , and assisted by thy power . thou art the sole conqueror , that wert never worsted in this war ; thy affections never betrayd thy reason ; and thy power hath been as absolute in thy person , as in thy kingdom : these passions of our soul changed nature in thine ; by the use thou madest of them , they became virtues : thou conceivedst no love which did not turn it self into charity ; thou didst excite no choler that was not just indignation ; and thou feltest no pity , but it was transformed into mercy . all that in our nature is humane , was divine in thine ; and the unconfused mixture of two natures , whereof thou art composed , made thy passions to be rather miracles than virtues : thy anger served as an officer to thy fathers iustice ; thy compassion was the interpreter of his mercy ; and thy love an earnest of his good will. how happy was that distressed man that drew tears from thine eyes ? how rich was that poor one , whose wants thou didst bewail ? how puissant was the oppressed , whose interests thou maintainedst ? how innocent was that offender , whose conversion was wrought by thy tears ? and how glorious was the infamous sinner , to whom thou witnessedst thy love by thy complaints and sighs ? heaven had a regard to all the motions of thy soul ; the eternal father never denied any thing to thy tears ; and his thunder-bolts never failed to fall upon their heads , on whom thy just anger called for punishment . thy passions were the organs of thy divinity ; thy sighs were no less powerful , than thy words ; and without using either prayers or vows , the desires were sufficient to make known thy will. what admiration did these motions of thy soul cause in the seraphim ? with what astonishment were those pure intelligences strucken , when they considered that god taking our nature upon him , took part of her feelings , and no part of her weaknesses ? that he wept with the wretched , without interessing his happiness ? that he was angry at those that were injured without troubling his quiet ? that with the needy he formed desires without loss of his abundance ? and that with lovers , he felt the flames of love , without enduring their disturbances ? what a miracle was it , to see that anger should be kindled in thy soul , without trouble thereunto ? that pity should wound thy heart , without weakning it ? that it should be enflamed with love , yet not consumed ? that it should be eaten up with sorrow , yet not disquieted ? what can i do less in honour of so many wonders , than to consecrate our passions unto thee ? what less submission can i make to thy adored power , than loudly to avouch that there is none but thou , who can teach us the use of these motions ? and that it appertains only to thy wisdom , to change our anger into indignation , our pity into mercy , and our love into charity ? indeed , it is thou alone who canst rule our passions ; thou art he only who workest our good out of our evil , and of poysons composest antidotes . thou knowest men by their inclinations ; thou seest , without studying them , the motions of their hearts ; and making benefit thereof , dost wisely conduct them to thy end . thou employest fear , to take off a covetous man from those perishable riches which possess him , thou makest a holy use of despair , to withdraw from the world a courtier ; whose youth had been mis-imployed in the service of some prince ; thou makest an admirable use of disdain , to extinguish there with a lovers flames , who is enslave by a proud beauty ; thou employest choler , to disabuse a souldier , whom a dissembling general feeds with vain hopes ; thou makest excellent use of grief to cure a sick man , who sought for his souls happiness in his bodies health , and lost the remembrance of heaven by being to strongly fastened to the earth . in fine , thou makest chains of all our passions , to unite our wills to thine thou minglest grace with nature ; and makest angels by the same disorders , as they would have been made devils . sin is the theatre of thy power , as well as nothing ; thou makest thy greatest works issue out of two subjects , whereof the one is barren , the other rebellious : out of nothing thou drawest existence , and out of sin thou extractest grace ; thou findest every thing in its contrary , and by an effectual violence , which can proceed only from an infinite power , thou compellest nothing to produce men , and sin to make saints : but after these two miracles , which are thy master-pieces ; we see not any thing more wonderful , than the use which thou art able to make of our passions , for the changing of our wills ; thou makest that serve thy designes , which did serve thine enemies ; thou savest men by those weaknesses which would have been their undoing ; and bestowing on them a little divine love , thou turnest all their passions into virtues . for , when once charity begins to reign in their souls , they fear nothing but sin , they wish for nothing but grace . thou art the end of their desires , as thou art the object of their love : they change condition , without changing nature ; though they have passions , they commit no more offences ; and losing neither hope , nor despair ; neither audacity nor fear ; neither love nor hatred ; they are free from all the mischiefs which accompany these passions , when they are faulty . but certainly , if thy mercy appear in well husbanding the inclinations of thy friends , to their salvation ; thy iustice shines forth no less , in making good use of those of thine enemies , to their destruction : for they become chains in thy hands , to bind these malefactors with ; thou forgest out of them irons to punish these slaves ; and thou changest their desires into aversions , & their pleasures into pain . thou abandonest every sinner to the passion which possesses him ; thou commandest this domestick fury to revenge thee , & correct him ; thou turnest his sin into his punishment , without imploying either hell or devils ; thou ordainest every sinner to be his own executioner ; and makest him taste as many torments , as he nourisheth passions in his soul : thus we see by experience , that the irregular desire of honor , is the punishment of the ambitious ; that the shamful love of voluptuousness , is the torment of the incontinent ; and that the insatiable thirst after riches , is the penalty of the covetous . those chastisements which astonish us with their outward appearance , are not the most rigorous : those plagues which sweep away whole kingdoms , those wars that unpeople the world , those thunders which grumble over our heads , and those abysses which gape under our feet , are but the flourishes of thy anger ; thou makest thy children feel those scourges , when thou wilt correct them ; and these disorders of nature , are oftentimes rather favors from thy mercy , than chastisements of thy iustice. but when thou wilt punish the guilty who have long offended thee , & that thou desirest to continue them in their sins ; that thou maist satisfie thy just fury , thou givest them over to their own lusts : thou commandest their passions to be their executioners , thou permittest all the inclinations of their souls to be turned into so many sins ; and that delighting in their offence , they no longer think of appeasing thee , or of their own conversion . since then thou dost so justly employ the passions , both of thy friends and enemies , vouchsafe to let me offer up these unto thee ; and that to do homage unto thine , i may sacrifice to thee mine : suffer me to propound thy life for an example to thy faithful ones ; that not abusing them with false virtues , whereof vain-glory was the soul , and honor the reward ; i represent to them , those which thou didst practise , during those happy years , thou wert pleased to converse with men . give me grace to explain to them the morality which is learnt in thy school : and since the passions are the seeds of virtues and vices , favor me so far , that i may so well express their nature & their motions , as that i may make all the readers of this my book , virtuous : dissipate the darkness of my understanding , that in handling this matter , i may penetrat the depths of mens hearts , i may discover the extent of their jurisdiction ; & that i may bring all men to observe , how passions are raised in them , how they rebel against reason , how they seduce the vnderstanding , and what sleights they use to enslave the will : after i have known the malady , teach me the remedy , that i may cure it ; teach me how a passion is to be stifled in its birth ; what means i must use to subdue a passion , which finds her strength in her old age ; and which , ( o the wonder ! ) is never more vigorous , than when most ancient . teach me the dexterity we are to use , for conquering those passions that flatter us with their promises ; those which corrupt us with their subtilties ; those which daunt us with their threats ; and those which enchaunt us with their allurements : that being illuminated by thy light , and assisted by thy grace , i may by one and the same work , inspire mens souls with the love of virtue , and hatred of sin. the translator , upon the book . i. if to command and rule o're others be the thing desir'd above all worldly pelf , how great a prince , how great a monarch's he , who govern can , who can command himself ? if you unto so great a pow'r aspire , this book will teach how you may it acquire . ii. love turn'd to sacred friendship here you 'l find , and hatred into a just indignation : desires ( when moderated and not blind ) to have to all the virtues ●ear relation : flight or eschewing , you will find to be , the chiefest friend to spotless chastitie . iii. you 'l find how hope incites to noble acts , and how despair diverts rash enterprises , how fear from wisdom nought at all detracts ; but is of use to her through just surmises : how boldness may in hand with valor ride , how hair-brain'd choler may with justice side . iv. how harmless joy we may fore-runner make of that eternal never-ending bliss , whereof the saints in heaven do partake ; and how our earthly sorrow nothing is , but a sharp corrosive , which , handled well , will prove an antidote to th' pains in hell. thus , rebels unto loyalty are brought , and traytors true allegiance are taught . the translator to the reader . i had once in my thoughts to have dedicated this my product of some leisure-hours , to an exactly accomplish'd lady of honor ; but considering that my author hath chosen our saviour jesus christ for his patron , i thought i should do less , should i chuse any other for my patroness , than the kings daughter , his spouse the church , who is all glorious within . ( for though these be days wherein the church may be compared to a coppice , in which the under-wood grows much thicker and faster , than do the oaks ; and though she may be thought to suffer much in dilapidations ; yet ( as mr. fuller saith ) hath she some inner-more chappel well in repair . ) and truly when i considered the like coherence , which is between a wife and her husband , as between a translation and its original ; ( for if the one be bone of the same bone , and flesh of the same flesh , the other are composed of the same matter ; and as the woman is acknowledged to be the weaker vessel , a translation will never vie for worth or precedency with its original ; ) i was somewhat confirmed in my opinion ; yet when upon second thoughts ( which are , or ought to be the best ) i called to mind the many rivals she hath in these days , which might peradventure cause both me and her to suffer , should i say any thing of her , or undertake her quarrel , me , by doing it ; her , by my so ill doing it : ) i resolved to pass over all dedications ( yet could not forbear the englishing of my authors ; being thereunto invited both by the piety and elegancy of it , as also by the like dedications of alstedius in his encyclopaedia , & other protestant writers , though i find it left out of some french copies ) to content my self with thinking , and to address my self in words only to thee , my reader , and to tell thee , that the conde de gondamor ( a spanish minister of state , with whose name and fame this our nation hath been well acquainted ) had wont to say ; if you will make a small inconsiderable present , to any great man of the court , or to your mistress , you may do well to usher it in with some preamble , whereby to excuse the meanness , and make the fancy or workmanship thereof plead acceptance ; marry , if you will present him or her with a thing of real value , as ( for that was it he instanced in ) with a bag of gold , amounting to some three or four thousand pound , you need not use any circumlocutions , but bring it in , lay it down ; and say , take it , there it is : the thing it self will purchase its welcom . so i , were i to present thee with some ordinary work , i should according to custom , and his counsel , trouble both my self and thee , with making some excuses to beg thy approbation and acceptance ; but since i offer to thy perusal a piece of such extraordinary worth , as is this , the like whereof i have seldom or never met withal , be it either for the merit of the subject , or for the authors handsom handling of it ; wherein such quaint philosophy , and such strong divinity are so dexterously interwoven ; and no syllable of the divinity therein ( though written by a romish priest ) which contradicts the religion i have been brought up in ( and hope , through gods mercy , to die in ) i will not injure it , by fawning on thee for thy approbation , but build with confidence upon thy acceptance . yet let me not be mistaken , when i mention any thing of worth in this treatise , it is in relation to the original , i am not ignorant how great an allay it suffers by my translation ; yet you will find the matter the same , though not the cloathing ; the difference being no more than what is in the same man , when in his holy-day , and when in his working-day apparel : and you know , cucullus non facit monachum . when i have made this acknowledgment , i know not , notwithstanding , why it may not hold between a translation and an original , as it doth between the two great luminaries ; whereof , though the moon borrow all her light from the sun , yet is not the sun any whit prejudiced thereby ; nor doth he thereby lose any of his lustre : neither know i why an original author should be thought to suffer , though peradventure he be not too much righted by his translator . for my part , i have done my self so much right , as to do the like ( according to my talent ) to my author ; who appears throughout all this work to be too ingenuous , not to pardon such a delinquent . as for thee , my reader , if what i have done shall please thee , i shall think this a labour well bestowed by thy hearty well-wisher , h. monmouth . the authors preface . though all philosophy be beautiful , and that this great body hath no parts in it which are not noble ; yet i confess , that that part thereof which treats of morality , is one of the least illustrious ; and did not the vtility thereof heighten its valuation , it would meet with no disciples . indeed , there goes no great glory to the fighting with passions , and the vanquishing of them , since they are but monsters : there needs be no great boasting in the acquisition of some virtues , and in being more innocent than the faulty ; since a man is not accounted the more vigorous for being sounder than one that is sick . 't is no great advantage to overcome avarice , since she exerciseth her fury against her self , and deprives her self of that wealth which she hath deprived others of : 't is no very glorious action to have triumphed over luxury , since it repairs its own profusions by unjust acts , and gathers riches more unjustly than it scatters them . in fine , it is no great wonder to despise ambition , since if it raise us up to honours , 't is by affronts ; and that it is by servitude , that she makes us rise to greatness . yet this part of philosophy hath its advantages ; and if it make less show , it brings more profit than do the rest : for it is she that makes philosophers , and which purifying their understanding , makes them capable of considering the wonders of nature : 't is she that instructeth politicians , and teacheth them by governing their passions to govern kingdoms : 't is she that makes fathers of families , and who managing their inclinations , teacheth them to bring up their children and to command their servants ; so that she is to philosophy , the same as foundations are to buildings ; and she may boast that in labouring to make an honest man , she makes at once a good father of a family , a wise politician and an understanding philosopher . but as she hath several ways to lead to one and the same end , i have always thought that the most humble was the most certain ; and that taking that way , which teacheth us to regulate the motions of our soul , i should withstand all vices , and defend all virtues . for although our passions be out of order , and that sin hath brought them to a condition , wherein they are rather faulty than innocent ; yet reason joyn'd with grace , may make good use of them ; and without flattery , i dare say in their behalf , that there is none of them so despicable , but it may be changed into a glorious virtue : that may be taken from them which they have contracted from corrupt nature ; and they may be restored to that purity which they had in the state of innocence : no occasion can present it self , where they may not fight , and bear away the victory in behalf of virtue ; and , provided a man can tame them , he may with them easily overcome all vices ; for vice proceeds from their disorders ; and we commit no sin , which oweth not his birth to their revolt : i can therefore affirm , that all moral philosophy is comprised in this part , and that by teaching how to use passions , i shew all the ways of making a man vertuous . but to lead on successfully so glorious an enterprize , we must take a clean differing path from that of the philosophers , and follow other manner of maximes , than those which they have left in their writings : for these blind men would have no other rule than nature , no other help than reason ; they thought there was no vice which they might not expel , no virtue which they might not acquire , by the means of these two guides : they were encouraged by their vain-glory , they endeavored things exceeding their abilities ; and out of a vain confidence , imagined that they could submit the body to the soul , and re-establish this soveraign in her ancient authority ; it being more easie to know what is good , than to follow it ; they wrote worthily of virtue they filled all their discourses with the praises thereof ; and had there needed no more than reasons or words to perswade us , they might have made us virtuous by their writings : but our malady was grown great to be cured by such weak remedies ; and it behoved , that grace should be mingled with nature , to make virtue meritorious . man had freedom enough to undo him self , by his own proper motion ; but he had not enough thereof to save himself by his own strength : his ruine came from his will and his welfare could proceed from nothing but from grace : all the actions he did without her assistance were faulty ; and , if we will believe saint austin , all his good works were sins ; for he failed both in the beginning , and in the end : not working by grace , he must needs work by concupiscence ; and being possest with self-love , he could propose no other end to himself , but himself : he labored either after glory , or pleasure ; and in all his actions raised himself no higher than his own interests . the philosophers , though they had a little more light than others , had no more righteousness ; and whatsoever names they gave unto their virtues , one might easily find , that they were animated only by the desire of honour or voluptuousness : all their opinions likewise , might be reduc'd to those of the epicureans and of the stoicks , both which do infinitely differ from the belief of christians : for as saith saint augustine , the epicureans acknowledged no other pleasure , than sensuality : the stoicks thought virtue the only happiness ; and christians allow of no felicity but grace : the first submit the soul to the body , & reduce men to the life of beasts ; the second fill the soul with arrogance , and in the misery of their condition , they imitate the pride of devils ; the last , acknowledge their weakness , and finding by experience , that nature and reason cannot deliver them , they implore aid from grace , and undertake not to withstand vices , nor to acquire vertues without heavens assistances . therefore is it that in this work , i presuppose , that charity is absolutely necessary for the governments of our passions ; and i acknowledg christianity to be the only moral philosophy : i very well know , philosophers have helped us to some maximes , which may further our design ; but i likewise know very well , that we cannot make use thereof , to our advantage , without the grace of the holy ghost . the goodliest truths are unuseful to us , if he who is the eternal light , do not scatter them abroad in our souls ; and the best reasons cannot prevail with us , if he that holdeth our hearts in his hand , do not touch them with his inspirations : the very helps of nature , which we may call the ruines of innocence , cannot produce virtue , unless enlivened by charity : all those good inclinations which remained in us , after the loss of original righteousness , are out of order ; and man is become so wholly corrupt , that his very advantages make against him : the beauty of the vnderstanding , the goodness of the iudgment , and the faithfulness of the memory , are favours which have undone the philosophers ; and if we now reap any profit thereby , we owe it to grace , and not to nature : it fares with our soul , as with the earth ; the one , and the other , are accursed since sin ; and as the latter bears nothing but thorns , unless it be cultivated ; the other produceth nothing but sin , unless she be illuminated by some supernatural light. to understand this truth , which is the pure doctrine of the gospel ; we must know that grace , be it in the state of innocence , or in that of christianity , makes up one part of man ; he is not accomplished when he is robed thereof ; and though he have reason , he is imperfect if he want righteousness : in both these estates , he must be righteous to be perfected , and innocent if he will please god : reason is not his chief advantage ; and ( if i may be permitted to say it ) she is not his final difference ; he was never created to be only reasonable ; and he cannot be saved unless , together with reason , he possess righteousness . from so rare a priviledg an extream misfortune hath ensued : for as nature and grace were united in the first man , they could not be divided but by sin ; and he could not lose righteousness but by concupiscence ; being no longer under the empire of god , he fell under the devils tyranny ; and forsaking his lawful soveraign , he threw himself into the arms of an vsurper : as he acted heretofore by the motions of the former , he works now by the motions of the second ; and as he did nothing then , which was not innocent and rational , he doth nothing now that is not irrational and sinful : reason is become a slave to sin ; and nature losing grace , hath lost her primitive purity . to deliver us from this shameful and cruel servitude , iesus christ must quicken us with his spirit , he must unite us to his body , and must restore those advantages to reason , which sin hath berest her of . whosoever works not by this principle , is faulty ; and who hath not put off the old man , cannot put on the new : therefore doth saint augustine condemn all the virtues of the pagans ; he confounds their good works with their sins ; and knowing that a man cannot be righteous without grace , he assures us that their best actions were sinful : all his books are full of these truths ; and his doctrine which is drawn from the gospel , obligeth us to confess , that to withstand vice , and govern our passions , we must of necessity have charity . who acts by the motions of this virtue , cannot , do amiss ; and who follows those of concupiscence , cannot be saved : charity raiseth us up to heaven , concupiscence fastens us to the earth ; charity joyns us to god , concupiscence unites us to our selves ; charity restores us our innocence , concupiscence detains us still in sin . morality then , if it will be profitable , must be christian ; and the virtues which ought to govern our passions , must be inanimated by charity , if they will discharge their duty ; yet may they have their particular employments ; and conducted by their soveraign , they may do their utmost to quell these rebels , and to teach them obedience : they sweeten them by their dexterity ; they make use of cunning when force faileth ; they take them by their interests , or win them by their inclinations : when they cannot make them capable of the pure mysteries of religion , they deal with them as with infidels , and perswade them by interessed reasons ; if they be not touched with the glory of heaven , they propose to them earthly glory ; and if they are not to be wrought upon by rewards , they endeavor to frighten them with punishments . for these motions of our soul are too much fastened to the earth , to be heightned to the purity of divine love ; they feel not the beat thereof , but by reflection ; and this monarch is contented to reduce them to their duties , by the interposition of virtues , that hold of his empire : he employes temperance and continence , to overcome these rebels ; he teacheth them how to reclaim these slaves , and gives them forces to tame these savage monsters : so that you must not wonder , if i have sometimes followed the example of prophane philosophers , and made use of the reason of infidels , to make the passions obedient ; they are so engaged in their senses , as they can conceive nothing that is not sensible ; and they have so little commerce with reason , that they understand not her commandments , unless imagination serve them for interpreter : 't is this faculty that governs them ; if you will reduce them , you must win her ; and 't is in vain to endeavor to make them docible , if you have not made their guide reasonable : therefore , 't is that whilst i treat with them , i am bound to accommodate my self to their weakness , and to lessen my self beneath the majesty of religion : i forgo the severity of our faith ; and not being able to make them comprehend christian veritie , i perswade them by humane considerations : i incite them , either with honor or shame ; as the fathers of the church , when they disputed with infidels , beat them with their own weapons , and convinced them by philosophers reasons ; so do i take the passions by their own proper interests , and make use of their inclinations , to allay their fury . i couzen them to cure them , and make use of their weakness to submit them to virtue : but in these harmless stratagems , i mean not to injure charity ; i leave to her the sincerity of her intentions ; i suffer her to seek out god for his own sake ; and i oblige iustice , fortitude , and temperance , which are capable of reason , to follow as much as they can , the purity of her motions . after all these advertisements , nothing remains , but that i inform the reader of the method of this work ; which is so apparent , as the very titles of the book may serve to instruct him therein ; and to conceive my design , it will suffice if he read the table that follows this discourse . i treat of passions , in general and in particular : in the general , i represent their nature , their disorders , their guidance , their affinity with vices and virtues , and the power they have over mans liberty : in the particular , i oppose one of them to another , that they may be the more clearly seen ; and after i have explained their nature , their proprieties , and their effects , i discover the bad use of them , that it may be shunned ; and their good use , that it may be followed . he that will reap profit by these advices , shall find by experience , that in governing his passions , he shall combate with all vices , and exercise all virtues . a table of the several treatises and discourses . the first part of the use of passions . of passions in general . the first treatise . of the nature of passions . discourse i. an apology for passions against the stoicks . pag. . . what the nature of passions is , and in what faculty of the soul they reside . . of the number of passions in man. . which is the most violent of all the passions of man. . whether there were any passions in the state of innocence , or no ; and whether they were of the same nature as are ours . . whether there were any passions in jesus christ , and wherein they differed from ours . the second treatise . of the disorder of passions . . discourse . of the corruption of nature by sin. p. . that nature alone is not sufficient to rule the passions of man. . that the disorders of passions being considered , grace is requisite to the government thereof . . that opinion and the senses cause the disorder of our passions . . that there is more disorder in the passions of man than in those of beasts . the third treatise . of the government of passions . . discourse . that there is nothing more glorious , nor more hard to come by , than the government of the passions . . that there is no more miserable slave , than he that suffers himself to be governed by his passions . . that to govern passions , they must be moderated . . that in whatsoever condition our passions be , they may be governed by reason . . what means a man must use to moderate his passions . the fourth treatise . of the commerce of passions with virtue and vice. . discourse . that passions are the seeds of virtue . p. . that passions are the seeds of vice. . that there are no passions which may not be changed into virtues . . that the government of passions is virtues chief employment . the fifth treatise . of the power that passions have upon the will of man. . discourse . that to know and win upon men , we must study their passions . . that arts seduce men by the means of passions . . that princes win upon their subjects either by love or fear . . what passions ought to predominate in the person of a prince . the second part of the use of passions . of passions in particular . the first treatise . of love and hatred . discourse i. of the nature , proprieties , and effects of love. p. . of the bad use of love , by being too much tied to creatures , and by unlawful friendships . of the good use of love , by charity and friendship . . of the nature , proprieties and effects of hatred . . of the bad use of hatred . . of the good use of hatred the second treatise . of desire and eschewing . . discourse . of the nature , proprieties and effects of desire . p. . of the bad use of desire by ambition and avarice . . of the good use of desire , and of the need we have of god. . of the nature , proprieties and effects , and of the good and bad use of eschewing . the third treatise . of hope and despair . . discourse . of the nature , proprieties , and effects of hope . p. . of the bad use of hope , and her engagement to earthly things . . of the good use of hope , by fortitude and patience . . of the nature , proprieties and effects , and of the good and bad use of despair . the fourth treatise . of audacity and fear . . discourse . of the nature , proprieties , and effects of audacity . p. . of the bad use of audacity . . of the good use of audacity . . of the nature , proprieties and effects of fear . . of the bad use of fear . . of the good use of fear . the fifth treatise . of choler or anger . . discourse . of the nature , proprieties and effects of choler or anger . p. . of the bad use of choler or anger . . of the good use of choler or anger , and of just severity . the sixth treatise . of delight and sorrow . . discourse . of the nature , proprieties , and effects of pleasure . p . of the bad use of pleasure . . of the good use of pleasure . . of the nature , proprieties and effects of grief or sorrow . . of the bad use of grief or sorrow . . of the good use of grief or sorrow . the use of passions . the first part ; of passions in general . the first treatise . of the nature of passions . the first discourse . an apologie for passions against the stoicks . as there is no man so temperate , but that he sometimes experienceth the violence of passions , and that the disorder thereof is a fate from which very few can ●ence themselves ; so it is the subject whereupon upon philosophers have most exercised their brains , and is the part of moral philosophy which hath oftest been examined ; but if i may speak my sense with freedom , and if i may be permitted to censure my masters , i am of opinion , that there is no point in the whole body of philosophy , that hath been treated of with more ostentation , and less of profit ; for some of them have satisfied themselves with having described passions unto us , and in discovering unto us their causes , and their effects , not teaching us how to govern them ; so as they may be said to have been more careful in making us know our malady , than in applying remedies thereunto ; others more blind , but more zealous , have confounded them with vices , and have put no difference between the motions of the sensitive appetite , and the misgovernment of the will , so as according to them , a man cannot be passionate without being criminal . their discourses which ought to be instructions unto virtue , have only been invectives against passions . they have made the malady greater than it was ; and their desire of healing it , hath only served to make it incurable . others little differing from the last , have endeavoured to stifle passion , and not considering that man is indued with a body , from the material part , whereof the soul is not disingaged , they will heighten him to the condition of angels . these last being the noblest enemies that passion ever met withal , and who have made use of reason to grapple with her ; it is fit we lend them an ear , that we may answer them , and confute their error before we establish the truth . no man is ignorant , how that pride hath alwaies accompanied the sect of the stoicks , who that they might raise up man , have laboured to abase god , and who oft-times have made their wise-man somewhat more happy than their iupiter . they have given him the upper hand of fortune and destiny , and will have his happiness to depend wholly upon his will. virtue is too modest to allow of so unjust praises ; and piety will not suffer her to agrandise her self to the prejudice of that divinity which she adores ; but the vanity of these insolent philosophers never appeared more , than in the defiance they have given to passion ; for as she is the motion of the most inconsiderate part of our soul. pride hath made them eloquent in their invectives , and ambition hath furnished them with reasons , which are fairly entertained by such men , who are offended that they have a body , and afflicted that they are not angels . they say , that rest cannot consist with passions , that it is easier to destroy than to regulate them ; that such souldiers must never be made use of as spurn at the orders of their commanders ; and that such are readier to justle reason out of doors , than to fight in her behalf ; that passions are the sickness of the soul. * that the very weakest is not without danger , and that health is not wholly recovered , when any spice of the feaver doth remain , that that man is in a very sad condition , who cannot find his safety , save in the loss thereof , who cannot be couragious , unless cholerick ; who cannot be advised , without some sort of fear ; and who dares undertake nothing , unless egged on thereunto by his desire . briefly , they conclude , that to be a slave to passion , is to live under tyranny , and that a man must renounce his liberty , if he obey such insolent masters . these reasons so eloquently express'd by the stoicks , have as yet framed a wise man only in idaea . their admirers have reaped nothing but confusion ; after having courted so proud and so austere a virtue , they are become ridiculous to all ages . and the wisest amongst them have found , that whilst they would go about to make so many gods , the product hath been so many idols . sene●a himself , whom i look upon as the most eloquent and haughtiest disciple of that proud sect , forced thereunto by the weakness of nature , and the efficacy of reason , hath betrayed his party , and forgoing his own maximes , confesseth that the wise man b sometimes feels some commotions , and that though there be in him no true passions , yet hath he the shadows and appearances of them . he who is acquainted with the humour of this philosopher , will be satisfied with this attestate , and he who shall well examine the sense of his words , will find that saint augustine had reason to say , the stoicks distered from other philosophers only in their manner of speech , and that though their words were more lofty , their conceptions were not so . for they blame not all passions , but only their excess , and though they have had a mind to stifle them , they never could hope to do it . to part the soul from the body , so to exempt it from these agitations , were to overthrow the fabrick of man ; as long as this illustrious prisoner shall be obliged to the same functions , as are the souls of irrational creatures , she shall be constrained to entertain passions ; and as long as she shall make use of sense , in her operations , she shall use hope . and fear , in the practical part of virtue . it is no more dishonourable for the soul to fear a danger , to hope for good , or to strengthen it self against evil , than it is to see by the organs of the eyes , or to hear by those of the ears ; the one and the other shares of servitude , but both are necessary . it is also more easie to rule passion than the senses ; fear , choler and love are more capable of reason , than is hunger , thirst , or sleep . therefore if we shall make the senses subject to the empire of reason , we may well submit our passions thereunto , and make our fear and our hope praise-worthy , as well as our fasting and watching meritorious . reason is the proper utensil of man ; all other things are bun as strangers to him , he may lose them without impoverishing himself , and as long as he is master of reason , he may still vaunt himself to be man. since this is the chief of all that is good , we must disperse it through all the parts of man , and make even the meanest faculties of our soul capable thereof ; doubtlesly it may make for our security , if it be well husbanded . hope , if well governed , doth encourage us to generous and difficult enterprizes ; audacity , if well guided , makes souldiers invincible . in fine , our most insolent passions may be subject to reason , and not to employ them in the course of our life , is to render useless one of the most beautiful parts of our soul. virtue her self would become idle , had she no passions , either to subdue or regulate . and he who shall consider their chief employment , will find they have a relation to the managing of our actions . fortitude is made use of to subjugate fear , and this couragious virtue would cease to operate , if man did cease to fear . we measure our desires and hopes by moderation , and were there no ambitious passions , no man would be moderate in his good successes . temperance and continency bridle sensuality , and had not nature ordained pleasure in all actions , these two virtues which go to the composure of a chaste and continent man , would be likewise of no use . clemency sweetens choler , and did not this passion animate princes to revenge , the virtue whereby it is moderated would not deserve praise . but if passions be so much befriended by so many several virtues , they are not — thereof unthankful , for when instructed in their whole , they repay them with use , and serve them faithfully ; the best part of circumspection is composed of fear , which though it be accused to seek out the evil before it happen , it prepares us either quietly to undergo it , or happily to evade it . hope is serviceable to fortitude , and 't is she that by her promises doth encourage us to the undertaking of gallant actions . boldness is valour 's faithful companion , and all great conquerors owe the glory of their generosity to this passion . choler maintains justice , and animates judges to punish the guilty . briefly , there is no passion which is not serviceable to virtue , when they are governed by reason , and those who have so cried them down , make us see they never knew their use nor worth . the second discourse . what the nature of passions is , and in what faculty of the soul they reside . gods greatness is so elevated , as man cannot attain to the knowledge thereof without abasing it , and his unity is so simple , as it is not to be conceived , unless divided . philosophers gave him different names , to express the diversity of his perfections ; and by calling him sometimes destiny , sometimes nature , sometimes providence , they introduced a plurality of gods , and made all men idolaters . the soul being the image of god , the same philosophers did likewise divide it , and not being able to comprehend the simplicity of its essence , they believed it was corporeal . they imagined it had parts as well ●s the body , and though they were more subtle , they were not less veritable . they multiplied the cause with its effects , and ●aking her divers faculties for different na●ures , they contrary to the law of reason , gave divers forms to the same composure . but truth , which together with faith , came down upon earth , teacheth us that the soul is but one in its essence , and that it hath undergone several names only , to express the variety of its operations ; for when it gives life unto the body , and when by natural heat , which proceeds from the heart , as from its center , it preserveth all the ●arts thereof , it is called form ; c when it discerns colours by the eye , and distinguisheth of sound by the ear , sense . when she rai●eth her self a little higher , and by discoursing infers one truth by another , she is called understanding . when she preserves her thoughts , to employ them about her own affairs , or that she draws from forth her treasury , the riches which ●she had lock'd therein , men stile her memory ; when she loveth that which pleaseth her , or hates that which nauseates her , she is termed will , but all her several faculties , which differing in their employments , do notwithstanding agree in their substance , make but one soul , and are like so many rivulets , derived from the same spring-head . prophane philosophy arriving at length to the knowledge of this truth , makes use of divers comparisons to express her . now she represents the soul in the body , as an intelligence in the heavens , the virtue whereof is displayed through all the spheres thereof . anon they figure her out unto us as a pilot , who guides his vessel ; sometimes as a king , who governs his state : but christian philosophy hath been more fortunate , when coming even to the original of the soul , it hath made us know , what effects she produceth in the body , by the very same which god produceth in the world . for though this infinite essence depends not upon the world which he hath created , and that without interessing his might , he may undo his own workmanship , yet is he shed abroad in all the parts thereof ; there is no intermedium which he fills not up . he applies himself to all creatures , in their operations , and without dividing his unity , or weakning his power ; he gives light with the sun , he burneth with the fire , he he refresheth with the water , and he brings forth fruit with the trees . he is as great on earth as he is in heaven , though his effects do differ ; his power is alwaies equal , and the stars which shine above our heads cost him no more than the grass which we tread under our feet . so is the soul dispersed in the body , and penetrates all the parts thereof ; it is as noble in the hand as in the heart ; and though applying her self to the disposition of the organs , she speaks by the mouth , seeth by the eyes , and heareth by the ears , yet is she but one spirit in her essence ; and in her differing functions , her unity is not divided , nor her power weakned . 't is true , that not finding the same dispositions , in every part of the body , she produceth not the same effects ; and in this point this illustrious captive is infinitely inferiour to god ; for as he is infinite , and was able to make all things out of nothing , he can likewise make all things out of every creature , and without any respect to their inclinations make them serve his d will. so we see he hath used the fire to sweeten the pains of his servants ; that he hath used the light to blind his enemies ; that he hath made the flouds turn back to give passage to his friends ; and that he hath made the earth open to swallow those that rebell against him . but the soul , whose power is limited , cannot operate without dependance upon the organs ; and though she be spiritual in her nature , yet is she corporeal in her operations . this is that which hath made the philosophers consider her in three several estates , which are so different the one from the other , that if in the first , she approach near the dignity of the angels , in the second she is in no better condition than the beast of the field ; and in the last , she differs not much from the nature of plants ; for in this acceptation she hath no other employment , than to nourish the body she is in , to digest food , to convert it into bloud , and by a strange metamorphosis to make one and the same matter thicken into flesh , stiffen into nerves , harden into bones , extend into branches , and lengthen into grisles ; she augments her parts by nourishing them , she in time perfects her workmanship , and by her pains brings it to its just greatness . solicited by providence , she takes care to maintain the world ; she thinks how to restore what she hath received , and to preserve her species produceth the like . in this acception her workmanship is not more noble than that of plants , which nourish themselves by the influences of heaven , grow up by the heat of the sun , and get root downward by their succors and moisture . in the second estate , she becomes sensible , and begins to have inclinations and notions , she sees objects by the sense which their reports make unto the imagination , this trusts them or commits them to memory , which obligeth her self carefully to keep them , and faithfully to represent them . from the lights of the soul arise her desires , and from her knowledge , her love or hatred , she betakes her self to that which is agreeable unto her , shuns that which likes her not ; and according to the divers qualities of good or evil which present themselves , she excites differing motions , which are called passions : in this degree she hath nothing of more lofty than the beasts , which discover objects by sense , which receive the sorts thereof in their imagination , and preserve them in their memory . in the third estate , she quits the body , and coming to her self , she entertains her self with more truths , she treats with angels , and mounting by degrees even to divinity it self , she knows perfections , and admireth greatness ; she reasons upon such subjects as present themselves , she examines their qualities , that she may conceive their essence , she confers the present with what is past , and from the one and the other of them draws conjectures for what is to come . the faculty which doth all these wonders is termed understanding ; imagination ●nd sense acknowledge her for their mistress , but she is not so absolute , but that ●he dependeth upon a soveraign , and takes ●he law from one , that is blind , whom she serves for a guide . this which is called will , and which hath no other object than good , to follow it ; and evil , to shun it ; ●s so absolute as heaven it self , bears a respect unto her freedom ; for it never useth violence when it hath to do therewithal , ●it husbandeth the consentment thereof with address . and its efficacious graces , which never fail in producing their effects , may well undertake to convert , but not to force will. heavens orders are alwaies observed within its empire ; the subjects thereof may well be froward , never rebellious ; and when it commands absolutely , 't is alwaies obeyed . true it is that motions or agitations are formed in the second acception of the soul which exercise her power ; for though they hold of her , they forbear not to pretend to some sort of liberty ; they are rather her citizens than her slaves , and she is rather their judge than their soveraign . these passions arising from the senses side alwaies with them ; whenever imagination presents them to the understanding , he pleads in their behalf , by means of so good an advocate they corrupt their master , and win all their causes . the understanding listens unto them , weigheth their reasons , considereth their inclinations , and lest he may grieve them , oft-times gives sentence to their advantage ; he betrayes the will , whereof he is the chief officer ; he couzens his blind queen , and disguising the truth , makes unfaithful reports unto her , that he may draw unjust commandments from her ; when she hath declared her self , passions become crimes , their sedition begins to make head , and man who before was but unruly , becomes wholly criminal ; for as the motions of this inferiour part of the soul are not free , they never begin to be vitious but when they become voluntary . as long as they are awakened by objects , solicited by the senses , and protected by imaginations self , they have no other craft than what they draw from corrupted nature ; but when the understanding overshadowed by their obscurity , or won by their solicitations , perverts the will , and obliges this soveraign to take upon her the interest of her slaves , she makes them guilty of her sin , she changes their motions into rebellion , and of the insurrection of a beast , makes the fault of a man. it is true , that when the understanding keeps within the bounds of duty , and is faithful to the will , he suppresses their seditions , and reduceth these mutineers to obedience ; she husbandeth their humours so well , as taking from them all their unruliness , he makes rare and excellent virtues of them . in this estate they are subservient to reason , and defend the party which they were resolved to fight against . the good or the evil that may be drawn from them binds us to consider their nature , to observe their proprieties , and to discover their original , to the end that arriving at the exact knowledge of them , we may make use of them in our affairs . passion then is nothing else , but a mo●ion of the sensitive appetite , caused by the imagination of an appearing or veritable good , or evil , which changeth the body against the laws of nature . i term it motion , because it hath a respect to good or evil as the objects thereof , and suffers it self to be born away by the qualities which she observes therein ; this motion is caused by the imagination , which being fill'd with sorts of things , which she hath received from all the senses , sollicits passions , to discover unto her the beauties or deformities of such objects as may move her . the sensitive appetite is so partial to her as it sooths her in all her inclinations , let her be never so little agitated , she draws after her all other passions , she raiseth tempests as winds do waves , and the soul would be at quiet in her interiour part , were she not moved by this power ; but she bears so great a sway in this empire , as she there doth what she pleaseth . nor is it requisite that the good or evil which she represents to the appetite be true , which relyeth on her fidelity , and believes her councils without examining them , having no other light but what is borrowed from her , he follows hoodwink'd all the objects which she proposeth , and let them be but cloathed with any appearance of good or evil , he impetuously either rejects or embraceth them . he behaves himself so vigorously , as he alwaies causeth alteration in the body ; for besides that his motions are violent , and that they do hardly deserve the name of passions , when they are moderated , they have such access unto the senses , and the senses have so much of communication with the body , as it is impossible but that their disorders should cause an alteration therein . in brief , passion is against the law of nature , because she sets upon the heart ; which cannot be hurt , without resentment of all the parts of the body ; for they are looking-glasses , wherein one sees all the motions of him that animates them ; and as physitians judge of his constitution by the beating of his pulse , and arteries , one may judge of the passions wherewith ●e is transported by the colour of his face , by the flame which sparkles in his eyes , by the shaking of his joynts , and by all such other signs as appear in the body , when the heart is agitated . now these are the passions which we ●ndertake to reclaim and bring under the empire of reason , and by the assistance of ●race , to change them into virtues . ●ome have been satisfied with describing ●hem unto us , not shewing how to regulate ●hem , and have employed their eloquence ●nly in making us know our miseries . 〈◊〉 may be they believed that the knowledge ●f our evils was sufficient to cure them , and ●hat the desire of health obliged us to seek ●ut remedies ; but they should do well to ●member that there be pleasing evils , of which these that are sick covet not to be cured . others have fought with passions as with so many monsters . they have given 〈◊〉 reason to destroy them , not considering that to execute the design a man must destroy himself : others knew very well that passions making up a part of our soul , they were not to be extirpated but by death ; but they knew not that good use might be made of them , and tacitly blaming him who hath endowed us with them , they have laboured to sweeten them , not seeking out to manage them ; they imagined passions were not otherwise requisite to virtue , save only to exercise her courage , they thought they were no otherwise useful for men , save only for trial ; and that man could reap no other advantage by them , save only patiently to bear with them , or to oppose them with resolution ; but i pretend to defend their cause by defending gods cause , and to make it appear in the pursuit of this work , that the same providence , which hath drawn our safety from our detriment or loss , will have us to work out our res● from out of the disorders of our passions ; that by his grace we may tame these wil● monsters , that we may reduce these rebel● under obedience , and that we make such souldiers march under the banners of virtue , as have oftest fought in the behalf of vice. the third discourse . of the number of passions in men. t is a strange thing that the soul knows all things , yet knows not her self ; there is nothing so hidden in nature , which she discovers not , she is acquainted with all its secrets , and all that passeth through the bowels of this common mother is apparent to her ; she knows how metals are formed , how the elements do court , and wage war one with other , how vapors ascend in the air , how they thicken in the clouds , melt into rain , and break forth in ▪ thunder ; finally , she knows of what parts her body is composed , and by a cruel piece of art she dissects it , she takes it in pieces , that she may know the properties thereof ; yet notwithstanding she is ignorant of what passeth within her self ; she cannot attain to the knowledge of her essence , which is altogether spiritual ; and she hath weak conjectures of her most excellent qualities , because she fetches her light from the senses , and depends in her noblest operations upon the species , which the imagination represents unto her : she doubts of her immortality , and to be the more secure thereof , she is bound to call in faith to the succour of reason , and to be●ieve through a blind 〈◊〉 , what she cannot with certain evidence comprehend : but of all things that are in her , there is nothing more concealed from her than 〈…〉 passions ; for though by their 〈…〉 they make an impression upon the sen●es , yet do not the philosophers agree upon their subject , nor their number . some 〈◊〉 they are framed in the body : some 〈◊〉 they reside in the nethermost part of the soul ; others divide the soul into two faculties , which they term concupiscible and irascible , and place the softer passions in the former , and the more rigid in the second . for they will have love and hatred , desire and eschewing , joy and sorrow , to be comprehended in the concupiscible appetite , & that fear and boldness , hope and despair , choler and remisness reside in the irascible appetite . to make good this difference , they say , that the passions of the concupiscible appetite have a regard to good and to evil , as absent , or as present ; and that those of the irascible consider them as hard and difficult ; that the one makes but onsets , and retreats ; that the others give battel , and either win or lose the victory ; that the one takes part with the body , the other with the understanding ; that the one are remiss , and the other generous ; and that considering the opposition of so many contrary qualities , it must be concluded that they cannot r●●de in one and the same part of the soul. were it not a error in morality to dispute this maxim , and were it not rashness to contradict an opinion generally receiv'd for so many ages ; i should be much inclined to believe that all these passions are lodged in one and the same appetite , which is divided by the motions thereof , as the understanding is divided by its opinions , or as the will is parted by love and hatred . and i would say with saint augustin , that these differing conceits , do not presuppose differing faculties , since one and the same man doth oftentimes desire contrary things , and preserveth the unity of his person in the variety of his desires . he experienced this combat in himself , when he would become a convert ; he saw his soul divided by differing opinions , and wondered that having but one will , it could form out so contrary resolutions . but not to engage my self in a war wherein a man purchaseth more enemies than he reconcileth , and where both parties think alwaies to have had the better ; i will content my self to have insinuated my opinion , instead of staying upon the defence thereof , and not concluding any thing of the subject where the passions do reside , i wiil speak of their number ; and will tell you what the philosophers have written thereof . the academicks thought there were but four principal passions , desire and fear , joy and sorrow ; and * virgil who in all his works appears to be of this ancient sect , when he describes the motions of the soul , mentions none but these ; in effect it seems these comprehend all the rest ; that despair and aversion are ranked under fear ; that hope , audacity , & choler are ranked under desire ; & that all of them together do terminate in joy or sorrow . but let them endeavor to colour over this division , by what reasons they please , it will still be defective since it comprehendeth not love and hatred , which are the two first originals of our passions ; for this reason the peripateticks did multiply them , and grounded their number upon the divers motions of the soul ; for the soul hath ( say they ) either an inclination , or an aversion to the objects wherewith she is either pleased or displeased ; and this is love or hatred ; or else she shuns them , and this is eschewing ; or she draws near unto them , and this is de●ire ; or she promiseth unto her self the fruition of what she wisheth ; and this is hope ; or she cannot defend her self from the evil which she apprehends , and this is despair ; or she endeavours to withstand it , and this is audacity ; or she chears her self up to overcome them , and this is choler . finally , she either possesseth the good , and this is joy ; or suffereth the evil , and this is sorrow : some others that are of the like opinion , prove the diversity of passions another way , and affirm that good and evil may be considered in themselves , without any circumstances ; and that from hence arise love and hatred ; or that a man may look upon them as absent ; and that then they produce either fear or desire ; or as difficult , and that then they cause hope , audacity , and choler ; or as impossible , and that then they raise despair ; or in fine , as present , and that then they pour into the soul either delight or pain . though these reasons may content the understanding , yet do they not vanquish her ; and without offence to philosophy , a man may differ from the opinions of plato , or aristotle , for as it appears to me , they give several names to one and the same thing , they divide the unity of love , and take her different effects for different passions . so after having well examined this business , i am inforced to embrace the opinion of saint augustine , and to maintain with him , that love is the only passion which doth agitate us , or hath operation in us . for all the motions which molest our soul are but so many disguised loves ; our fears and desires , our hopes and despaires , our delights and sorrows , are countenances which love puts on according to the events of good or bad success : and as the sea carries divers names according to the different parts of the earth which are thereby watered , so doth love change her name according to the different estates wherein she finds her self . but as amongst the infidels every perfection of god hath past for a several deity ; so amongst philosophers the different qualities of love have been taken for different passions . and these great masters have opinioned that as oft as love hath changed guidance , or imployment , she ought also to change nature and name ; but if this their reasoning were good , the soul must lose its unity as oft as it produceth different effects : and the soul which digests meat , and distributes the bloud into the veins , must not be the same which speaks by the tongue , and lissens by the ear. reason therefore will have us to believe , that 〈◊〉 but one passion ; and that hope and 〈…〉 and joy are the motions or proper● of love ; and that to paint her in all her colours , we must term her , when longing after what is loved , desire * ; when possessing what is desired , pleasure or delight ▪ when shunning what is abhorred , fear ; and when after a long and bootless withstanding , inforc'd to suffer , grief or sorrow . or to express the same thing more clearly , o desire and eschewing , hope and fear , are the motions of love , by which that which is agreeable is endeavoured , and the contrary shunned . boldness and choler , are the combatants which are made use of to defend that which is loved , joy is loves triumph , despair her weakness , and sadness her defeat . or to make use of saint augustines words , desire is the course of love , fear is her flight , sorrow is her torment , and joy her rest ; love draws near to good by desiring it , flies from evil by fearing it , is sad by resenting sorrow , rejoiceth in tasting pleasure , but in all her different estates or acceptions she is alwaies her self , and in the variety of her effects , preserves the unity of her essence . but if it be trne that love causeth all our passion , it follows that she must sometimes transform her self into her contrary ; and that by a metamorphosis more incredible than that of the poets , she converts her self into hatred , and produceth effects which will give the lie to her humour . for love delights in obliging , hate in the contrary ; love is generous , and takes pleasure in pardoning , hate not so , and studies nothing but revenge ; love gives life unto her enemies , hatred endeavours the death of her most faithful friends ; and it seems more easie to reconcile vice with virtue , than love with hatred . this objection hath much of apperance , but little of solidity ; and those who frame it , do not remember that oft times one and the same cause doth produce contrary effects . that heat which makes wax melt , dries mud and dirt ; that the motion which draws us nearer heaven , draws us the further from earth ; that the inclination we have to preserve our selves , is an aversion from any thing that may destroy us . so the love of good is the hatred of evil ; and the same passion which useth sweetness to those who oblige it , useth severity to those who offend it . it imitateth justice , which by the same motion punisheth sin , and recompenseth virtue . it resembles the sun , which by the same light makes the eagles see , and blinds the owles . and if it be lawful to mount up into the heavens , it hath an influence upon god himself , which only hates a sinner , out of love unto himself : if so many good reasons cannot perswade to so manifest a truth , they ought at least prevail thus much with our adversaries , that if there be divers passions , love is the soveraign thereof , and that she is so absolute in her kingdom , as that her subjects undertake nothing but by her directions . she is the primum mobile which carries them about ; and as she gives them motion , so she gives them rest ; she by her aspect doth irritate and appease them : and her examples do prevail so much over all the * affections of our soul , that her goodness , or her malice renders them either good or evil . the fourth discourse . which is the most violent of all the passions of man ? if the knowledge of a disease be requisite to the cure , it is no less necessary to know the passions , that we may the better govern them , and to know which of them doth assail us with most fury . philosophers who have treated hereupon , agree not in their opinions , but are so divided upon this subject , that reason hath not been able to reconcile their difference . plato hath left us in doubt , and sounding the question to the bottom , he contents himself with saying , there are four passions which seem to surpass the rest in violence . the first is voluptuousness , which belies its name , and which breathing forth nothing but sweetness , ceaseth not to be extream furious ; and to fight against reason with more violence than doth grief or anguish . the second is choler , which being nothing else according to its definition , but a boiling of the blood about the heart * , cannot be but excessively violent ; and did not nature , which is careful of our preservation , make it die as soon as it is born , there were no mischief whereof it were not capable ; nor do i know whether the world were capable to defend it self against the fury thereof , or no. but let us attribute what violence we please unto it , i esteem it more reasonable than voluptuousness ; for as lions are sooner tamed than fish , an angry man is sooner appeased , than a voluptuous man converted ; and experience teacheth us , that of these two passions the more mild is the less tractable , and the more furious the less opinionated . the third is the desire of honour , which is so powerfully imprinted in the heart of man , as there is no difficulty which it overcomes not . 't is this ●hat makes conquerors , which inspires cou●age into souldiers , which maketh orators eloquent , and philosophers knowing . for ●ll these different conditions are enlivened ●y the same desire ; and though they take ●everal ways , they aim at the same end . the fourth is the fear of death , which by its ●requent alarmes troubles all the quiet of our life . it produceth such strange effects , as the nature thereof is not to be discover'd though it be timerous , and that the shadow of an evil is sufficient to astonish it ; yet doth it render men couragious , and make them seek out a certain death , to shun an uncertain one ; it giveth strength to the vanquished , and assisted by despair , it regains battels which it had lost . 't is hard to judge which of these two passions is the stronger , for they have oft times triumphed over one another , and as the fear of death hath made the desire of honour be forgotten , sometimes the desire of honour hath despised the fear of death . though i have a noble esteem of plato , and that his very ravings seem more noble , and more heightned to me than aristotles discourses , yet cannot i side with him in this ; and notwithstanding all the good reasons he alledgeth to defend his opinion , i cannot approve thereof . for voluptuousness is not so much a particular passion , as it is the spring-head of all those that give us any contentment , nor is it so violent , but that it may easily be repress'd by grief and anguish . it s only advantage lieth in the absence of its enemy , nor doth it corrupt men but when it findeth nothing to oppug● it , as soon as any opposition is made , it yields the victory ; and experience teacheth us , that a small hurt makes us forget an extream pleasure . choler is indeed the more ardent , but it is not of durance : if ●it turn not into hatred , the effects thereof are not to be dreaded ; 't is more sudden violence , and to express its nature , we must say , that it may well do an ill action , but it cannot conceive a mischievous design . the desire of glory is an eternal passion ; age which weakneth all other , maketh this the stronger ; and this malady seems to have no cure but death ; yet ill success will ●ure it ; and the loss of two or three bat●els will turn it into melancholy . hannibal ●fter his defeat , fed no more upon honour . ●f he went from kingdom to kingdom to ●olicit princes to form a party against ●he romans , he was led thereunto rather ●y despair , than by ambition ; and this un●ortunate commander sought not so much ●he increase of glory , as the preservation ●f his life . i know that marius was haugh●y after his defeat , and that being prisoner , ●e aspired to be consul ; his humor chan●ed not with his condition ; whilst in i●ons , he dream'd of diadems , and when ●e had lost his liberty , he yet continued his design of oppressing the liberty of the republick , but this passion was sustained by another ; when he rallied his troops to bring them again unto the battel ; he was not so much edg'd on by glory , as by despight , and who could have seen too within his heart , would have found there more of choler than of courage , more of hatred , than of ambition . this passion subsists only of hope , and when fortune turns her back , it becomes fearful . alexander would have been contented with greece , if he had found any resistance in persia ; one bad success would have taught him to have bounded his desires . that great heart to which the world seemed too little , would have confined it● self within his fathers dominions , had not so many happy victories , which did even out-do hope , blown up his ambition , and promised him the conquest of the whole earth . the fear of death is a passion only belonging to the vulgar ; more generous people set it at nought ; the more effeminat● sort defend themselves from it only out of hope , which is the faithful companion of the unfortunate . and when the face of mischief enforceth her to abandon them , ●he is succeeded by despair , which in its effects exceeds the firmest constancy of philosophers . all these reasons oblige me to quit plato's opinion , that i may examine ●hose with which aristotle defends his . for he seemeth in some of his writings , to maintain , that hatred is the most violent passion wherewith we are transported . in effect choler which but now seemed so ●readful unto us , is but a disposition to ●atred , and she cannot arrive at her malice ●nless nourished by suspitions , fomented ●y evil speeches , and entertained by pro●ess of time ; but when she is once changed ●nto hatred , there is no evil which she is ●ot capable of . her residence is in the ●eart , as well as is that of love , and seated ● a throne belongs to love , she gives out ●er orders as a soveraign , and employeth ● other passions to satisfie her fury ; choler ●urnisheth her with weapons , boldness ●ghts in her behalf , hope promiseth her ●ood success , and despair gives her often ●imes the victory ; but that which passeth ● belief is , she gathers strength from love , ●ough it be her enemy , and by an effect ●hich doth sufficiently witness her power , ●e enforceth the mildest of all passions , ● be subservient to her detestable designs . she imitateth her motions , she marcheth in her steps , and misinterpreting her maximes , she will do as much harm , as the other hath done good , and leave as many marks of her fury , as the other hath left of its goodness . but if it be true that copies never equal the original , let hatred do what she can , she shall never come near the power of love ; and since she is ruled by love , love will alwaies have the advantage over her . there have also been some philosophers , who have not been of aristotles opinion , and who attributing more to reason than to his authority , have perswaded themselves that jelousie is the most violent of all passions ; and certainly it is to be granted , that if this opinion be not the truest , it is at least the most specious ; for jealousie is composed of love and hatred . and as contraries cannot lodge or habit together , without fighting , it must necessarily follow , that these two enemy-passions make wa● one upon another , and that all other that are subject unto them take up arms to defend their interests , in so much as a jealous man finds himself seized on by fear , and audacity , by hope and despair , by joy and sadness , because he is struck with love and hatred ; likewise the holy scripture , the very ' simplicity whereof is eloquent , not finding any thing that can express the fury of jealousie , goes to seek out death amongst the sepulchres , and hell in the bowels of the earth , to give us a picture thereof ; according to this maxim we must conclude that the jealous are the damned of this world , and that the passion which torments them is a punishment which equals that of the devils . after the authority of scripture , a man must be very rash to oppose this opinion , which it seems all things conspire to make veritable ; yet may it be replied upon ; and the very self same reasons which it produceth for its defence , may serve to condemn it ; for though jealousie be a mixture of love and hatred , it follows not that she must be most violent of all our passions ; the very same whereof she is composed , would not agree together were they not sweetned . and as the elements cannot make one and the same body , unless their qualities be moderated , so cannot all these passions form our jealousie unless they be tempered ; and it must necessarily ensue that love weakens hatred , that joy moderates sorrow , and that hope sweetens despair . it hath been observed that two passions taken together , lose their force , and that serving as an antidote one against another , they do no mischief ; or if they do any , they cure it again . so in jealousie love is the antidote to hatred ; the jealous man suffers little harm , because he hath many passions , and he may boast , that by a strange destiny , he owes his welfare to the number of his enemies . but since after having worsted a falshood a truth must be established , let us say that according to our principles this question is not hard to resolve ; for as we acknowledge but one passion , which is love , and that all the rest are but effects of her producing , we are bound to confess , that they borrow all their efficacy from their cause ; and that they have no other violence than what is hers . love is a soveraign which imprints his qualities in his subjects ; a captain which imparts part of his courage to his souldiers ; and 't is a primum mobile which bears about all the other heavens by its impetuosity ; insomuch as morality ought only endeavour how to govern love ; for when this passion shall be handsomly ruled , all other will imitate her . and he knows well how to love , or how to love well , shall have no evil desires , nor vain hopes to moderate . the fifth discourse . whether there were any passions in the state of innocency , and whether they were of the same nature as are ours ? t is so long since we lost our innocency , as there remains nothing unto us but a weak idaea thereof ; and did not divine justice punish the fathers fault in the children , we should likewise have lost the sorrow for it . every one describes the felicity of that state according to his imagination ; methinks a man may say that as many as speak thereof , guide themselves according to their inclinations ; and that they place there , such pleasures as they are acquainted with , and do most desire . some say the whole earth was one paradise ; that of the seasons , whereof our years are composed , there was only autumn , and the spring : that all trees had the property of orange trees , and that they were at all times loaded with leaves , flowers , and fruit ; others perswade themselves that no wind blew there , but the south-west ; and that the ground uncultivated prevented our need , and brought forth all things . i think that without maintaining these opinions a man may say , that in this happy condition bad was not mingled with good , and that the qualities of the elements were so well tempered , as that man did thereby receive all contentment ; and felt no displeasure . he had no disorders to reform ; no enemies to fight withal , nor mischiefs to eschew ; all creatures conspired towards his felicity ; the beasts bare respect unto his person ; and it may be that even those which remained in the forrests were not wild ; as the earth bare no thorns , and all the parts thereof were fruitful and pleasing , so had not the heavens any malign influences , and that constellation which dispenseth life and death in nature , had no aspect which was not innocent , and favourable . if there be so little certainty touching the state of man , there is no more assurance for what regards his person ; we argue according to our understandings , and as in the first ages idols were made of all particulars ; every one shapes out a felicity for adam , and gives him all the advantages that may be imagined . amongst so many opinions or errors , i see nothing more consonant to reason then that which saint augustine writes concerning this ; for though he determine nothing in particular , he resolves so well for the general , as there is none that appeals from his opinion . though we cannot describe ( saith he ) neither the beauty of the place , where man made his residence , nor the advantages of his mind and body , we are bound ●o believe he found in his habitation , whatsoever he could wish ; and that he felt nothing in his body which could incommodiate him . his constitution was excellent , his health was unalterable , and if time could weaken it , he prevented that mischief , by making use of the tree of life , which repairing his forces , furnish'd him with new vigor . he was immortal , not by nature , but by grace ; and he knew that ●in could not bereave him of life , without making him lose his innocence . his soul was no less happily constituted than was his body ; for besides that he was infused with all sciences , that he knew all the secrets of nature , and that he was not ignorant of any thing which could contribute to his felicity ; his memory was happy , his will had alwaies good inclinations , his affections were regulated ; and though he were not insensible , he was of so equal a temper , as nothing could trouble his repose . the passions , which by their violence , do anticipate reason , waited his directions , and never shewed themselves till they had received commandment from him . in fine , his passions were no less natural than are ours , but they were more tractable ; and as his constitution made him capable of all our motions , original justice exempted him from all our disorders . i know not whether i fall foul on the opinion of divines , but forasmuch as a man may see in this darkness , i think i injure not the truth ; for if man as being composed of a body was mortal , and as being honoured with original grace , immortal , methinks one may consequently infer , that not being a pure spirit , he had passions , but that being sanctified in all the faculties of his soul , all his passions were innocent . to give all the force that is requisite to this assertion , we must inlarge its principle , and prove with saint augustine , that man might die , losing original justice ; and that immortality was rather a grace from heaven than a property of his nature ; for if he had been truly immortal , he had needed no sustenance , and if death had not been natural unto him , he had needed no priviledge to have secured him from it ; since he did eat to preserve life , it follows he might lose it ; and since he was obliged to defend himself against old age , by the means of a miraculous fruit , it follows necessarily , he might die , and that his life as well as ours needed remedies against death . i confess that they being better than are ours , he repaired his strength more advantageously , and that by prolonging the course of his life , they kept the hour of his death farther off ; i affirm likewise that they kept away corruption from his body , and that they kept him in so perfect a health , as that it could not be altered ; but then they must likewise grant me , that if man had not used these remedies , his natural heat had consumed his humidum radicale ; and that old age succeeding this disorder , he must inevitably have died . all these maximes are to serve , as saint augustine is obliged to confess , that if the use of the tree of life were permitted unto us in the condition wherein we are , death would no longer domineer in the world , and that man , sinful as he is , would not cease to be immortal . if then adam were capable of death , because he had a body , and if he were incapable thereof because he had grace , methinks by like proportion one may say , he had passions ; since his soul was ingaged in a material subject , but that they were tractable , for original justice did repress their motions , and that in this innocent condition , he had only just fears and rational desires . i verily conceive there may be some passions , the use whereof were interdicted him , and that though he were capable thereof , he was not therewithal agitated ; because they would have troubled his quiet . i am easily perswaded that all evil being banished from off the earth , sadness and despair were likewise exempted from hi● heart ; and that during so high a pitch o● felicity , reason was not bound to excit● such passions as only belong unto the miserable ; but assuredly i am confident h● made use of all others , and that thinkin● upon the laws that were imposed upon hi● by his soveraign lord , he was sometimes flattered by hopes , sometimes astonished by fear , and by them both joined together kept within his duty . i doubt not likewise but that in the unhappy conference which our unwise mother had with the devil in the shape of a serpent she was seized upon by as many passions as usually people are , who consult upon any important affairs ; that the devils promises did stir up her hope , that god almighties threats did cause fear in her , and that the loveliness of the forbidden fruit did irritate her desire . i know not whether some other may imagine this dialogue could pass without some dispute , but i know very well that saint augustine ( with whom i believe a man cannot be mistaken ) doth argue thus upon this subject 〈◊〉 and that he believes so great a bickering was not made in the earthly paradise , without the womans making use of all her passions either to defend her self , or to suffer her self to be overcome . 't is true , this authentical man seems to be of another opinion in his ninth chapter of the city of god , but he who shall well examine his reasons , will find that he endeavours not so much to exclude passions from out the soul of adam , as their disorder , judging aright that their disorder could not accord with original justice . therefore i am perswaded that man had our agitations in the state of innocency , and he feared punishment , and hoped for reward ; that as he made use of his senses , inasmuch as they made up a part of his body , he also used his passions , inasmuch as they were a part of his soul , and that in brief they did not differ from ours in nature , but in obedience . the sixth discourse . whether there were any passions in our saviour christ , and wherein they differ'd from ours ? not to know that the son of god was pleased to take upon him our nature , with all the weakness thereof ; and that , set aside ignorance , and sin ; ( which could not correspond with the sanctity of his person ; ) he hath vouchsafed to bear our miseries , conversing with men in the likelihood of a sinner , were to be ignorant of all the principles of christian religion . hence it came that during his term of mortal life , it behoved him to preserve himself by nourishment ; to repair his strength by rest , to suffer his body to sleep ; and to use all means which providence hath ordained for these natural maladies . he was subject to the injuries of time , to the unseasonableness of seasons . men have seen him benummed with cold , during the violence of winter , and bedewed with sweat , during the heat of summer : the elements spared him not , and if they reverenced him as god , they persecuted him as man. the same creatures which obeyed his word , warred against his body ; the waves which grew calm at his awaking , had assaulted the ship wherein he was ; hunger which he had overcome in the de●arts , assailed him in towns. and upon the cross he tasted the terrors of death , from which he had delivered lazarus . then as ●assions are the most natural weaknesses ●f man , he would not exempt himself ●rom them , and he would have them to be ●s well witnesses of his love unto us , as as●rances of the truth of his incarnation . he ●ingled his tears with those of magdalen ; ●ough by his power he might have remedied her evils , he would out of compassion resent them . before the doing of a miracle he would undergo a weakness , and weep over a dead man , whom he went about to revive ; he suffered sadness , often to seize upon his heart , and by a strange wonder , he accorded joy with sorrow in his all-blessed soul. in fine , according to the incounters of his life , he made use of passions . he taught us that there was nothing in man which he contemn'd since he had taken his infirmities upon him , and that he loved well the nature of man , since he did cherish even the defects thereof . for to believe that his resentments were but imaginary , is in my opinion to clash against the mystery of the incarnation , to give the lye to truth it self , and ( to give iesus christ a bootless honor ) make us doubt all the assurances of his love . since he had a true body he could have no false passions ; and since he was veritably man , he ought to be veretably afflicted . a man gannot gainsay this truth without weakening our belief . if it be permitted to suffer the tears of the son of god to pass for illusions , one may make his sorrow pass for imposturism , and under the pretence of reverency a man may overthrow the ground-work of our souls welfare . but we must have a care left whilst we establish the love of the son of god , we commit no outrage upon his greatness , or omnipotency , and that whilst we allow him passions , we free them from their disorders ; for we must not believe that they were unruly , as are ours , nor that they required all those virtues to tame them as are necessary for us . he was their absolute master , and they in their birth , progress and continuance depended upon his will. in their birth , because they never raised themselves , but by order from him , but alwaies waited that reason might make them serve his designs . ours for the most part do surprize us , and are so ready to be moving , that the wisest men cannot keep back their first motions ; they are so given to disorder , as the ●east occasion sets them on fire ; their sleep is so unquiet , as the least matter will awaken them ; they are so given to war , that upon the least provocation they take up arms , and make more spoil upon their own territories , then would an enemies army do . their disorder proceeds not so much from their objects as from their humour ; and it fares with their storms as it doth with those , who being at the bottom of the sea , mount up again by their proper motion . but they caused no tempests in iesus christ , or if sometimes their waves went high , they were led on by reason , which alwaies kept the power to appease the trouble she had caused . as their birth depended upon his will , so made they no progress or advancement , but by his permission , and their moving proceeded alwaies from some reasonable cause . men betake themselves to things which merit not their love , and have oft times strong passions , for weak and woful subjects . imprudency seeks them in choler ; and not weighing the difference of faults , they punish a word as rigorously as they do a murderer : their ambition is blind , their desires unruly , their sadness ridiculous ; and who shall compare all their passions with the causes which produce them , will find them all to be unjust . a consul made a slave be eaten by lampreys for having broken a glass : a princes anger caused a town to be drowned in the bloud of its inhabitants ; and to revenge an injury done to an image of brass or marble made men , the lively image of god , lose their lives . sorrow hath made idols to comfort her ; fathers not able to raise agai● their dead children , have deified them ; & through an excess of love and sorrow have built temples unto them , after they had taken them out of their graves . in fine , all the motions of our souls are irrational ; we cannot measure or bound our joy , nor our displeasures ; our hatred exceeds our injuries ; our love is more ardent than the sub●ect which sets it on fire , and we ground ●irm hopes upon perishable things . but the passions of the son of god were so regu●ated , as in their motions a man might observ● the worth of the subject which caused ●hem to arise ; he was not angry save only ●o revenge the injuries done unto his father , ●r punish the impieties of those who pro●haned his temple ; he had no affection ●●ve for those that did deserve it ; if he saw ●o perfection in his friends , he loved such ●s he would place there , and loving them he ●ade them worthy of his love : he never ●●rrowed save upon great occasion ; and ●hough the cross was a sufficient object of ●rief , i verily believe his soul was more ●arrowly touched with the horror of our ●s , than with the shame or cruelty of his ●unishment . such regulated passions cea●d when he pleased , and their continu●ce , was no less subject to his empire , than was their progress . we are not masters of our passions ; as in their birth they set at nought our advice , they laugh at our counsels during their course ; they never stay till they be weary , and we owe not our quiet so much to their obedience , as to their weakness . when they are violent , our care cannot overcome them , and there are some of them so stif●necked as they will not die , but together with us , therefore we ought to suppress them in their birth , and to advise with reason , whether it be to any purpose to draw souldiers into the field , who when they have their weapons in their hands despise the authority of their chief commander . the beginning of war depends oft times upon two parties , but the end thereof depends alwaies upon the victory ; and he is not easily brought to a peace , when he finds his advantage lies in the continuance of war. all these rules prove false in the passions of iesus christ. he did even exceed therein when the subject did deserve it , & though they were chafed , they becam● calm , as soon as he would have them so t● be . their heat as it was reasonable , so wa● it as soon extinguished as kindled , so as joy did immediately succeed sadness , and on● might at the same time see pleasingness take the same place in his countenance , which choler had possest . it is peradventure for this reason that saint ierome could not resolve to call the agitations of the soul of our saviour iesus christ , passions ; believing that to name them as criminals , was to injure their innocence , and that there was injustice , in giving the same name to things , the conditions whereof were so different . but every one knows that qualities change not nature ; and that the passions of the son of god were not less natural for being more obedient than are ours . in my opinion it is a new obligation which we have to his goodness , that he hath not despised our weakness ; he will eternally reproach us if we desire not his glory , since he coveted our welfare ; if we fight not against his enemies , since he hath overcome ours ; if we shed not tears for injuries done unto him , since he hath shed his blood for our sins . and he will have just occasion to complain upon our ingratitude , if our passions serve not ●o witness our love to him , since he hath ●mployed all his to assure us of his charity . the second treatise . of the disorder of passions in man. the first discourse . of the corruption of nature by sin. though there be many wonderful things in man , which deserve consideration , & that his qualities witness unto us , the greatness & power of his creator ; there is nothing more remarkable in him , than his constitution ; for he is composed of a body and soul ; he in his person unites heaven and earth ; and being more monstrous than are the centaures in the fable , he is both angel and beast , as the power of god appeareth in the uniting of these two , so different parties ; his wisdome is no less evidently seen in the good intelligence they hold ; for though they had contrary inclinations , that the one should bow downward towards the earth whereof it was formed , and that the other should raise it self up towards heaven from whence it had its original , yet god did so well temper their desires , and in the diversity of their conditions so streightly united their wills by original justice , as the soul shared in all contentments of the body , without any injury to her self , and the body served to all the designs of the soul , without doing any violence to its self . in this happy estate , the soul commanded with mildness , the body obeyed with delight , and whatsoever object presented it self , these two parties did always agree . but this happiness continued no longer than our first father was obedient to god ; as soon as he listened to the devil , and that inticed by his promises he had took part with him , his punishment was answerable to his fault , and his disobedience was punished by a general rebellion ; for to boote that his creatures revolted against him , and that his subjects , that they might serve gods justice , became his enemies , the revolt passed from his condition to his person ; the elements divided themselves in his body , and his body mutinied against his soul. this intestine war was the sooner kindled , between these two parties , for that their peace was not so much an effect of nature as of grace ; the hatred which succeeded their love was so much the more violent , for that it was animated by sin , which being but a meer disorder , causeth divisions every where , and satisfieth its own fury in executing the decrees of divine justice ; so as we must not wonder if the rebellion which man suffers , be so great , since it takes its rise from two so puissant principles , and that the parties which compose it are incouraged to the combat by the contrariety of their inclinations , and by the malice of sin , which doth possess them . this mischief hath caused the greatest saints to sigh . the apostle of the gentiles , finding no remedy for this malady , but death , wish'd for it as a favour , and as such a one , made suit for the most rigorous of our punishments ; he in his writings , hath prepared all christians to this war , and hath made them know that a man cannot hope for peace in this life , since the body made enterprizes upon the soul , and that the soul was obliged evilly to intreat her body . from this great disorder the like of our passions have ensued ; for though they be the off-spring of the soul and body , & that being equally produced by these two parties , they should endeavour their agreement , yet these unnatural children , augment their division , and according as they hold more of the soul or the body , take part with the one , or with the other of them , and perform no act of obedience wherein there is not somewhat of rebellion . the concupiscible appetite doth almost always hold intelligence with the body , and the irascible appetite sides always with the soul. the first engages us in delights , and keeps us in a shameful idleness ; the second arms us against sorrow , and encourageth us to generous actions ; in this continual bickering the soul of man is never at quiet , and man is constrained to nourish vipers which do devour him . philosophers have indeed found this mischief , but they thought it lay only in the will , and not in the nature of man. they were perswaded , that opinion and ill breeding caused these disorders , and that as one evil is cured by its contrary , this might be remedied by wholsom doctrine , and good education . they founded academies , wherein they disputed about the summum bonum . they made panegyricks in the behalf of virtue , and invectives against vice . they declaimed against the unruliness of passions ; and measuring their abilities by their desires , they promised victory and tryumph to themselves . but not finding the original of the malady , by consequence they could never light upon the remedy ; amidst the weakness they underwent , and their vain indevours , they were enforced to accuse nature , and to complain even of that soveraign power which hath composed man of pieces , which could not be made agree . a glimpse of light would certainly have rectified them , and a chapter of saint pauls would have made them know the truth ; for since they agreed with us that god cannot be defective in his workmanship , and that he is too just to require things at our hands which exceed our power , they must have concluded that our disorder was the punishment of our sin , and that the infirmity which we lament was not an effect of our nature , but the correction of gods justice ; by thinking thus they would have endeavoured to appease him whom they had injured , and confessing their infirmity , they would have implored his assistance ; but pride blinded them , and to make use of seneca's words against himself , they would rather accuse providence , than acknowledge their own misery ; and rather impute their disorder to gods rigour , than to their own offences . they either could not , or would not comprehend , what reason taught them before , that faith had published by the mouth of saint paul and of saint augustine , that the rebellion of the flesh against the spirit is not a condition of nature , but the punishment of sin . from what hath been said 't is easie to infer , that since man is sinful , since his passions have revolted , since the soul , which ought to govern them , is darkned , and that the will , which ought to moderate them , is depraved , he must of necessity have recourse to grace , and beg that of mercy , which justice hath bereaved him of . the same power which formerly accorded our soul with our body , must now end these differences . if the condition of this miserable life be such as will not suffer us to enjoy a perfect peace , we must seek for forces wherewithal to fight ; so if we cannot shun the misfortunes of war , we may hope for the advantages of the victory . the second discourse . the nature alone is not sufficient to rule the passions of man. though the stoicks be declared enemies unto passions , and that they cannot be judged in a cause wherein they are a party , yet methinks their judgments have some colour of justice , and that it is with reason that they do mix our passions with our vices . for in the condition whereinto sin hath reduced us , our apprehensions are no more pure , our nature being corrupted , all the inclinations thereof must needs be out of order , and the rivers which run from a polluted spring must needs be troubled . i know philosophers will not agree of this truth , and they never permit us to accuse nature of an error , since they take her for their guide , nor that we dishonour her , all whose motions they esteem so regular . they profess to follow her in all things , and hold that to live happily , a man must live according to nature . the libertines plead this maxim , and will excuse their disorders by a doctrine which they understand not ; for had they studied in the stoicks schools , they would find that those philosophers presuppose that nature was in her first purity , and that they took her not for their guide , but for that they imagined she had preserved her innocency . so banished they from their sages , and even from their disciples all those affections , which they would have pass for natural , and by a generous , but a useless endeavour , they would have us to be as well governed in the state of sin , as in that of original justice . but christians who have learn'd by the holy scripture , that nature is fallen from her first purity , are bound to confess , that the passions have revolted , and that to bring them again into subjection reason must be assisted by grace ; for there is no man , but sees that the understanding is engaged in the errour , and that it confusedly receives falshoods and truths : that the will applies it self more to appearing , than to real good ; that her interests are the rules of her inclinations , and that she loves not that which is good , save that she is therewithal delighted ; that by experience she finds , she hath lost much of her liberty ; and that if sin hath not taken from her all the love she had to good , it hath left her but weak helps , and useless desires to come by it . as her forces are but small , to atchieve what is good , she hath yet smaller power to rule her passions ; and though she approve not of their disorders , she knows not how to remedy them . oft times by a strange misfortune , she foments their sedition , which she ought to hinder , and that she may not afflict her subjects , she becomes guilty of their crimes . the christian philosopher is therefore bound to employ aid from heaven to overcome these rebels , and confessing that his reason is weakned , he must look for help from without himself , and beg favour from him who hath permitted the unruliness of nature for the punishment of sin. but that we may not be said to be enemies to the greatness of man , and that we make his disaster greater than it is , we confess that nature is good in her foundation , and that very sin is an excellent proof thereof ; for as it is but a non ens , it cannot subsist by it self , for its preservation it must needs fasten it self to some subject that may uphold it , and which may impart unto it part of its essence . so evil is ingraffed upon good , and sin is upholden by nature ; which is much endamaged by so evil a guest , but doth not therefore lose all the advantages thereof . for since she conserves her own being , she must likewise conserve unto her self some goodness , since she is not annihilated for being become criminal , she must amidst her misery enjoy some good fortune , and amidst her faultiness some tincture of innocence must remain . and this is it which saint augustine affirms in as learned as eloquent terms . the being of man is certainly praised , though the sin thereof be blamed , and no better reason can be given , for the blaming of sin , than by making it appear that by the contagion thereof , it dishonoureth what was honourable by nature . if we consider her then in her ground-work or foundation , she hath lost nothing of her goodness ; but if we look upon her , under the tyranny of sin , she hath almost lost her use , and she can make no more use of her faculties , unless freed from the enemy which possesseth her ; methinks she may be compared to the birds that are taken in nets ; they have wings but cannot fly , they love liberty but cannot regain it . so men in the state of sin , have good inclinations , but they cannot pursue them , they have good designes but cannot put them in execution ; and more unfortunate than the aforenamed birds they love their prison , and agree with the tyrant that doth persecute them . in this sad condition , they have need of grace to comfort them , and to strengthen them , if not totally to free them from the enemy which pursueth them , at least to give them liberty of operating , and to put them into a capacity of practising virtue , of contesting with vice , and of ruling their passions . this necessity which we impose upon man of receiving grace , ought not to appear so harsh , since even before his disorder he stood in need of a forreign succour ; and that in his natural purity , he could not avoid sin without a supernatural aid . for he is so composed , that in all his motions he is forced to have recourse unto god ; and since he is his image , he cannot operate but by his spirit . though humane nature ( saith saint augustine ) had continued in the integrity wherein god created it , yet could it not have preserved it self against sin without grace ; and drawing a consequence from this first truth , he with a great deal of reason adds ; since man without grace , could not preserve the purity which he had received ; how can he without the same recover the purity which he hath lost ? he must then resolve to submit himself to his creator , if he will assubject his passions ; and he must become pious if he will be reasonable . for ought there to be any relation between our welfare and our loss ? passions did not revolt against the understanding till that had revolted against god : there is reason to believe they will never obey the underdanding , till that be obedient to god ; and as our mischief hath taken ●ts rise from our rebellion , our good must take its beginning from our assubjection . if prophane philosophers object unto us , ●hat reason was in vain allowed us to moderate our passions , if she have no power ●ver them ; and that nature is a useless guide ●f she her self have need of a conductor , ●e must satisfie them by experience , and ●each them without the holy scripture , that ●here are disorders in man which reason a●one cannot regulate , and that we are sub●ect unto maladies , which nature without ●race cannot cure . the third discourse . that the disorder of our passions considered , grace is requisite to the government thereof . those who are instructed in the mysteries of christian religion , confess that the grace which iesus christ hath merited for us , doth infinitely surpass that grace which adam by his fall deprived us of . the advantages thereof are such , as do exceed all our desires ; and the most ambitious of mankind , could never have wished for the good which we hope for thereby . for to boot that we are thereby raised to a pitch far above our condition , and that we are thereby promised an happiness equal to that of the angels , we have iesus christ thereby given us for our head ▪ and we are thereby so straightly joined unto him , as that his father is bound to admit us for his children . but all these priviledge● regard rather the future than the present . and though we have the pledges of these gracious promises , we do not as yet enjoy all the effects thereof . the grace which purchaseth this right for us , resides in the depth of our soul , the which she sanctifieth , leaving the body engaged in sin . she begins the work of our salvation , but doth not finish it ; she divides the two parts whereof man is composed , and giving strength unto the spirit , she leaves the flesh in its weakness . but by a stranger miracle she parts the soul from the spirit , and worketh a division in their unity , for to take her aright ; 't is only the superior part of the soul which doth fully resent the effects of grace , and which in baptism receives the virtue of that divine character which gives us right to heaven , as to our inheritance . hence it is that one apostle terms us but imperfect workmanship , and the beginning of a new creature . we belong unto iesus christ , only for what belongs unto the soul. he is the father only of this no●le part which he hath enriched with his merits ; but the other part , which is engaged in the body , and which by an unfortunate necessity , sees it self bound to ani●ate the disorders , and to foment the ●assions thereof , is not altogether delivered from the tyranny of sin ; she groaneth under the weight of her iron ; and this glorious captive , is constrained to be wail the rigour of her servitude , whilst her sister enjoys the sweets of liberty . for as saint augustine teacheth us , baptism takes not away concupiscence , but doth moderate it ; and notwithstanding any strength that it giveth unto our soul , it leaves a kind of languishment , whereof the soul cannot be cured till in glory . 't is true that this weakness or defection is not a sin ; and though it be the spring-head from whence all the rest do derive , it cannot make us blameable , unless when by reason of our remissness we follow the motions thereof . and it cannot be said with honour to our soul , that this disorder is in our body , and that the soul is not affected therewithal , save only out of pity , or infected but by contagion : for besides that original sin , ( whereof this misgovernment is an effect ) abideth in her substance , all the world knoweth that the body is capable of operating by its self , and that necessarily the soul which animates it , must be that which makes it revolt ; and that that which gives it life , must give it irregular motions and desires . 't is she that raiseth the flesh against the spirit , and which , as not being intirely possest by grace , doth obey sin . 't is she that awakens passions ; 't is she who through a strange infatuation , or blindness , affords them weapons wherewithal to hurt her self , and who excites the sedition wherewithal to trouble her tranquility . this is saint augustines doctrine ; and if we had not so great a doctor for our warranty , all philosophy would serve us for caution , since according to the principles thereof we must believe , that the body doth nothing without the soul , and that even then when the body seems to undertake any thing maugre the soul , it is effected by the succour which the body receiveth from the soul. insomuch as she is the rise of the evil , and without reason she complains of the bodies revolt , since she is the chief therein , and that of all the faults which she imputeth to the body , the body is not the author , but only the confederate . now as the passions reside in that part of the soul which is infected by sin , we must not wonder if they rebel , since their mother is disobedient . and we must not once think they should be stifled by grace , since she suffers the very power which produceth them , to remain in rebellion . all that a man can wish for in her guidance , is that she may moderate their aptness to rage , that she suppress their violence , and that she prevent their first motions . this is one of her chief employments ; for when she hath obliged the understanding to know god , and the will to love him , she enlargeth her care to the inferior part of the soul , and endeavours to calm the passions thereof . she goes not about to destroy them , because she very well knows , it is a work reserved for glory ; but she employeth all her forces to regulate them ; as she makes good use of sin , to humble her she wisely makes use of their revolt to exercise us . she propounds unto them objects of innocency to make them be serviceable to her virtue : and makes them ( as saint paul saies ) ministers of justice ; for christian humility is an enemy to the vanity of the stoicks ; and knowing very well that we are not angels , but men , she doth not in vain endeavour to destroy one part of us , but she obligeth us to make advantage of our defaults , and to manage our passions so dexterously , a● that they may obey reason , or that they wage not war against her , save only so far a● she may obtain the victory . i should injur● this imagination , if i should render it i● other words , than doth saint augustine . we consider not in a pious man whether he be offended or not , we weigh not the measure of his sorrow , but the subject . and we labour not so much to know whether he be afraid , as to know why . for if we be angry with a sinner , intending so to correct him ; if we afflict our selves with one that is in misery , out of an intention of comforting him , and if through fear we divert a man from the mischief he was about to do unto himself , i do not believe there is any so severe judg as will condemn so useful passions ; and he must necessarily want judgment , did he not defend so harmless affections . their excess is then only blameable , and reason assisted by grace ought to employ all her industry to moderate them . but because concupiscence is the spring-head from whence they derive , reason must endeavor to dry it up , and use her uttermost means to obviate the wicked effects thereof , by stifling the cause which produceth them . the enemy , which we undertake , is born with us , he draws his forces from ours , he grows greater as we do , and weakens as we grow old ▪ we have this of obligation to old age , that it taketh from the vigor of concupiscence , by diminishing our bodily strength , and that by leading us to death , it likewise leadeth this rebel insensibly thither . we must notwithstanding leave all for age to do ; in a business which so much imports our salvation , we ought sooner to begin a war , which ends not but with our life , and diminish our own forces , thereby to weaken those of the enemy . you are born ( saith saint augustine ) with concupiscence ; take heed lest by giving him seconds through your negligence , you raise not new enemies against you ; remember you have entred the course of this life accompanied with her , and that your honour is concerned in making her die before you , who was born with you . this victory is rather to be wished for , than hoped for ; you will not find a saint who hath destroyed this monster , but at the cost of their life ; for though they withstand concupiscence , that they oppose the desires thereof , and that they mind not her motions , save how to hinder her , yet in this combat , they are sometimes conquered ; their advantages are not pure , and their best successes are mingled with some disgraces . to kill this enemy , they must die , and they are necessitated to wish their own death that they may hasten the like of this their enemy . perfection ( as saint augustine observes ) consists in having no concupiscence ; not to follow her is to fight against her . nevertheless by continuance of courage one may hope for victory , but certainly it cannot be obtained , but when death is happily consummated by life in the kingdom of glory . hence i infer , that since grace cannot extinguish concupiscence , she cannot ruine passions , and that all the assistance that man can hope for from grace , is so handsomly to manage passions , as that they may defend virtue and oppugn vice . the fourth discourse . that opinions , and the senses do cause the disorder of our passions . though sin be the original of all our mischief , and that all the miseries we undergo are the punishments for our faults ; we seem to take pleasure in increasing them by our evil guidance , and that we invent every day new penalties , to which divine justice had not condemned us ; we are not contented to know our passions are revolted , and that without the assistance of grace , reason cannot regulate them ; we nourish their disorder , and to make them the more insolent , we admit of opinions which raise them up at their pleasure . for of a thousand passions which are raised in our soul , there are not any two that take truth for their guide ; and the evil which they apprehend , or the good which they desire , appear rather so to be , than that they are so indeed . to mend this disorder , we must take cognizance of opinion , mark her birth and progress . opinion is not so much a judgment of the understanding , as of the imaginations , whereby she doth either approve of , or condemn things which the senses represent unto her . this is the most usual evil of our life , and if it were as constant as it is common , our condition would be very sad ; but it changeth at every moment , that which is the cause of its birth , causeth likewise the death thereof . and imagination forsakes it with as much ease as she gave it entertainment . it taketh its rise from our senses , and from the reports of the world , so as it is no marvel if the best grounded opinion cannot subsist long , since the foundations thereof are so bad ; for our senses are liars , and like inchanted glasses , they present disguised objects unto us . their reports are seldom uninteressed ; and as they fasten themselves to objects , they endeavour to engage imagination . when i consider the soul as a prisoner in the body , i bewail her condition , and i wonder not if she so oft takes falshood for truth , because it entereth by the gate of the senses ; this divine spirit is inclosed in the body , not having any other cognizance save what she borroweth either from the eyes or the ears thereof ; and these two senses which by nature seem so particularly appropriated to knowledge are such deceivers , as their devices are for the most part but impostures ; blindness is to be preferred before their false lights , and they had better leave us in our ignorance than help us to such malignant and so doubtful knowledge . they consider only the appearances of things ; they stop at accidents , their weakness cannot penetrate into substances ; they are like the sun , and as they take all their light from him , they endeavour to imitate him in their actions . every one thinks that this goodly planet is extreamly useful to us when it comes about our horizon ; and that it affords those beauties to nature which darkness had bereft it of . but the platonicks have found that the advantage we receive thereby , equals not the prejudice it bringeth along with it ; for when it discovers the earth unto us , it hides the heavens from us ; when it exposeth lilies and roses to our sight , it hinders us from seeing the stars , and takes from us the sight of the most beautiful part of the world . so the senses take from us the cognizance of divine things to furnish us with the like of what is humane . they make us only see the appearances of objects , and hide their truth from us . we remain ignorant under these bad masters , and our imagination being informed but by their reports , we can only conceive false opinions . i find therefore that nature is more severe unto us than is religion , and that it is much more difficult to be rational than to believe aright ; for though the truths which religion proposeth unto us , are of so high a nature as our understanding cannot comprehend them , though she demand of us a blind obedience , and that to believe her mysteries , we must subdue our reason , and give the lie to all our senses ; yet this commandment is not injurious ; if she take from us our liberty , she preserves our honour , she frees our understanding from the tyranny of our senses , she submits it to the legitimate empire of the supream intelligence , which she illustrates unto us by her light ; she takes us from earth , that she may raise us up to heaven , and takes not from us the use of reason , save only to make us acquire the merit of faith. but nature ingaging our soul in our body , makes her a slave to our senses , and obligeth her in her noblest operations , to consult with those that are blind ; and to draw her light from out their darkness . hence it is that all our knowledge is full of errour , and that truth is never without falshood , that opinions are uncertain , and that our passions which obey them , are always out of order . the worlds report is no surer a guide ; and those who listen thereunto , are likely never to enjoy true rest ; for this rumour is nothing else but the opinion of the people , which is not the truer for being the more common . that which seemeth to authorize it doth condemn it ; and nothing ought to make it more suspected than the great number of its partakers . the nature of man is not so well regulated , as that the best things be those that please most people ; ill opinions , as well as good ones , ground themselves upon the number of their approvers ; and when we would side with any opinions , we ought not to number , but to weigh the votes . the common people who gape after liberty , delight to live in servitude , never make use of judgment , and in worldly affairs , which of all others ought to be the most free , they are rather led by example than by reason ; they follow those who go before , and not examining their opinions , they embrace , they defend them ; for after having recived them , they desire to divulge them ; as in factions , they endeavour to engage others on their party , and to make their malady prove contagious . in so much as seneca's maxime proves true , that man is not only failing to himself , but unto others , and that he communicates his errors to all those that come nigh him . when our imagination is filled with ill opinions , she exciteth a thousand disorders in the inferior part of our soul , and raiseth up passions according to her pleasure ; for being blind , they cannot discern whether the good or bad which is proposed to them , be only likely or true ; and abused by the imagination , whose empire they reverence , they either draw nearer unto , or fly further from objects ; their blindness serves them for excuse , and they lay their faults upon that hath deceived them . but to prevent this disorder , the understanding must keep it self in its authority , it must assubject imagination to its laws ; it must take heed lest opinion endeavour to establish her self , and must consult with reason to defend it self against errour and falshood ; thus will passions always be peaceable , and their motions being regulated , they will be serviceable unto virtue . the fifth discourse . that there is more disorder in the passions of man , than in those of beasts . before we resolve this question , we must discuss another , and examine whether beasts be capable of these motions which we call passions . for as our adversaries confound them with vices , and as they will have all the affections of the inferiour part of our soul to be criminal ; they hold that beasts are exempt from them , and that having no freedom or liberty , one cannot impute unto them either virtue , or sin. that they are led on by an instinct which cannot err , and if sometimes they seem to do amiss , we must attribute it to providence , which disordereth them for our punishment , or which suffereth their unruliness , to put us in mind of our wickedness ; 't is therefore that their motions serve for plagues to all people , and that the infidels took counsel by the flying of birds , and the entrails of victims , that they might know what was to come , or what heaven had decreed . but though beasts be exempt from sin , and that they owe their innocency to their servitude , they are not notwithstanding insensible . all philosophers acknowledge they have inclinations , and aversions , and that according as objects give against their eyes or ears , they excite desire or fear in their imaginations . in effect , the nethermost part of our soul hath such correspondency with our senses , as that she borrows her name from them , and is called sensitive ; insomuch , as it is almost impossible , but that any thing that entreth by those passages , with any contentment or detestation , should cause either pleasure , or pain in the soul. as beasts have these two faculties , which give them feeling and life ; we must necessarily conclude , that they have passions , that they approach to what is good , out of desire , and shun what is evil , out of dislike ; that they taste the one with joy , and suffer the other with sorrow . this reason is confirmed by examples ; for we see every day how horses are brought to manage through the fear of punishment , that the spur quickens their memory , that the noise of trumpets puts them in good humor , and that very hurts do animate their courage ; bulls fight for glory , and joining craft with strenth , dispute as hotly for the ●eading of an herd , as princes do for the ●onquest of a kingdom : lions in their ●ighting covet not so much revenge as ●onour ; when they see their enemy on the ●round , their choler is appeased , and having ●aken up arms only for glories sake , they ●ontent themselves with this advantage , ●nd gives life to what yields the victory . ●n fine , they are netled as well by jealousie , as by love , they love faithfulness , punish adultery , and wash this fault in the bloud of the guilty . it cannot then be doubted , but that beasts have passions , and that they are agitated with those furious motions which trouble our quiet ; but the difficulty is to know , whether theirs or ours be more violent , and whether they or we be less regulated in our motions . truth it self obligeth us to confess , that our advantages are prejudicial to us , and that when very reason becomes a slave unto our senses , it serves only to make our affections more unreasonable . beasts apprehend not evil , but when it is nigh at hand ; they discern not what is to come , and do not much remember what is past ; the present only can make them unhappy . but men go about to find out casualties before they happen , they seem to have a design to hasten their misadvantages , and that to enlarge fortunes empire , they will prevent the evils to which she hath not yet given birth . their fear is employed both in wha● is pas● , and in what is to come ; and as they tremble at a missfortune which hath ceased to be , so they grow pale at a disaster , which hath yet no being . there are but few objects wherein beas● are concerned , set aside those things which are necessary for the maintenance of their life , and you shall find they consider all other things as indifferent . but men cannot bound their desires , either ●y reason , or necessity ; they extend them too beyond what is useful , and seek out superfluities to increase their punishments : all their passions are so out of order , as that nothing can content them . that which ought to appease them , incenseth them ; and that which is given them to satisfie their hunger , serves often times only to provoke it ; so as one may not be said to lie , if he affirm , that man is only ingenuous to his own loss , and that he employs the goodness of his wit , only to make himself more unfortunate , or more faulty : beasts are stupid , their temperature , which holds of the earth , makes them insensible , and happily exempts them from all those evils , which hurt not the body , save in as much as they have hurt the imagination . bulls must be goaded on , to make them furious ; and these heavy lumps , whose soul is but a body , do little unirritated . elephants endure all things at their masters hands ; they think not themselves hurt unless they see their bloud ; when the pain is over , their choler is appeased , and they become as tractable as they were before ; but man is of so delicate a constitution , as the slightest pain offends him ; his blood which is of the the nature of fire , is easily moved , and being once moved , it hurries fury throughout all his parts . this fury doth its greatest outrages about the heart ; for she furnisheth it with such spirits , as oftentimes she causeth that to die which gives life to the whole body , and to revenge her self of a particular injury , she hazzards the publick welfare . to compleat this mischief , this passion is so shy in man , as the least matter is sufficient to provoke it . a word troubleth it , a motion of the head offendeth it , silence sets it going ; not finding any thing to entertain it , it devours her own entrails , and by an excess of despair , turns all her rage against her self . in fine , the life of beasts being uniform , and nature having given them bounds narrow enough , they have but a few passions ; almost all their motions are caused out of a fear which possesseth them , or a desire wherewith they are affected . but as the life of man is more mingled , and that in the course thereof it is subject to a thousand different inconveniences , his passions rise up in a croud ; and wheresoever he goes he finds subjects of choler , and of fear , of pleasure , and of sorrow . therefore it is , that the poets have feigned , that his soul passeth into the body of divers creatures , and that taking all their evil qualities , he uniteth in his person the guile of serpents , the fury of tygers , choler of lions ; teaching us by this fiction , that man alone hath as many passions as have all beasts put together . 't is therefore that philosophers propound them unto us for examples , and that the stoicks after having raised our nature to such a height of greatness , are obliged to reduce us to the condition of beasts , and to place the happiness and rest of their wiseman in a strange kind of stupidity . this sense differs not much from that of the proud spirits , which being desirous to sit on the throne of god , demanded leave of jesus christ to withdraw themselves into the bodies of swine ; and that not being able to reign with the persons of the deity , they were contented to live with infamous beasts . so our proud stoicks , after having raised their wise-man , even unto heaven , and given him titles , unto which the accursed angels in their rebellion durst never pretend , they brought him down to the condition of beasts , and not able to make him insensible , they endeavoured to make him stupid . they accuse reason to be the cause of all disorders , they complain of the disadvantages we have by nature , and would lose both memory and wisdom , that they might neither foresee the evils that are to come , nor muse of those that are past . this folly is the punishment of their vanity : divine justice hath permitted that understanding which had been their idol , should become their torment ; and that they should every where divulge , that since they could not live like gods , they were resolved to live like beasts . but not immediating their despair , we are only to implore aid from heaven ; and acknowledging the weakness of reason , seek out another light to conduct us , and borrow new forces to vanquish our passions . this is that which christian religion hath taught us , and that which we shall examine in the pursuit of this work . the third treatise . of the government of passions . the first discourse . that there is nothing more glorious nor more hard to come by , than the government of passions . nature by a wise providence hath united difficulty with glory , and lest glorious things might become too common , her pleasure is , they should be hardly come by . there is nothing of greater lustre amongst men than the valour of conquerors , all orators would have been mute , had not battels bin fought , and victories bin had . but to acquire this title of honour , a man must despise death , forgo pleasures , overcome troubles ; and oftentimes purchase glory by the loss of his own life . after the valour of conquerors , there is nothing more illustrious than the eloquence of orators ; she ruleth states without violence , she governs people without weapons , she works upon their wills with sweetness , she fights , and obtains victories without blood-shed ; but to arrive at this great height , one must overcome a thousand difficulties , accord art and nature together , conceive strong thoughts , express them in good words , study the humour of the people , learn the secret of forcing their liberties , and of winning their affections . this truth appeareth evidently in the subject we treat of , and every one confesseth , there is nothing harder nor yet more honourable , than for a man to overcome his passions . for to boot that we are not assisted by any others in this conflict ; that fortune which rules as chief in all other combats , cannot favour us in this ; that men partake not of glory with us , and that we do at once the office of a common souldier , and of a commander : there is this of anger and some difficulty in it , that we fight against a part of our selves , that our forces are divided , and that nothing encourageth us in this war , but duty and integrity . upon other occasions men are spurred on by honour and envy . oft times choler , when it hath to do with virtue makes up the greatest part of our valour ; hope and boldness assist us ; and their forces being united , it is almost impossible to be overcome . but when we assail our passions , our troops are weakned by division ; we operate but by one part of our selves : let virtue or worth animate our courage with the best reason she can , our love to our enemies makes us faint-hearted , and we are afraid of a victory , which must cost us the loss of our delights . for though our passions be irregular , and that they trouble our quiet , these cease not to make up a part of our soul ; though their insolency dislike us , we cannot resolve to tear out our bowels , unless we be assisted by grace ; self-love doth betray us , and we spare rebels because they are our allies . but that which augments the difficulty , and which makes the victory more uncertain , is the power of our enemies ; for though they held no intelligence with our soul , though they should not by their cunning , divide her forces , and though she should set upon them with all her might , they are of such a nature as they may be weakned , and yet not overcome ; they may be worsted , yet not routed ; for they are so streightly joined with us , as they cannot be parted from us . their life is bound up with ours , and by a strange fate , they cannot die unless we die with them . so as this victory is never entire , and these rebels are never so much quelled , but that upon the first occasion they will frame a new army , and give us battel again . they are hydra's , which thrust up as many heads as are cut off , they are so many antaeusses who gather strength from their weakness , and who rise up the stronger , after they have been beaten down ; all the advantage which one can expect upon such unruly subjects , is to clap irons upon their hands and feet , and leave them no more power than what is requisite for the service of reason . we must treat them as we do gally-slaves , who draw alwaies their iron chains after them , and who have only the use of their arms to row ; or if you will deal with them more favourably , you must be well assured of their fidelity , and remember a maxim which ● approve not of save in this case , that reconciled enemies ought alwaies to be had in suspition . if the difficulty which accompanieth this combate astonish us , the glory which ensues thereupon ought to encourage us ; for the heavens behold nothing of more illustrious , nor doth the earth bear any thing of more glorious , than a man who commands his passions ; no crown is sufficient to adorn his head , all praises come short of his merit , nothing but eternity can recompense so exalted a virtue ; the very shadows thereof are pleasing , and the truth thereof is so beautiful , that men adore the semblance . we do not revernce socrates nor cato , but for that they had some tincture thereof , nor do we place them in the number of the sages , save for that they have triumphed over our weakest passions . the glory of these great men is purer than that of alexander or pompey ; their victory never made widow or orphan , their conquests have not laid kingdoms waste , their combates have neither caused the shedding of bloud , nor of tears ; and in the gaining of their liberty , they haveneither taken prisoner , nor made slave ; a man reads all their actions with delight , and in all the course of their harmless life , one meets not with any objects of horrour . they are born for the worlds good , they have laboured for the quiet of all men ; there is not any nation that malignes their happiness , nor which rejoyceth at their death . what honour can a conqueror hope for , who owes all his greatness to his injustice ? who is only famous for being criminal ; and of whom no mention would have been made in history , had he not slain men , burnt towns , ruined provinces , and dispeopled whole kingdoms . those who have only warred with their passions , enjoy a much more real good , and these innocent conquerors receive more glorious praises from us . we raise them above all monarchs ; and if they have lived in the church , we place them in heaven when they are dead ; we take their actions for examples to our selves , we borrow their weapons to fight with the enemies which they have vanquished , we read their lives , as conquerors do those of the caesars , we conform our selves to their virtue , and we observe the good maximes which they have held , the innocent wiles that they have practised , and the high designs which they have undertaken , that we may obtain like famous victories . their most-assured maximes were , not to trust their own strength , to implore aid from heaven , and to hope for more from grace , than from nature . if thou wilt overcome ( saith saint augustine ) presume not upon thy self , but give the honour of the victory to him from whom thou expectest the crown . their more ordinary wills were to prevent their passions , to take from them their strength , that they might take their courage from them , to set upon them in their birth , and not to expect till age had made them stronger . their most memorable enterprizes were to over-run their enemies grounds , to consider their countenance , to mark their designs , and to cut off all objects that could make them move . these means would succeed happily unto us , if we would make use of them , and we shall not want assistance ; since all the moral virtues are so many faithful allies ; who fight for our liberty , and which furnish us with weapons to subdue our passions . the third discourse . that there is no more miserable slave than he who suffers himself to be guided by his passions . liberty is so pleasing , and servitude so irksom , as a man may say without fear of exaggeration , that as the one is the chiefest of all that is good , the other is the chiefest of all that is bad ; the people have fought for the preservation of the one , and to defend themselves from the other ; nature seems to have perswaded them , 't is better to die in liberty , than live in servitude . our ancestors were so tender in this point , as they could not endure the roman authority . they were the last that subjected themselves thereunto , and the first that freed themselves from it . had not the heavens made iulius caesar of purpose to conquer them , they had never been slaves to rome ; but yet they had this of consolation in their missfortune , that under the conduct of that great prince , ' they revenged themselves of the republique that had opposed them , and made her suffer servitude , which had made them lose their liberty . though this evil be so tedious , and the good it deprives us of so pleasing , it is not comparable to that which the tyranny of passions causeth in us . and it must be granted , that of as many slaves as are in the world , there is none more unhappy , than those who obey such cruel masters . for the rest are free in their noblest part , 't is only their bodies which groan under the irons , and which feels the rigour of slavery ; their wills are not constrained ; when they are commanded any thing that contradicts their honour , or which offends their conscience , they may defend themselves from it by a noble refusal , and buy their liberty with the loss of their life . but these are slaves even in the bottom of their souls , they cannot dispose either of their thoughts or their desires ; they lose in this infamous servitude , that which captives preserve in prisons , and that which tyrants cannot rob their enemies of . the others may quit their masters , and leaving their houses , or their territories , go into places of freedom , where they may breath the air of liberty : but these , though they change countreys , change not condition ; they are slaves under crowns , they serve their passions , whilst they command their subjects ; and whithersoever they go , they drag their chains after them , and carry their masters with them . the others long after liberty , and employ their credit to obtain it : if this fail them , misery opens their understanding , and necessity , which is the mother of invention , furnisheth them with means to free themselves ; but these wretches have so far lost theirs , as they have not so much as retained the desire thereof . they love their servitude , they kiss their irons , and being strangely blinded , they fear the end of their imprisonment , and dread their deliverance . the others have but one master , and amongst so many mischiefs which afflict them , they hope to sweeten their captivity , by gaining the favor of him who commands them ; they promise unto themselves , that by their assiduous service , they may regain their liberty ; they flatter themselves in the thought thereof , and think that a slave who hath but one man to content , cannot be always unhappy : but these have as many masters to serve as passions to satisfie ; the end of one servitude , is the beginning of another ; and when they think they have escaped a surly government , they fall under an insolent tyranny ; for their change is never advantageous to them : the last master is always more cruel than the former : oft times they command all together , and as their designes do not agree , they divide these unhappy slaves , and force them to serve their wills , and to tear out their bowels , to obey rather contrary , than differing orders . sometimes ambition & love unite their flames to devour them , fear and hope set jointly upon them , sorrow and delight are reconciled together to afflict them , and one may say , that every master is a hangman which torments them , and that every order they receive , is a new punishment unto them . they have not one quiet hour , their passions persecute them day & night : and these revengeful furies change all the delights of these miserable men into cruel torments . what more deplorable thing can there be than to see alexander possest by his ambition , and see him lose his judgment , to satisfie this irregular passion . for can one think he was indued with reason , who began his exploits , by the ruine of greece , and who more unjust than the persians , silenced the town of athens , made that of lacedemon serve , and ruinated the country , which ( to no purpose ) had taught him philosophy ? this very fury made him over-run the world , commit spoiles throughout all asia , penetrate the indies , pass the seas , be angry with nature , which by the limits thereof did bound his conquests , and force him to end his designes , where the sun finisheth his course . who is not affected with pity , to see pompey , who drunk with love of a false greatness , undertakes civil and foreign wars ? sometimes he passes into spain to oppress sertorius , sometimes scoures the seas to free them from pyrats , sometimes he flies into asia , to fight with mithridates . he ransacks all the provinces of that great part of the world ; makes himself enemies , where he finds none : after so many fights and victories , 't is he alone that thinks himself not great enough ; and though men give him that name , he thinks he deserves it not , unless iulius caesar confess it . who hath not compassion for this man , who was not so much the slave , as martyr of ambition ? for he prostituted his honour , to get power ; he became slave to his army , that he might be master of the senate ; he vowed the destruction of his countrey , to revenge himself of his son in law : seeing no other state , against which he could exercise his cruelty , he employed it against the republick , and would merit the name of patricide , that he might obtain that of soveraign . he never had any motions , save those that ambition gave him . if he pardoned his enemies , 't was but only out of vain-glory ; and if he bewailed the death of cato and pompey , it was perhaps for that the honour of his victory was lessened . all his thoughts were ambitious . when he saw the image of alexander , he wept not , save only for that he had not yet shed bloud enough . whatsoever offered it self to his eyes , awakened his passions , and objects which would have taught others modesty , inspired him with pride and insolency . briefly , caesar commanded over his army , and ambition commanded over caesar , she had such ●ower over him , as the foretelling of his death did not make him change his de●ign ; and doubtlesly , he would have an●wered for himself to the soothsayers , as agrippina answered for her son to the astrologers , let him kill me , provided he may reign . if servitude be so irksom in ambition , 't is much more shameful in obscenity . it must be confest , that a man who is possest by this infamous passion , hath neither reason nor liberty , and that being inslaved to love , he is no more master of himself . did not cleopatra govern mark anthony ? might not this princess boast her self to have revenged egypt upon italy , and to have subjected the roman empire , by putting him under her laws , who governed it ? this unfortunate man lived only at the pleasure of this stranger , he did nothing but by her motions ; and never did slave labour so much to win the good will of his master , as this effeminate prince , to win the like of his proud mistress . he gave all his charges by her directions , and the best part of the roman empire , groaned under the government of a woman . he durst not overcome in the batel of actium , and rather chose to forgo his army than his love. he was the first commander that abandoned his souldiers , and who would not make use of their courage to defeat his enemy ; but what could one expect from a man who had no more any heart , and who far enough from fighting , could not so much as live , if parted from cleopatra . in brief , read the story of all the great ones , and you will find their passions have enflamed them , and that in the height of their fortune they have made use of all the punishments that tyranny could invent , to afflict those that she oppresseth . therefore ought all men to make use of reason and grace to shun the fury of these insolent masters , every one ought to resolve in his particular , rather to lose his life , than his liberty , and to prefer a glorious death before a shameful servitude . but without coming to these extreams in this combat , a will to overcome is sufficient to be victorious ; for god hath permitted , that our good fortune depend upon our will together with his grace ; and that our passions should have no further power over us , than we shall give them , since in effect experience teacheth us that they beat us not but by our own weapons , and that they make us not their slaves , but by our own consent . the third discourse . that to govern passions , a man must moderate them . though passions be ordained for the service of virtue , and that there is not any one of them , the use whereof may not be advantageous to us , we must notwithstanding confess , that we need dexterity to govern them , and that in the state whereinto sin hath reduced our nature , they cannot be useful to us , unless moderated ; that unhappy forefather o● ours , who made us to inherit his fault , hath not left us so pure a being as he had whe● he received it from god. the body and soul suffer pain , and as they were both guilty , so are they both punished . the understanding hath its errors , the will her irregular inclinations , the memory her weakness . the body , which is the channe● through which original sin passeth into the soul , hath its misery , and though it be the less faulty , yet is it the more unfortunate ; all that is in it is out of order ; the senses are seduced by objects , these help to abuse imagination , which excites disorders in the inferior part of the soul , and raiseth passions , so as they are no longer in that obedience , wherein original justice kept them ; and though they be subject to the empire of reason , yet they so mutinie , as they are not to be brought within the compass of their duty , but by force or cunning . they are born to obey the understanding , but they easily forget their condition ; and the commerce which they hold with the senses , is the cause why they oft-times prefer their advises at the commandments of the will. they raise themselves up with such might , as their natural motions are for the most part violent they are horses which have more of fury than of force : they are seas which are oftner troubled than calm . in fine , they are parts of our selves , which cannot serve the understanding till it hath allaied or tamed them . this ought not to seem strange 〈…〉 that know what spoil sin hath 〈…〉 nature ; and the very philosopher 〈…〉 fess that virtue is an art which 〈…〉 learn'd , will not find it unjust that the passions be not obedient , unless governed by reason . to execute so great a design , a man must imitate nature and art , and consider what means they use to finish their work . nature which doth all by the elements , and who of these four bodies composeth all others , never employs them till she hath tempered their qualities . as they cannot suffer together , and that their natural antipathy engages them to fight : this wise mother , by allaing their aversions , appeaseth their differences , and never unites them , 'till she hath weakned them . art , which is not invented so much to perfect nature , as to imitate her , observes the same rules , and imploys nothing in her workmanship , till it be tempered by her industry . painting would not be so cried up , had it not found out the secret of reconciling black with white , and so pacifie the natural discord of these two colours , to compose all others thereof . the riders of the great horse have no service from their horses , till they have broke them ; and that they may be useful , they must be taught to answer the bridle and the spur. lions were never made use of to draw triumphant chariots , till they were tamed ; and elephants bore not towers upon their backs in fight , till they were rid of the savage humour which they brought from the woods . all these examples are documents forthe government of our passions , and reason ought to imitate nature if she will be advantaged thereby . they mus● 〈◊〉 be employed till moderated ; and he who shall think to make them serviceable to virtue , before he hath subjugated them by grace , will ingage himself in a perillous design . in the state of innocency , when they had nothing of unruly in them , one might make use of them as they were born ; they never surprized the will : as original justice was as well shed throughout the body , as throughout the soul : the senses made no false reports and their advices being uninteressed , they were always conformable to the judgment of reason . but now , that all things in man are faulty , that the body and the soul are equally corrupted , that the senses are subject to a thousand illusions , and that imagination favours their disorders ; we must have great precaution in the use of passions . the first is to consider , what troubles their revolt hath caused in our soul , and in how many mischiefs these mutiniers have ingaged us , when they have only been led on by our eyes or ears : 't is a piece of wisdom to reap advantage by our losses , and to become wise at our own cost . the justest choler flies out sometimes , if not withheld by reason● though her motion was lawful in its bir●● , it becomes criminal in the progress thereof . it turns a good cause into a bad one ; for not having consulted with the superiour part of the soul ; and thinking to punish assight fault , it commits a great one . fear hath oft-times astonished us , for having only listned to the senses , she maketh us look pale upon a thousand occasions , without any just cause ; and sometimes she hath engaged us in real dangers , to make us shun those that were but imaginary . as then our passions have deceived us , for our not having ask'd counsel of our reason , we must resolve never to believe them any more , till we have examined , whether that which they desire , or that which they fear , be reasonable , and whether the understanding , which sees further than our eyes , cannot discover the vanity of our hopes or fears . the second precaution , is , to oblige reason , to watch alwaies over such subjects as may excite our passions , and to consider their nature , and motions , to the end that she may never be surprized . harms foreseen hurt but a little , and we are but seldom astonished at such accidents , against which we are prepared . a pilot who sees a storm coming , withdraws into the haven ; or if he be too far from it , he lanch●th into the deep , and keeps aloof from coasts , or rocks . a father who knows that his children are mortal , and that life hath no longer term than what it hath pleased god to give , will never take on too much at their loss . a prince who considers , that victory depends more upon fortune than his wisdom , and more on chances than on the valour of his souldiers , will easily be comforted though he hath been beaten : but we make not use of our understanding , & methinks , if our passions be out of order , reason ought to be accused thereof , for not having foreseen the danger , and for not having prepared our senses against their surprizals . the third precaution is , to study the nature of such passions , as we take in hand to moderate or govern . for some must be rudely dealt withal , and to reduce them to their duty , severity and violence must be made use of ; others will be flattered , and they must be gently dealt withal to make them obedient to reason . though they be subjects , they are not slaves , and the understanding which governs them , is rather their father than their soveraign . others would be cozened , and though virtue be so generous , she is tied to accommodate herself to the weakness of passions , and to make use of wiles , when force will not prevail . love is of this nature , we must divert it , not being able to banish it from out of our hearts , we must lay before it legitimate objects , and make it virtuous by an innocent cozenage : choler would be flattered , and who thinks to oppose this torrent by making a dam , hath but augmented its fury . fear and sorrow ought to be rudely dealt withal ; and of these two passions , the former is so faint-hearted , as it is not to be overcome but by force ; and the second is opinionated , as it is not to be brought within rule , but by provocation . these means being well observed , the affections of our soul may be sweetned . these savage beasts become domestick , when they have lost their natural fierceness ; reason makes good use of them , and virtue shapes no design which she executes without their mediation . the fourth discourse . that in what condition soever our passions be , they may be governed by reason . though nature be so liberal , she ceaseth not to be a good housewife , and to employ with profit that which she hath abundantly produced ; all her parts have their use , and amongst the infinite number of creatures which do compose the world , there is not any one which hath not its use . those which do us no service , contribute to our pleasures ; the most beautiful , and most delightful serve to adorn the world , and the very deformed entertain her variety . as shadows set off colours , ugliness gives a lustre to beauty ; and monsters which are the defect of nature , make her chiefest works and miracles be esteemed . there is nothing more pernicious than poison ; and were not sin barren , one would take it for one of its production , since it seems to agree with the other , to make all men die . yet hath it its use ; physick makes antidotes thereof , and there are certain sicknesses which cannot be cured but by prepared poisons ; use hath turned them into nourishment . and if there have been princes whom poison could not kill , beasts who bear it about in their bodies , cannot live without it ; that which is pernicious to us , is so necessary to them , as they cannot be berest of it without loss of life . this is that which makes all philosophers grant with saint augustine , that venom is no evil , since it is natural to scorpíons and vipers , and that they die when they lose it , as we do when we take it . if our adversaries would have the motions of our soul ; to pass for poisons , or monsters ; this reason will enforce them to confess , that they are not so absolutely evil , but that they may be prepared as well as poisons , and antidotes made thereof to cure our maladies ; or to continue our health . for consider them how you please , and give them what countenance you like best to make them hideous : reason will alwayes find a way to make use of them : and this great steward of our good and bad , can so wisely husband them , that in despight of sin , which hath disordered them , she will draw advantage and glory from them . if we look upon them in their birth , they are tractable affections , and but of weak resistance , and which by a little instruction become docile and obedient . they are children which are afrighted with words , and who for fear of a small punishment , amend their evil inclinations , and advantage their masters councils . they are young grafts , which an ill wind hath made crooked ; but which are easily set aright with a little care , and which not being yet become inflexible , will be bowed contrary to their natural inclination . neither would the platonists have the name of the passions given to these disorders in their birth ; and knowing , that they were easily governed , they were contented to call them affections , without giving them a more injurious title . if we consider them when they are grown older , when making use of our weakness , they have gotten new forces , and of simple affections are become violent passions ; we must treat them in order to their proper interests , and feeding them with hope of pleasure or glory , draw them to what is good , and divert them from evil . for in their greatest revolt , they reserve always an inclination to virtue , and an abhorrition to sin ; they are only faulty as they are abused : take away the fillet wherewith their eyes are blinded , and that will suffice to redress their motions , and correct their errors . sin hath not been able so far to dishonour nature , but that she hath always kept the grounds of her inclinations ; she always loves what is good , and hateth evil eternally ; she pursues glory , and shuns infamy ; she wisheth pleasure , and fears pain ; all her motions are as natural as innocent . the devil , who very well sees this disorder , is pernicious to his designs ; and that this impression , which is set on by the hand of god , cannot be defaced , changeth our passions ; and not being able to corrupt them , he endeavoureth to abuse them ; he propounds unto them appearing good , for what is real ; he disguis●●h sin , and puts upon it the cloak of virtue . and as thus hoodwink'd they cannot discern falshood from truth , they confound evil with good , and by a deplorable misfortune , they love what they ought to hate , and hate what they ought to love . their cure consists in disabusing them ; for how firmly soever they be tied to these disguised objects , they will flie from them as soon as they shall be made to know what is beautiful , and what is ill favoured ; and following their first inclinations , they will abhor their blindness , and will forgo the appearing good to embrace the true one . we ought to comfort our selves in our misfortune , since that the nature of passions is not altogether changed ; that since the disobedience of our forefathers , and the hatred of his enemy , they retain notwithstanding some purity ; and that in all their disorder , there is more of errour , than of malice . if in fine , we consider them in their extream violence , and in the condition wherein they throw about so much smoke and flame , as they darken reason , and force her to give over the government of them , 't is hard to make good use of them ; for they seem to have changed condition , as having sided with sin , they deserve to carry her name , and rather to be termed troubles and commotions than passions . they are so insolent , as they despise all counsel ; instead of taking law from the understanding , they will give it ; and of natural subjects , become insupportable tyrants . when the mischief is risen to this height , 't is very hard to remedy it ; and one may be said to have made all desperate , through too long expectation ; for passions will listen no longer , and reason is so troubled , as she can prescribe them no further rules ; the waves rise up even unto heaven ; that part of man which ought always to be at quiet , is engaged in the storm , and had need of others help to appease the troubles she is agitated withal . truly i do not believe , any philosopher dare undertake to cure a man in this phrensie ; remedies will make his malady the worse : there is nothing but time that can lessen it ; and it is to be wish'd for , that this torrent may find room enough wherein to extend in waters , and to dissipate the fury thereof . but when this tempest is appeased , when the passions are a little calmed , and when reason hath gotten a little light and strength , the evilness of his condition must be laid before him ; he must be made blush for his offence , and these slavish rebels must be roundly chid ; but above all , he must humble himself before god , enrich himself by his losses , and become wise at his cost . he ought also to look , by what part the enemy hath entred ; what cunning he hath used to exercise sedition , and debauch his subjects ; thus we shall be bettered by our greatest misfortunes : we shall learn by experience , that storms may bring into the haven ; and that if there be some ways that drown men , there are some which throw them upon the bank : but as there is no sailor , who will run this hazard , to oblige the heavens to do a miracle in his behalf , no man ought to expose himself to this disorder , that he may reap profits thereby ; and it is better to want an uncertain good , than to buy it by an assured loss . in consideration of these truths , we may affirm our condition is not so deplorable as those imagine it to be , who will excuse their sin upon their misery : since our good fortune is in our own power , and that we sail upon a sea , the calm or tempest whereof , depends upon our will ; we may shun the rocks the sea hides , asswage the fury of the winds which make it go high , bring ●ow the waves which it raiseth , and make a calm succeed a storm ; or by a more lucky application , we may make those rocks hide their heads , those seas to bear our vessels , ●nd those winds to conduct them . but to ●eave this figurative maner of speech , let us ●ay , there are no objects which we may not set at naught , no opinions which we may not correct , nor no passions which we may not overcome . thus our fortune is at our own disposal , the victory depends upon our own weapons , our good fortune is fastened to our desire , and a little courage only requisite to compass all these goods . the fifth discourse . what means a man must use to moderate his passions . amongst many other means , which reason may make use of to govern our passions , the most ordinary seem to be those , which she hath learn'd from hunting , where men make use of beasts already tamed to take wild ones ; and where to sport themselves , they use the courage of dogs , against the rage of wolves . so may it seem to be lawful to employ such passions , as are most submis● against those which are most rebellious , and to make use of our reconciled enemies , to vanquish those which yet war against us . men oppose joy to sorrow , suppress fear by hope , moderate delights by the pain which ensues thereupon . sometimes also men consider such passions as produce others . to drain rivers , men endeavour to dry up the spring heads from whence they derive ; and to destroy causes that they may ruine their effects . who ceaseth to hope , ceaseth to fear ; who bounds his desires , bounds his hopes ; and who covets not riches , will not be disquieted , nor have any fears for them . sometimes also a man may set upon that particular passion which bears most sway with him , that he may vanquish those that fight under the others colours , and the victory is had by one blow ; by the generals death the whole army is defeated . but though all these be specious means , and that they promise unto us , either a sound peace or a long truce , yet are they deceivers , and make us undertake things either unjust , impossible ; or dangerous . for there is danger in fortifying one enemy to destroy another , and there is no great assurance in furnishing a passion with weapons , which may as well make use of them to oppose reason , as in her behalf . 't is unjust to oppose the one against the other , since they ought to hold intelligence together . for though a politician be permitted to make war , that peace may ensue , and to put division amongst such enemies , whose agreement may prove prejudicial to us , morality is not suffered to sow discord amongst her subjects , under a vain hope of according them when they shall b● weakned . in fine , to endeavour to choak one passion , thereby to overcome the rest which proceed from thence , is to attempt an impossibility : they may well be moderated , not destroyed ; they proceed from the union of our soul with our body ; and to take away their life , the like must be done to man who produceth them . our passions are much more intimate to us than are our members ; a man may cut off these when they are infected , he cannot cut off the others when they are disobedient . also the greatest part of these advices are given us by suspected persons ; these bad reasons come from the stoicks school , who look upon passions as enemies to our quiet , and who endeavour not to regulate , but to annihilate them . they are perswaded it fares with them , as with savage beasts , which are never so well tamed , but that they always preserve somewhat of their first fierceness , and that to reduce the soul into perfect tranquility , they ought not to be allayed , but destroyed . to resolve these difficulties , we must remember that reason is king over passions ; that their government is one of her chief employments , and that she is bound to watch more particularly over those which by their motions carry others along with them : for as their revolt is followed by an universal rebellion , their obedience seems likewise to cause a general peace , and that they never acknowledge reason , but when they reduce together with themselves , all those passions which they had raised up . one may very well sometimes oppose pleasure to grief , hope to fear , and inclination to aversion , but in this combate reason must take heed , lest by weakning one passion , she add too much strength unto another ; and that whilst she would reduce a mutinier to obedience , she do not augment the number of rebels . when she undertakes these affairs , she must hold the scales in her hand ; and remember that god ( whom she imitateth ) doth all his works by weight and measure ; and when he tempers the qualities of the elements , to the end that he may agree them , he doth no advantage to one whereby another is prejudiced . we may likewise well assail the passion that masters us , and which we acknowledge to be the cause of our disorders : for it is a familiar which possesseth us ; 't is a tyrant which useth not his power , save in order to his own interest ; and who is so much the more dangerous , as that he endeavours to become welcom . reason is bound to oppugne him as a publick enemy , and to employ all her might , if not to destroy him , at least to weaken him . i see not notwithstanding how she can with security make use of other passions to tame him ; for they are too near allied unto him , to set upon him ; and when men shall think to make use of them to his destruction , he will have dexterity enough to make them serve for his own preservation . but not to leave so dangerous an evil without a remedy , i should think it good to cut off the objects which nourish it , and to get the upper hand of an enemy , by starving him , whom he could not overcome come by force . for though our passions are born with us , that they borrow their strength from our constitution ; and that those which are the most natural , are hardest to overcome ; yet they draw their nourishment from exterior things ; and if they be not entertained by objects , they either die or pine away . ambition doth not greatly torment us in solitude ; and when she sees not the greatness of towns , the pride of buildings , the pomp of triumphs , she forgets the memory of glory ; and this fire not having wherewithal longer to nourish it , consumes and goes out of it self : grief and sadness are strengthened in darkness ; her obscure chambers hung with mourning , conspire with her to afflict us . men who make use thereof , seem to be afraid to forget their sorrow ; and that they would have all things they cast their eye upon , to call to mind their loss : if we put these sad objects far from us , nature will grow weary of weeping ; and though she be irregular , by reason of sin , she will solace her self when she shall see nothing which entertains her dislike . what hath been said of sadness and ambition , may be affirmed of all other passions , which are not stubborn , but as being aided by our own cunning ; and as we labour to encrease them , so to become more miserable . the fourth treatise . of the commerce of passions with virtues and vices . the first discourse . that passions are the seeds of virtue . since most men consider but the appearances of things , we must not wonder if the stoicks have had so many admirers ; and if their proud maximes have been received with so much approbation and applause : for nothing of more noble or generous can be imagined , than is their philosophy , as it appears to be . she promiseth to change men into angels , to raise them above a mortal condition , and to put storms and thunder under their feet . she boasts to cure them of all their evils , and to free them from those vexatious disorders , which molest the souls tranquility : all those fair promises have brought forth none effects , and these proud billows , after having made such noise , are turned to foam . certainly we owe thanks to providence , which hath rendered their endeavors vain ; for if they had made good their words , they had deprived us of all those aids which nature hath endowed us withal , to make us virtuous ; and the inferior part of our soul hath remained without either exercise or merit ; for the passions are the motions thereof , they carry her whither she mindeth to go , and without loosning her from her body , they join her to the objects which she looks after , or keep her aloof from those she desires to shun . joy is her blooming and displaying , sorrow is her contraction and pain , desire is her seeking , and fear her eschewing ; for when we are merry , our soul dilates it self , when afflicted , she contracts her self , when we desire , she seems to advance , and when we fear , she seems to retire , insomuch , as those who will take the passions from the soul , take away all her motions , and under colour of rendring her happy , make her unprofitable and unable . i know no rational man that would purchase felicity at so dear a rate , and i know no true man that would promise it upon so hard a condition : for if happiness consist in action , and if to be content , a man must taste the good which he possesseth , there is none but will avow , that passions are necessary to our soul , and that joy must perfect the felicity which desire hath begun . those who side with the stoicks , will tell us peradventure , that these philosophers condemn not such desires as arise from the love of virtue , nor the joy that accompanies the fruition thereof ; but that they blame only those irregular wishes , that we make every day for riches and honour ; and that consequently they blame the vain contentment which their accomplishment brings us . this answer weakens their maximes , and confirms ours ; for it admitteth of passions , and only forbids their excess : it admits of desires and hopes , and only rejects their disorder ; and to end all in few words , it healeth the malady of our affections , and doth not destroy their nature . but the stoicks were not so just , and their philosophy had in it so much of severity , and so little of reason , as it would have a man seek out virtue , without wishing for it , possess it without relishing it , and that being as happy as god himself , he should be void of desire , hope or joy . in brief , it had vowed the death of our passions , and yet this proud sect did not consider , that in destroying them , they caused the death of all virtues ; for they are the seeds thereof , and by taking a little pain in trimming and pruning of them , they may be made advantageous to us . though man be not born virtuous , and that art which teacheth him to become so , be as difficult as it is glorious ; he seemeth notwithstanding to know before he learneth it , that his understanding hath the principles of truth , and his will the seeds of virtue . that as science ( according to the platonicks ) is but a remembrance , or calling to mind ; her good habits are but natural inclinations . for all his passions are budding virtues , and if he take a little care to perfect them , they become compleat virtues : is not fear which foresees evil and shunneth it , natural wisdom ? is not choler , which takes up arms in the behalf of good against the enemy thereof , a shadow of justice ? is not desire which serves us from our selves , to join us with somewhat that is better , an image of charity , which takes us from the earth to raise us up to heaven ? what must be added to boldness , to make thereof true fortitude ? and what difference is there between sorrow and repentance , save only that the one is the meer workmanship of nature , and the other the production of grace ? but both of them are afflicted with evil , and they oft-times mingle their tears to bewail the same sin . in fine , there are no passions which may not become virtues ; and as they have inclinations to what is good , and aversions from what is evil , they need but a little government to make them change conditions . the good application of a mans love is sufficient to make all his passions innocent ; and without taking so much pain to love aright , is only requisite to make us happy in this world . since virtue ( faith st. augustine ) is the habit of a well governed mind , we are but to moderate our affections , that they may be changed into virtues ; for when our hatred and our love , which are the spring-heads of all other passions , shall be wisely , modestly , strongly , and justly guided , they will become rare virtues , and will be converted into wisdom , temperance , fortitude , and justice . is it not then a barbarous thing , to go about to strangle passions , which have such affinity with virtue , and which without much labour may be raised to so noble a condition ? is it not ingratitude to mistake the advantages which we have received from nature ? and is it not injustice to give infamous names to these innocent subjects , which being well managed by reason , might merit such glorious titles ? 't is then an indubitable maxim amongst the philosophers , that passions are the seed of virtues , and that they have no more noble employment , than to arm themselves in their behalf , to fight their quarrels , and to revenge them of their enemies . as mothers are never more couragious , than in the defence of their children ; the affections of our soul are never more vigorous , than when they defend their products against vices . this praise puzzles the brains of all the stoicks . and seneca could not endure that virtues army should be composed of souldiers that could mutinie ; he will not have us employ passions in her service , because some few have been found which have injured her authority . certainly if all princes were so obdurate as is this philosopher , they would find few souldiers , and they must cashier all their troops , because formerly they have found some of them unfaithful . the negligence of princes is oft-times cause why the souldiers mutinie , and the weakness of reason is almost alwayes the cause of the revolt of passions . in true philosophy the soul must be rather accused than the body , and the soveraign rather blamed than the subjects . who sees not that fear is watchful for virtue , that she always mingles her self as a spy amongst the enemies , to find out their designs ; that all her reports are faithful , and that we are for the most part unhappy only for having neglected them ? who knows not that hope strengthens us , and that she encourageth us to the understanding of glorious and difficult designs ? who doth not confess that boldness and choler despise danger , suffering hardness , and setting even upon death , that they may be serviceable to patience and fortitude ? what virtues would not become weak , were they abandoned by passions ; how oft hath the fear of infamy infused courage into souldiers who were seeking how shamefully to run away ? how oft hath shamefastness preserved chastity , and kept both maids and married women within their duty , when avarice and wantonness hath endeavoured to corrupt them ? how oft hath indignation encouraged judges against the guilty , who were made insolent in their misdemeanor , by the protection of great ones ? let the stoicks then confess , that virtues owe their welfare to passions ; and let them not tell us any more that they are too generous to implore aid from their slaves . but let us tell them , they are too full of acknowledgment , to despise such faithful friends ; and that they will never make a difficulty in accepting them for their allies , when ever they will assail the common enemy , vice. i had rather follow aristotles opinion than seneca's , and rather govern passions than destroy them . this man out of an excessive pride will not have virtue to stand in need of any thing ; and that the wise man who is thereof possest , way be happy , even contrary to the will of god himself ; he will have his happiness to be so firmly grounded , that the heavens cannot overturn it ; and to judge by his words , it seems that insolency and impiety are the first requisite dispositions for the acquiring of wisdom ; the other on the contrary acknowledgeth his weakness , useth such help as nature hath afforded him ; and knowing very well that he is composed of a soul and body , he endeavoureth to employ them both in the exercise of virtue . he confesseth we cannot undertake any thing of generous , unless chafed by choler , and that we faint and droop when we are not irritated . but as he very well knows likewise that this passion hath need of a bridle to hold it back , he ranks it under reason , and makes not use thereof , as of a general , but as of a private souldier . let us use our passions thus , let us teach the stoicks , that nature hath made nothing in vain ; and that since she hath endued us with fears and hopes , she intends we shall make use of them to acquire virtue , and fight against vice. the fourth discourse . that passions are the seeds of vice. it were to flatter passions , and deceive men , if after having shewed the good they are capable of doing , we should not shew the evil they can do ; & our draught would be partial , if having , drawn their perfections , we should not likewise set forth their defaults . but that we may not be mistaken in so important a subject , and whereupon our happiness seemeth to depend , we must know that passions are neither good nor bad , and that ( to speak properly ) these two qualities are only found in the superior power which governs them . as that is only free , it is only good or evil , and as it is the original of merit , it is also the spring-head either of wickedness or goodness . but as the sun spreads forth his light in the world , and enlightens solid bodies , though it penetrate them not ; so doth the will dispence abroad wickedness and goodness , amongst the passions , and though she do not communicate them fully unto them , yet giveth she them a slight tincture thereof , which is sufficient to make them either innocent or criminal . for if we examine the qualities that they have received from nature , and if we consider them in that estate which pleads the use of the will , we must acknowledge that they are as well the seeds of vice as of virtue ; and that those two contraries are so confused in them , as they are hardly to be discerned . they have an inclination to good , and thus they hold with virtue : they are easily seduced , soon moved , and thus they resemble vice . for we are now no longer in that happy estate of innocency , where the passions expected their orders only from reason , and where they never raised themselves , till they had obtained leave ; they are become disloyal , and no longer acknowledging the voice of their soveraign , they obey that first that commands them , and take part assoon with a tyrant as with their legitimate prince . this error whereinto they often fall , obligeth us to confess , that they are not much less inclinable to vice than to virtue ; and that if we may hope for great advantages by them , we ought also to fear notable mischiefs from them . for the same desires which raise us up to heaven , fasten us to the earth ; that which nature hath given us to set us at liberty , casts us in prison , and claps bolts upon us . the same hope which flatters us , abuseth us ; and that which ought to sweeten our past misfortunes , procureth us new ones ; the same choler which bringeth the couragious to the combate , animates the faint-hearted to revenge , and what is generous in war , becomes cruel in peace . in fine , passions are not farther distant from vices than they are from virtue , as in the confusion of the chaos fire was mingled with water , so is evil mingled with good in the affections of the soul ; and from those fatal mines , iron is , as well drawn out as gold ; man ought therefore to keep himself always upon his guard , and knowing that he carrieth about in his bosom both life and death , it behoveth him to be as circumspect in his comportments , as those who handle poyson , or who walk upon the edge of a precipice . but that which makes the danger the greater , is , that when these unruly passions have brought forth a vice , they put themselves in arms to defend it , and serve it with more courage , than do the innocent passions obey virtue . they are servants which are more cruel than are their masters ; officers which are more furious than the tyrants that set them on work ; and they commit more of outrage upon virtue , than doth vice it self . all wars are occasioned by these insolent affections , and he who shall banish love and hatred from off the earth , will find neither murder nor adultery there . they furnish the subject of all tragedies ; and though men accuse poets of fictions , they have committed more errors than the others have invented . but they are never more prejudicial than when they meet in the person of a prince , and when they abuse soveraign power , to exercise their fury ; for then whole states groan under their tyranny , the people are opprest by their violence , and all parts confess that neither the plague nor the sword are so pernicious , as are passions when they have got the supream power . an unlawful love put all greece in arms ; and the flames thereof reduced the goodliest city of all asia to ashes . jealousie between caesar and pompey was the loss of the lives of more than a million of men ; the world was divided in their quarrel , their ambition put arms into the hands of all people ; their unjust war was the ruine of their country , and the loss of the liberty thereof . the world doth yet bemoan this disaster ; the spoils of this shipwrack are yet seen ; and the states of europe are but so many pieces which did compose the body of that puissant republique . ambition when confounded with virtue , is guilty of more murders than revenge and choler ; though this passion pretend to be generous , she is always stained with blood ; whatsoever delight she takes in pardoning , her greatness is grounded upon the ruine of her enemies ; she is cause of more deaths than she procureth pardons ; and she is the loss of more innocents , than safety of those that are guilty . she astonisheth all the world , when she is seen in the person of an alexander . and it seems nature produced him to no other end , than to teach us what ambition can do , when assisted by fortune . he ruined all princes who would defend their own states ; he treated those as enemies who refused to be his subjects ; he could not permit an equal in any place through which he passed : he complained of the seas that stopt the current of his victories , and wisht for a new world , that he might conquer it ; if his vain-glory caused so many disorders , his choler committed no less ransack ; and if by the one he revenged himself of his enemies , he rid his hands of his friends by the other ; the least suspitions encouraged these passions to revenge , one indiscreet word provoked it ; an honest freedom set it a going , and his choler grew to be so nice , as there was as much danger in doing well , as in saying ill ; as he was possessed by all these violences , so did he obey them ; he dipped his hands in the bloud of his favourites ; he took upon him the office of a hangman ; and that he might taste all the pleasures of revenge , he himself would be the minister thereof , and with his own hands kill him who had saved his life . but amongst all the cruelties whereunto his choler oft did perswade him , i know none more infamous than that which he exercised upon innocent calisthenes , his condition was a sanctuary to him , and professing phylosophy , it seemed he ought not fear the fury of alexander ; the very fault for which he was condemed , was glorious ; and had it happened in the time of true religion , it would have passed for an eminent virtue ; for he defended the cause of his gods , and was of opinion that temples could not be built to his prince without provoking the gods against him ; he guided himself so dexterously in so ticklish a business , as that whilst he preserved the honour of heaven , he flattered alexanders humour , and by an admirable piece of cunning , he accorded flattery with piety ; for if the reasons which quintus curtius alledgeth , be true , he represented unto the macedonians , that since men could not dispose of crowns , they ought not to dispose of altars ; that since they made not kings , they ought not go about to make gods ; and that when humane vanity would attribute unto it self that power , she could not make use thereof till after the death of such as she would deisie ; that to receive adoration from men , one must keep far from any commerce with them , & lose his life to purchase a divinity . that alexander was yet necessary to them , and that he ought not to mount into the heavens , till he had conquered all the earth . this short o●a●ion was able to have obliged the most ambitious of mankind ; yet did it offend the vain-glory of this prince , and so far provoked his choler , as not many days after he caused this philosopher to be put to death , not allowing him liberty to defend himself . this murder drew upon him the hatred of all greece ; and as parmenio's death had exasperated all the souldiers , this of calisthenes did much more all the orators ; and these men who revenge themselves with their tongue , have spoke so oft of this excess , as it is yet dishonour to him that did commit it . all the praises that can be given to his gallant actions , are darkned by the murder of calisthenes . and that i may make use of seneca's eloquent words ; this irregular proceeding is alexander's everlasting fault , which neither his fortune nor his valour will ever be able to blot out . for if a man shall say he defeated the persians in three pitcht battels ; another will say , he slew calisthenes : if men put a valuation upon him for having overcome darius , the most puissant monarch of the world , they will blame him for having killed calisthenes . if men praise him for having carried the bounds of his empire to the utmost parts of the east , they will add , he was guilty of the death of calisthenes . if finally , to end his panegyrick , a man shall say he hath stained the glory of as many princes as preceded him : another will reply , his fault is greater than his valour , and that all his actions of memory are sullied by calisthenes his blood. this example ought to instruct and teach all princes , that if irregular passions are maladies in private men , they are plagues and contagious diseases in publick personages , and that , if well guided by reason they may become glorious virtues , they may by the tyranny of our senses degenerate into most infamous vices . the third discourse . that there are no passions which may not be changed into virtues . vve have said in our former discourses , that passions are the seeds of virtues , & that by having a care of husbanding them well , their effects were very advantageous to us . but proceeding on further , my intention is in this discourse , to teach christians the secret , how they may change them into virtues , and to take from them whatsoever they have of savage or monstrous . this metamorphosis is certainly very hard , but not impossible ; and if we advise with nature , she will furnish us with inventions ; for this wise mother is continually working of strange alterations . her power never appears to be greater , than when she alters the elements , or metals ; and when she takes from them their former qualities , that she may give them others more excellent , and more noble . but she observes therein an admirable method , which well deserves consideration ; for though she be all-powerful , and that holding the place of god , she may act as a soveraign , and do what she pleaseth with the elements or metals , yet doth she never use violence ; and she seemeth rather to accommodate her self to their interests , than to her own inclinations ; she observeth their sympathies , and worketh no alteration which is not agreeable unto them . thus we see she ratifies air , to change it into fire , and conduceth water to turn it into earth ; thus we observe she purifies silver , to give it the tincture of gold , and labours whole ages to finish without violence this useful metamorphosis . now as morality is an imitation of nature , her chief care ought to be employed in observing the proprieties of our passions , and in converting them into virtues which are not contrary unto them ; for he that would go about to change choler into mildness , or fear into generousness , would endeavour an impossibility , and would have ill success in all his labours ; but that his designes may succeed well , he must study the nature of every passion , and use all his means to turn each passion into such a virtue as it hath least aversion unto ; and this ought not to seem strange , since the most rational of all men hath been of opinion , that in the opposition which nature hath placed between vice and virtue , they had notwithstanding somewhat of resemblance one with the other ; for all men will confess , that prodigality hath more relation to liberality than avarice ; and that it is not hard to reduce a prodigal man to be a liberal man ; every one is bound to confess that rashness sides more with courage than with cowardice , and that it is easier to make a rash man , than a coward , couragious . therefore do philosophers agree , that of the two extreams which do environ virtue , one of them is alwaies more favourable unto her ; and a little care being had will easily take her part , and defend her interest . following the same maxime , we must confess that there are some passions which have more of affinity with some virtues , than with some others , and which by the help of morality , may easily become virtues . that fear which foresees dangers , which laboureth how to shun them , which looks far into what is to come , that it may find a remedy , may easily be changed into wisdom , provided the distraction which accompanieth it , and which doth most commonly abuse us in our deliberations , be taken away . that hope which makes us taste a good which we do not yet enjoy , which comforteth us in our misfortunes , and which through our present evils shews us a future happiness , may easily be converted into that virtue which we call assurance . that choler which punisheth faults , and arms us to revenge our friends injuries , differs not far from justice ; for provided it be not too violent , and that the self interests thereof leave it light enough to guide it self , it will wage war with all the wicked , and take all that are innocent into its protection . that boldness which encourageth us to the combate , which gives assurance in danger , and which makes us prefer a glorious death before a shameful retreat , will become exact valour ; if we suppress its inclination to fury , and if we mingle a little light with the too much heat thereof . love and hatred , desire and eschewing , are rather virtues , than passions , when governed by reason . provided they love nothing but what is lovely , and hate nothing but what is hateful , they deserve praise rather than reproach . sadness and despair , jealousie and envy , are indeed more cried down ; they seem to be enemies to our quiet , that the heavens have made them ministers of their justice , and that they supply the places of those revengeful furies which poets feign to punish the faulty . yet may they be useful to reason , if well managed , and under those hideous faces wherein they appear , they hide good meanings , which are of use to virtue . a good emulation may be framed out of a well-regulated envy . discreet zeal may be shaped out of moderated jealousie ; without which neither prophane nor sacred yet love undertakes any thing of generous . sorrow hath so many praises given her in the holy scripture , as it is easie to judge , that if she be not amongst the number of the virtues , she may be advantageously made use of to their service . she loosens us from the earth ; and by a despising all the contentments of the world , she makes us thirst after eternal delights ; she appeaseth gods anger ; she furnisheth us with tears , wherewithal to wash away our sins and to water his altars ; she is always a faithful companion to repentance ; and no sin in christian religion was ever forgiven , before sorrow and repentance had obtained pardon . despair hath but the name of terrible ; but who shall well consider her effects , will avow 't is a wise invention of nature which cures the greatest part of our maladies , by taking away from us the hope of remedy ; for then we make virtue of necessity , we draw force from our weakness ; we turn our fear into fury , and our desires into contempt ; we set upon enemies whose approach we dare not expect ; and we misprize objects which we cannot abandon . thus shall we find many men who owe their quiet more to despair , than to hope ; and who shall well examine the humour of these two affections , will be forced to acknowledge , that the one makes us miserable by her promises , the other happy by her refusals ; that the one nourisheth our desires , the other causeth them to die ; that the one cozeneth us , and the other disabuseth us ; that we are lost by the flatteries of the one , and saved by the others affliction . this is the reason why the greatest poet in the world hath affirmed , that despair is that which raiseth up the courage of the conquered , and which restores unto them the victory which hope and rashness had berest them of . but whatever advantage i attribute to these passions , i confess they have their errors , and that to make them virtuous , they must be carefully cleansed . and because so profitable an affair cannot be too often treated of , i shall willingly observe their chiefest enormities ; to the end that discerning them , as in a looking-glass , every one may be careful how to eface them . take blindness from love , and he will be no more faulty ; for it is permitted to love such subjects as deserve love , and there is no less injustice in denying it to personages of excellency , than to grant it to deformed persons . exempt errour from hatred , and hatred will become consonant to reason ; for it is not just to confound the sinner with his sin ; and who can make this distinguishment , may boast to hate with justice ; desire and eschewing are innocent , provided they be moderated ; joy and sorrow are only blameable in their excess ; and the same reason which permits us to taste with pleasure a good which we wish for , doth not forbid us sorrowing for an evil which we apprehend . hope is only then unjust , when she measureth not her forces ; and despair is only then faulty , when it takes its rise rather from our remissness , than from our weakness . boldness is then praise-worthy , when it grapples with a danger which it may overcome ; and fear is wisdom , when it shuns a danger it cannot overcome . choler is an act of justice , when born against sin , and provided it be not judge in its own cause , it pronounceth none but lawful decrees . envy is generous , provided it excite us unto virtue , and that it lay before us the good qualities of our neighbour , only so far forth as that we may imitate them . jealousie is only hateful , because it hath in it too much of love ; yet this fault is pardonable when not accompanied with suspition , and if the beloved cannot cure it , they are bound to endure it . but to put an end to this discourse with s. augustine ; christians make good use of their passions , if they employ them for the glory of iesus christ , and for the salvation of their own soules . their fears correspond with reason , when they consider gods judgments , and the punishment of the damned ; their desire is just when they aim at the happiness of the blessed . their sorrow is harmless when they afflict themselves for all the evils which our first father hath left us to inherit , and when opprest with grief , they sigh after the liberty of the children of god. their joy is a holy joy when they expect the fruition of the good which is prepared for them , and when by a firm hope they already taste the effects of their masters promises . briefly , if they fear unbelief , if they desire perseverance , if they sorrow for their evil actions , and rejoyce when they do well , they turn all their passions into holy and glorious virtues . the fourth discourse . that the government of passions is virtues chief employment . man is brought into so happy a condition by sin , as his very advantages reproach his misery unto him , and he is made to know his faultiness by what is most excellent in him . those noble qualities which beautifie his soul , and which restore unto him the glory which he had lost , have but unpleasing employments , and are engaged in combats , which though they be difficult , cease not to be shameful . for mans most illustrious virtues , have no other employment than to make war upon vice , and the necessity he hath to make use thereof is one of the chiefest proofs of the irregularity of his nature . prudence which serves him for a guide , advertiseth him that he walketh in darkness , and that he is in an enemies country . fortitude teacheth him that he ought to fight , & that in all the course of his life he tastes no pleasure which is not mingled with pain ; temperance gives him to understand , that his constitution is out of order , and that he hath delights which flatter him only , that they may destroy him . lastly , justice obligeth him to believe , that not any thing which he possesseth is his , and that having a soveraign who hath given him all that he enjoyeth , he is only the steward to distribute them . these virtues do what they say , their employments answer their counsels ; they act not , without going about to stifle some disorder , and to overcome some vicious inclinations . prudence chuseth the arms and the enemy ; temperance rejects pleasure ; fortitude sets upon sorrow ; justice sits president in all these combates ; she takes care that the conqueror be not insolent in his victory ; that the soul take not such advantage over the body , that in thinking to tame it , it destroy it , and that whilst it would revenge it self of a disobedient vassal , it lose not a faithful friend . so as we must conclude , that the exercise of virtue is a continual warfare against vice. and that these glorious qualities have no more noble employment than to charge upon monsters , and fight with infamous enemies . 't is therefore that saint augustine , with all the divines , do acknowledge that they were only given us to assist us during this miserable life , and that they are steps whereby to arrive at that height of felicity which consists in the enjoyment of the summum bonum . for then our prudence will be no more necessary , since we shall have no evils to shun ; our justice will then be superfluous , for we shall possess all our riches in common . temperance will then be useless , for we shall have no more unlawful motions to suppress . then our fortitude will have no employment , since we shall suffer no further evils . 't is true , i have much ado to banish those virtues from heaven , which have opened us the way thither . but as nothing can be received there which is imperfect , we must say that they shall be cleansed before they get admittance thither , that they shall lose what they have of earthly , to become wholly heavenly , and that the glory which makes men spiritual , will make them divine , and will take from them what they have of impurity ; they shall have all their beauty , and shall have no more defects ; they shall triumph , and fight no more , they shall serve for ornaments , and no longer for defence to the happy ; they shall receive the recompence of their labours , and that wearisom exercise which held them employed whilst on earth , shall be turned to an honorable rest in heaven . now amongst a thousand different employments which the virtues have here below , one of the most advantageous is the government of passions . for it seems nature hath destined them to tame these savage subjects , and so reduce them under the empire of reason . some have dexterity to win them , others strength to beat them down ; some use threats to astonish them , others promises to allure them , and all of them together use several means to arrive at the end . prudence never comes to handy-blows , but as she is the queen of moral virtues , she contents her self with giving orders , with providing for our souls peace , with stifling seditions in their birth , and with suppressing unruly motions which threaten her with an intestine war. if the match be already made , she endevours to break it by her dexterity , and not medling in the fight , she opposeth to every passion that virtue which is contrary to it , she sends succours to the weakest places ▪ or to such as are most briefly assailed . she foresees the evils that are to come , or if she think sometimes that the rebels are capable of reason , she exhorts them to obedience ; and to reduce them to their duty , she lays before them their own interests ; she makes them know , that all the pleasures which they seek after , are fatal to them , and that all the evils which they so fear , are honourable . temperance is a little more exposed to danger ; for she is obliged to come to handy-blows , and to defend her self against her enemies , which are so much the more dangerous as they are the more pleasing . she resisteth all those passions which flatter our senses , and which propound nothing unto our minds , but voluptuousness and delights ; she regulates desires and hopes , she moderates love and joy , and as oft as any motions rise up with us , which promise unto us unlawful pleasures , she furnisheth us with weapons to overcome them ; when she thinks her self not strong enough to vanquish them , she calls in penance and austerity to her aid , and with these severe virtues she defeats these dissolute enemies : fortitude takes care to govern the most vi●lent passions , to set upon fear , sorrow , de●pair , and hatred ; assoon as any danger troubles the peace of our soul , or that any angersome object which doth astonish us presents it self , this heroick virtue employes all her courage to enhearten , and by a noble piece of art , she makes use of chole● and boldness to overcome sorrow and despair . if these couragious passions are not puissant enough to purchase an assured peace , she puts us in mind of honour , she chargeth constancy and fidelity to make our dutie● known unto us , and to encourage us by recompenses which are ordained for the honour of glorious and difficult actions ▪ justice enters not the lists , but she weigheth the right of all parties , she prepareth crowns for the conquerors , she keeps the conquered from being oppressed , and she doth so well moderate the victory , as that she is neither cruel nor insolent ; she keeps reason in authority , she obligeth passion to acknowledge it for their soveraign ; she makes the body subject to the soul , without enslaving it ; and she submits the soul to god , without taking from it its liberty . this virtue being just , is an enemy to all disorders , and whilst she rules in chief in man , one may say , he hath no passions but such as are consonant to reason ; but when she is banisht , peace and tranquility retire with her ; during her absence man is like a state without policy , where rebels are permitted to do what they list , where vice is honoured and virtue despised , and where every one without advising with his duty , considers onely his own interest or pleasure . he therefore that ●oseth justice , loseth all the virtues , and who possesseth her , may boast to possess them all ; it may be 't is out of this reason that a philosopher hath affirmed , that every virtue was a particular justice , and that justice was a general virtue , which of it self was sufficient to fight against all vice , and to regulate all passions . but as the multitude of souldiers cannot be harmful when there is no confusion therein ; the like of virtues cannot be prejudicial , when disorder is banisht . and though those that our saviour christ hath ●aught us , are of a much more sublime condition than are the moral virtues ; they conspire altogether for our felicity . we ought therefore employ them in our affairs , and when one alone is not sufficient to rule a passion , we must borrow aid from the rest ; and augment our forces to overcome our enemies . when tempe●ance cannot regulate our unjust desires ; we may call modesty , and humility , into our assistance , who will perswade us that the glory of the world is not due to us , if we be criminal ; and that it is not worthy of us if we be innocent ; when fortitude cannot overcome fear or despair , we are permitted to have recourse unto hope , to listen unto her promises , and to encourage our selves to victory by calling to mind the rewards which she propoundeth unto us ; when hatred and envy gnaw our hearts , and when to revenge our selvs of an injury they advise us to make use of sword and poyson . 't is fit that justice emplore the assistance of charity ; and that to stop the impetuosity of these two head-strong passions , she join divine maximes with humane ; thus nature shaking hands with grace to destroy sin , man will become victorious ; the motions of his soul being regulated by virtue , he will enjoy perfect peace , and he will taste pleasures , which shall not come much short of those which our first father adam tasted in the state of innocency . the fifth treatise . of the power that passions have upon the will of man. the first discourse . that to know , and win upon men , we must study their passions . not without reason did that great king , who knew so well how to join in his own person , piety , poetry , and prowess , compare the heart of man to the depths ; for they are so profound , as nothing can fill them , and the heart of man is so vast in its desires , as it is not to be satisfied with whole kingdoms . the depths are the depositories of the treasures of nature ; and god , to exercise ou● industry , or to punish our avarice , hat● hid riches in the bowels of the earth . s● likewise are all the goods of man shut u● within his heart ; that part which hath th● advantage of forming thoughts , hath th● care to preserve them ; and 't is from thenc● that we do borrow them , either to perswade , or move our auditors . but as th● depths are obscure places which are no● lightned by the light of the sun , and wher● horror and night seem to sojourn , or t● have made their abode , so is the heart o● man environed with darkness , which is no● to be dissipated , and whatsoever it conceiveth is so hidden , as we can guess therea● but by weak conjectures . for words are not alwayes faithful representations of the hearts conceptions ; 't is god alone who hath the priviledge of knowing them . humane wisdom ( which vaunts it self to see far into what is to come ) is much troubled to discover the intentions thereof ; and the greatest work a statesman can undertake , i● , when by his dexterity he endevours to expound a dissembling heart , and there to observe such thoughts as are endevoured to be kept concealed . i know very well that policy teacheth as how to arrive at this knowledg , and that he gives us rules how to sound these depths which seem to have no bottom . men ●udge of meanings by actions , and read in ●he eyes and face , the most secret motion● of the soul. one may observe their nature by their designes , and may study men so well , as that he may guess at their thoughts , and by one piece of cunning discover that which they by another seek to conceal . but of all these wayes i find ●one more easie , nor more certain , than that of the passions ; for they escape us against our will , they betray us by their promptness and likeness ; we dayly find that it is much more hard to withhold a mans choler than his hand , and to impose silence to his sufferings , than to his mouth . they mutinie without our leave , and by ●n impression which they make in our countenance , they teach our enemies all that lies within our hearts . i therefore much value that poets invention , who terms passions tortures , not only for that they torment us through their rigour , but because they force us by their violence to confess the truth . a man must be very faithful to himself , if he do not declare himself either by hatred or vanity . and one must have great authority over his passions , if he can suppress them when a skilful man undertakes to move them . the wisest men forget their resolutions , and oft-times a praise , or a reproach , draw a truth from them , which wisdom had a long time kept concealed . never was a prince a greater dissembler than was tiberius ; all his words and actions were so hidden , as a man could not discover his intentions . he uttered nothing but aenigma's , and the senate trembled as oft as they were to treat with so close a man. one word of agrippina did notwithstanding incense him , and made him say a thing , whilst so agitated , which doubtless he would have concealed , had he continued in his ordinary temper ; for finding fault with her , he said her discontentment arose only because she did not reign ; thus was the most concealed man of the world betrayed by the heat of passion ; and did by an indiscreet answer discover the bottom of his heart . politicians are likewise never more troubled than when they treat with a man that is reserved in his speeches , and who doth so well master his affections , as that they appear not in his visage , no● nor sparkle out in his words nor actions , for all the doors of his soul are shut up , and not being able to fathom this depth , they are enforced to consult with such as come near unto it , or else to believe report . but all these are uncertain ways , and who builds his belief only upon the report of others , is in danger to be deceived ; for fame is fickle , enemies are liars , friends flatterers , and those of the houshold are interessed . yet of as many people as accost great ones , the testimony of their domesticks is least suspitious ; and as they are by their conditions bound to study their masters humor , they are better acquainted with their inclinations ; their enemies know only their weakness ; the hatred wherewith they are blinded , will not suffer them to see their virtues ; and their judgments as being passionate , are for the most part unjust ; their friends see only what is good in them , and their love makes them take faults for perfections . their domesticks are better informed than the rest , because they know their inclinations , and read in those faithful glasses , the secretest motions of their hearts ; for when princes appear in publick , they study their countenance ; they conceal their thoughts , and are ashamed to do that upon a theater which they do in their closets . but when they have none but their domesticks for witnesses , they do not constrain their nature , but afford their passions all the liberty they can desire . therefore it behoveth that they moderate them ; lest discovering their own weaknesses , they give advantages to such as shall converse with them ; and all particular men ought to take the same care , if they will preserve their freedom ; for if any one passion be out of order , 't is impossible to conceal it ; and when it shall have discovered it self , it will be hard to keep our enemies from making use thereof to our prejudice . if women did not discover how much they are delighted with idle discourse , they would not run so much danger in their honour ; but when a man shall have discovered their weakness , and shall observe that they are pleased in being praised , he insinuates himself into their likings by flattery , and makes himself beloved by them , by approving of what they love . an ambitious man hath no fence against one who hath discovered his passions ; as he esteems nothing more than vain-glory , he forgoes any thing he hath , to acquire it , and thinks to be a greater gainer by the exchange , wherein he parts with real goods for applause ; finally , all the world must confess , that our passions are chains , which make us slaves to all such as know how to manage them well . when the paricide cataline had vowed the ruine of his country , and had resolved to change the roman common-wealth into a cruel tyranny , he corrupted all the young men by accommodating himself to their desires ; he appeased confederates by flattering their humor ; he won their good wills , by following their inclinations ; and by promising preferment to such as were ambitious , women to such as were lascivious , and riches to the avaritious , he framed an association , whereinto pretors , counsellors , and senators did enter . this is also the devils most usual cunning , & the most dangerous wile with which he useth to seduce sinners ; for as he hath great lights , ( though he be the prince of darkness ; ) and as he knows all mens tempers , he fits all his suggestions to their desires , and propounds nothing unto them which is not conformable to their inclinations . to the proud he proffers honour , he awakens the passion which possesseth them , and ingageth them in unlawful ways , to compass pernicious designes ; and endeavors to perswade them , that any whatsoever sin , is glorious , when it is committed that reputation may be won thereby . he sollicits the voluptuous by infamous pleasures ; if he cannot commend their sins , he seeks out names to excuse them ; he terms that natural which is irrational ; and , as if nature and reason were at enmity , he counsels them to follow the former , and forsake the latter . he encourageth the furious to revenge , he gives gallant titles to shameful passions , he endeavours to make the resentment of an injury pass for an act of justice ; and contradicting all maximes of christianity , he establisheth the greatness of courage in hatred and murder . he perswades the avaritious that there is nothing more generally sought after than riches ; that our ancestors have reverenced it , that our successors will honour it , that people who differ in other opinions , agree in the reputation they put hereupon ; that fathers wish it to their children , that children desire it from their fathers ; that those who profess piety , offer thereof to god , and appease his anger by presents . that poverty is infamous ; that it is the contempt of rich men , and the punishment of the poor . in fine , this colloguing enemy undoes all men by flattering them , he gains upon their understanding by their affections , he beats them with their own weapons , and by a dangerous piece of cunning , he employes their passions to corrupt their wills . all men ought therefore to suppress such inclinations as are so prejudicial to us ; and submit unruly motions to grace , which give so much advantage over our liberty , to our most powerful enemies . the second discourse . that arts seduce men by the means of passions . the government of passions is of such importance , and so difficult , as the better part of sciences seem only to have been invented to regulate them . though the mind of man makes use of them to serve their vanities , they in their first institution intended only the government of our affections ; and philosopher ● made use thereof only to cure our souls with delight . musick which doth only tickle our ears , and wherewithal our heart is not affected , save only so far as thereby to let in impurity thereinto , labour'd formerly only to suppress the disorders thereof ; as it it is an harmony composed of different voices , it produced harmonious effects ; and agreeing the difference between the body and the soul , it renewed their friendship , and made them keep perfect intelligence together ; it calmed the fury of passions , and by the pleasantness of its accords , it tamed such wild beasts as devour men when they are irritated . in these happy days musitians were philosopher● ; this art which is become a slave to sensuality , was virtues servant ; it employed all its industry in the service of reason , whereas now it seduceth the soul by the senses ; it did then charm affections through the ears , and by pleasing tones , which were no less powerful than words , it perswaded to good things , and kept men within their duties . thus 't is said that agistus could never corrupt clitemnestra , till he had made him be made away , who defended her chastity by the sweetness of his harp , and who overthrew all the designs of this unchaste lover , by the sweet accents of his voice . history ( which is more to be believed than fables ) teacheth us , that a player upon the flute wrought so powerfully upon the mind of alexander , that when he founded with a loftier tone than ordinary , he made this conqueror besides himself ; and did so encourage him to the combate , as he would call for his arms to set upon his enemie ; but when he played in a softer tone , alexander's fury grew more calm , as if it had been but a false allarm ; he resumed his former countenance , and was wholly intent upon him who did enchant his ears ; the holy scripture ( the words whereof are oracles ) assures us that david with his harp appeas'd the evil spirit in saul ; which lost his power , when the humours which he had stirred up , were allayed by harmony . but musick hath now no more such virtue ; she who formerly did dispossess people possessed with evil spirits , doth now give them over to the devil ; or if she produce not so bad effects , she awakens our passions , and by a strange , but true misfortune , she increaseth the malady which she intended to cure . i very well know that the musick used in churches holds intelligence with piety , and that by a sweet violence it frees our souls from our bodies , and raiseth them up to heaven ; but truly i suspect all other sorts of musick ; though some will have them pass for harmless , i esteem them dangerous or useless ; and i should willingly say with seneca , to musitians , that instead of teaching us how to tune a lute , or to govern our voice , they ought to teach us how to regulate our passions ; that instead of flattering our senses , they would work upon our hearts , and inspire our souls with the detestation of vice , and love of virtue . poetry ( which we may stile the daughter of musick ) did in former times imitate her mother ; and employed all her comeliness in encouraging men to glorious enterprizes ; she sung the victories of conquerors , and by praising their valour , made their souldiers valiant ; her very forgeries were useful ; the revengeful furies which she introduced in her works , infused fear into the wicked , and kept people in their duty : the pleasing number and cadence of her verse was able to sweeten the most savage humors , and she abused us not when she would perswade us that her orpheus tamed lions , made trees to walk , forced rocks to listen unto him , and to follow him , since he produced all these effects in the heart of man , and that he banished from thence choler and stupidity . but this brave art never appeared more glorious than when it got upon the theater , and when infused with a new fury , it represented the punishment of the faulty , the direful death of tyrants , and the ill success of injustice or impiety . for it infused fear into princes , it astonished subjects , and by sad examples taught the one respect , the other clemency , and to both of them , justice and religion . then all comedies were as so many instructions ; one looked upon the places where they were acted , as upon the academies of philosophers , and auditors never departed with the dislike of virtue . but men who corrupt the best things , did at last abuse poetry ; and did unjustly submit her unto their passions , who had reformed them by her advice . this innocent art which had always courted virtue , is become a slave to vice ; and wanton people have prophaned all her chaste decencies ; making them serve uncleanness . since these unhappy days poetry was cried down throughout the world ; philosophers who had always been the poets friends , became their enemies , and employed all their credit to get them banish'd . in effect they corrupted all men , and fearing lest their verses were not of power enough to authorize obsceneness , they erected altars thereunto ; and by the incest of their gods , they excused the adulteries of men . i am not ignorant that true religion hath reformed poetry ; that it hath done its utmost to restore her to her former use , and ancient beauty : i know very well that our poets are chaste in their writings ; and that comedies , though they be licentious , mount not the stage , but only to condemn vice ; the very rules imposed upon them , will not suffer them to be obscene ; and by a happy necessity it behoves that those who infuse a soul into the scene , take part always with virtue ; yet it unfortunately falls out ( the which i rather attribute to the disorder of nature , than to the like o● poetry ) that chastity appears not so beautiful in verse as does uncleanness ; and tha● the obedience of the passions seems not so pleasing as their rebellion . men betake themselves more usually to violent affections , than to such as are answerable to reason ; and as the poets do express them with greater eloquence , their auditors liste● unto them with more delight . in fine , let what care soever will be had , comedies are only schools of virtue for such gallant men , as can discern between appearances and truth , and who abhor vice even then when it comes presented in virtues ornaments . but if you will examine the common people , they will confess , that stage-poetry doth strangely move them , and that it imprints in their souls the feelings of those personages which they represent . rhetorick is somewhat more happy in her designs than is poetry ; and let men object what fault they will to orators , i find them more blameless than poets . for as their chief end is to preserve the truth , they are enforced to employ all their cunning to beat down such passions as are contrary thereunto ; and in discharging themselves of their duty , they play the part of the physitian , curing their auditors of all their maladies ; if their choler be too much irritated , they appease it ; if their courage be too much supprest , they raise it up ; they make love exceed hatred , piety revenge ; and repressing one motion by another , they draw a calm from out a storm . this employment is so fixt to the condition of orators , as they do therein only differ from philosophers ; for these have no other design , save only to convince the understanding , they propound naked truths unto it ; and knowing that it cannot behold them without reverence , they take more care how to discover , than to adorn them . but orators who will work upon the soul by the senses , cloath their good reasons in handsom language , tickling the ear , that they may touch the heart ; and using tropes and figurative speeches , to move affection . they set upon the two parts whereof man is composed , they make use of the weakest to subdue the stronger ; and as the devil undid man by the means of the woman , they gain reason by the means of passion . by this harmless cunning , they formed towns , governed common-wealths , and for a long time commanded monarchies ; for they studied their inclinations , and did so handsomly handle them , as it seemed the hearts of princes were in the hands o● orators , and that monarchy was become a slave to eloquence ; they committed notwithstanding gross faults in their government , and by having too oft excited the motions of the souls inferior part , they overthrew the empire of the superior ; and could not cure the wounds which they had made , nor quench the flames which they had kindled . for thinking to flatter a prince in his vanity , they made him insolent , and whilst they thought to move him to revenge , they made him cruel and fierce . they could not keep the mediocrity whereof virtue is composed , and desiring to raise up one passion , that they might abase another , they gave it so great strength , as it was no longer in their power to assubject it to reason . this , in my opinion , is the misfortune which they run into , who , that they may be pleasing unto princes , flatter such an inclination as doth tyrannize over them ; and not considering the evil that may ensue thereon , oppose that inclination , to all others , and by victories make it insolent . the contrary way had been the better ; for since the passion which they ende●ored to raise , was most violent , they should have employed all the rest to weaken it , and have made them all conspire together , to bring it low . but because eloquence is oft-times interessed , she neglects the good of her auditors , and is not troubled though her praises wound their souls , so long as she may obtain what she desires . thus did cicero treat with caesar ; and being desirous to save a guilty person whose cause he pleaded , he opposed the pride of this conqueror to his revenge ; to destroy one passion which was prejudicial only to one particular man , he awakened that which had ruined the republick , and opprest the liberty of rome . wherein certainly he was to blame , and sinn'd against the laws of eloquence , which was not so much invented to perswade men , as to make them virtuous , and which ought not to endeavour so much to move affections , as to re-establish reason in her empire . policy seems to have better intentions than rhetorick ; for when she excites fear or hope in man , by promises or by threats , she endeavours the welfare of particulars , as the publick quiet ; if she sometimes punish the faulty by dreadful punishments , 't is but in desperate evils , and when she hath , to no purpose , tried all mild means ; yet i believe she might handle passions better than she doth , and that without violating the respects wdich is due to soveraignty , too easie to gain the hearts of the subjects by hopes , and to reduce them to their duties rather by love than fear . this is that which we shall consider in the following discourse , after having concluded in this , that all sciences are defective in the government of passions ; that to regulate them well , they must implore help from morality , & that they must consider the precepts she giveth us to overcome enemies , which are as opinionate as insolent . the third discourse . that princes win upon their subjects either by love or fear . all politicians agree , that recompense and punishment are the two pillars which uphold all states ; and that , to the end the people may be peacefully governed , their hopes or their fears must be excited by promises or threats ; to say truth , we never yet heard of any republick or monarchy , which from its beginning did not ordain honours and chastisements for vice and virtue . he who feared to instruct vice by forbidding it , and to teach subjects paricide , by punishing it , was forced to have recourse to this common remedy , and to propose recompenses , and sufferings to men , thereby to awaken their hopes or their fears . experience shewed that to gain their good will , their passions must be won upon , and that the lower part of their souls must be mastered , so to assubject the higher part thereof . god himself governs the world by this harmless piece of cunning ; for though , being infinitely more absolute than all kings , he may treat with the soul without the interposition of the senses , he rules himself according to mans condition ; and knowing that they are composed of a soul and body , he undertakes nothing upon the former but by the means of the latter ; he renounceth his own rights , that he may adapt himself to the weakness of his creatures , and not using the power his soveraignty affords him , he terrifieth them by threats , or comforteth them by promises . his bare will should serve us for a law ; and the knowledge of his intentions oblige us to form whatsoever design ; notwithstanding he allureth us , by proposing a paradise unto us ; he terrifieth us in representing us with a hell ; and as if he were much interessed in our souls health , or in our damnation , he employs all his graces to purchase our love and to shun our hatred . when he treated with the iews as with his subjects ; when through his excessive goodness he disdained not to own the quality of their soveraign ; when he gave them laws by the mouth of moses , and when he governed them by the wisdom of their judges , who were but his images , he terrified them many times by his chastisements , and sent plagues and famine into their habitations , to reduce them to obedience by fear . he many times also promised them to enlarge their borders , to assist them in their battels , and to give them advantage over their enemies , to the end that soliciting their hopes by his promises , he might by their passions win their good wills . in fine , all the world confesseth , that polititians , like orators , cannot more violently , nor yet with more sweetness win mans consent , than by awakening the motions of his soul , and by dexterously insinuating themselves into him by the hopes of honour , or fear of punishment ; but they do not agree which of these two passions ought to be employed to reduce him the more assuredly to his duty . those who take part with fear , say , that this passion , being by nature servile , seems to be the portion of subjects , that this their relation cannot be taken from them without taking away their condition , and without reducing them into the quality of children or friends ; they add , that it is in the power of the soveraign to make himself be feared , not to make himself be loved ; that punishments make greater impression upon the souls of such as obey , than rewards ; that love is always voluntary , and that fear may be enforced ; that contempt , which is the capital enemy to monarchy , may proceed as well from love as from familiarity ; that fear can only produce hatred , which injureth more the reputation , than the power of kings ; that since wisdom will have us to chuse the lesser of two evils , we must resolve to lose the love of the people , to preserve their respect , and say with that ancient author , let him hate me , provided that he fear me . they confirm all these reasons by examples , and make it appear , that the most severe empires have flourished the most , that punishments have always exceeded rewards , and that in the roman common-wealth , where they gave but an oaken garland to such souldiers as had mounted a breach , they made them pass the pikes for having gone out of their rank , or forsaken their colours ; that god himself ( whose government ought to serve for an example to all princes ) governed his people with more severity than lenity , that he had been constrained to express himself by the voice of thunder to work obedience to him , that he had not preserved his authority by the death of rebels , and that notwithstanding whatever inclination he had to mercy , he was enforced to have recourse to justice . briefly , they say , soveraignty is somewhat hateful , that love and majesty agree not well together , that one cannot rule over men and be beloved , that men are so jealous of their liberty , as they hate all things that obviate it , and that princes according to the maxime in the gospel , have no greater enemies than their subjects . those who take part with love have no less specious reasons , and much more true ones ; for they say that the soveraign being the father of his people , he is bound to treat them as his children , that fear makes them only masters of the body , and that love makes them rule over the heart . that such as fear their masters , seek an end of their servitude , and that such as love them dream not of recovering their liberty . that such princes as govern with rigour , cannot live securely , that of necessity those who cause fear , must themselves be subject thereto , and that they must fear their peoples revolt , who only obey them through constraint . that if nothing that is violent be of continuance , an empire which is only grounded upon violence , cannot long subsist ; and to answer the reasons objected unto them , they reply that love enters much better into the heart than doth fear ; that if there be angersom ways to make a man be feared , there be innocent charms to make him be beloved ; that in generously-minded men , recompenses make greater impressions than punishments ; and that the promises of a prince more animates his subjects than doth his threats ; that contempt cannot arise from love , since love ariseth from valuation , and is always accompanied by respect ; that the justest monarchies , and not the severest , have flourished the most ; and that if in the roman common-wealth punishments exceeded recompenses , it was not , for that fear made deeper impressions in the souls of men than love ; but because vice hath not so much of ugliness as virtue hath of beauty ; and that it is not necessary to propound honour unto her , who finding all her glory within her self is as well satisfied with silence as amidst all acclamations and applause . that if god dealt rigorously with his people , 't was contrary to his inclination , and that his lenity had been greater than his severity , because the latter could not purchase him all iudaea , and the former hath submitted unto him the whole world . st. paul represents us with the difference between these two laws , often , in the holy scripture ; the one of which hath made slaves , the other hath produced children ; the one of which hath fortified sin , the other hath destroyed the tyranny thereof . they add , that soveraignty is not odious , since it was consecrated in the person of jesus christ , who desirous to serve as an example to all kings on earth , never used his power , but in order of service to his mercy ; and never did any miracle , unless to help the afflicted : in fine , that subjects did not repine at the loss of their liberty , since that being voluntary , they like it ; that princes are not the objects of fear , since they are the images of god ; and that some princes have been found even among infidels , who have been their peoples delight , whilst alive , and their sorrow , when dead . though these answers be so pertinent , as they are not be gainsaid ; yet methinks both the parties may be reconciled , and their difference so taken away , as that each of them should therein find their advantage ; for though lenity be to be preferred before rigour , and that a state be better grounded upon love than upon fear , there are occasions wherein a prince ought to let his clemency give place to his severity , & wherein he is obliged to quit the quality of a father , that he may exercise the like of a judge . he ought to govern his humor according to the humor of his subjects ; if they be giddy-headed or proud , he must use rigour , to teach them obedience and fidelity ; if troublesom , and prone to rebellion , he must make examples , and by the punishment of a few , frighten more ; if unquiet and desirous of novelty , he must punish them by keeping them in continual employment ; but amidst all these punishments , he must not forget that he is the head of his state , that his subjects are a part of himself , and that he ought to be as sparing in punishing them as a physitian in cutting off the arm or leg of a diseased person . if nothing be done in his kingdom which enforceth him to rigour ; if all things be peaceable , and if the people under his government have no other motions than his own will ; he ought to deal gently with them , afford them just liberty , which may perswade them that they are rather his children than his subjects , and that reserving to himself the marks only of soveraignty , he permits them to gather all the fruits thereof . in brief , he ought not to use rigor , but when clemency is bootless : in his government , as well as in the like of god , mildness must precede severity , and all the world must know that he punisheth not the faulty out of his own inclination , but forc'd thereunto by necessity . the power of a prince is sufficiently dreadful by reason of his greatness , he need not make it odious by his cruelty . one word of theirs terrifies all their subjects ; the punishment of one guilty person astonisheth all the rest ; their anger maketh even the innocent to quake ; and as a thunderbolt does little harm , yet frightens much ; so great men cannot punish a particular personage , without infusing terror throughout their whole dominions . i therefore am of opinion with the wisest politicians , that soveraignty ought to be tempered with lenity , and that being accompanied with all qualities that may make it be feared , it ought to seek out all such means as may make it be beloved . the fourth discourse . what passions ought to reign in the power of a prince . one of the greatest misfortunes which can befall religion , is the liberty which men take to frame unto themselves such a divinity as liketh them best ; in the first age every one adored the workmanship of his own hands , and made an idol unto himself , which had its worth from the industry of the workman , or from the excellency of the materials ; in pursuit of time , as mens spirits grew more refined , poets made the gods sensible , and gave them all such affections as make us faulty or miserable : one might see them make love in their writings , fight in fables ; and one might observe in them all the chief affections of those that had invented them ; philosophers not able to endure so unjust gods , formed more rational deities , and proposed unto the people the idols of their own minds ; every one figured out unto himself a god according to his own inclinations , and gave him what advantages may be imagined : some placed him in idleness , and that they might not trouble his rest , berest him of the knowledge , or government of our affairs ; some made him so good , as that he suffered all faults to go unpunisht , and dealt as favourably with the guilty as with the innocent ; others made him so rigorous , as it seemed he had created man only to destroy him , and that he found no contentment but in the death of his subjects ; this disorder hath passed from religion into state-government , and according to the ages wherein men have lived , they have framed unto themselves divers ideas of kings personages , and have placed in their princes such perfections only as they were acquainted withal ; for in the beginning of the world , when people preferred the body before the soul , they chose such kings as were of an extraordinary stature , and who were as strong as giants : nay , it seemed that god would apply himself to this humor , when he gave saul unto the israelites ; for the scripture sayes , he was higher by the head than all his subjects ; and when the poets describe unto us their heroes , they never fail in giving them this advantage ; but when time had taught us that our good resided not in the body , men begun to consider the mind of such men as they would make their kings , and cast their eyes upon such as had most of government in them , or most of courage ; they observed their inclinations , and knowing what power their inclinations have over their wills , they esteemed them no less than virtues . but opinions do so differ upon this subject , as a man may say that every politician fancies unto himself a prince according to his humour , and indues him with that passion which is most agreeable unto himself . some have wished that their prince had no passion at all , and that being the image of god , he should be raised above the creatures , he should see all the motions of the earth without any alteration o● spirit ; but we know very well that his being in a higher condition than his subjects makes him not be of another nature ; and that since he is not exempt from the diseases of the body , he cannot defend himself against the passions of the soul. others have been of opinion that he ought to have a● passions ; that like unto the sun and constellations he should be in a perpetual motion , and employ all his care , and all his thoughts upon the welfare of his state. some have thought that the desire of glory was the most lawful passion in a king , and that since fortune had endued him with all the goods she could confer upon him , he should only labour how to atchieve honour . that virtue was only preserved by this desire , and that he who valued not reputation , could not love justice , that a prince ought not to endeavour the eternizing of his memory by the pomp of glorious buildings , but by the gallantry of his actions ; that setting all other things at nought , he should only study how to leave a happy memory of his reign after his death . that nothing could more further him in this generous design than an insatiable desire of glory ; that riches were the goods of particular men , but that glory was the humor of kings ; and that he might well hazard all other things to compass it . others less glorious , but more rational , have thought that fear ought to reign in the soul of princes , and that as their wisdom exceeded their valour , the apprehension of danger should in them also surpass the desire of glory ; for to boot that their fortune is exposed to a thousand mischiefs ; that the greater it is , it runs the greater danger ; that it is the more brittle by how much the more glorious ; they are bound to prevent accidents by their watchfulness , to withstand storms by their constancy , and to forgo their own happiness , to share in the misery of their subjects . all these opinions are upheld by examples ; for there have been some kings who have known so well how to moderate their passions , as they seemed not to have any ; they have not been troubled at ill successes , and they would receive the news of a defeat , with the same countenance , as the tidings of victory . the quiet of their mind was not altered by the divers functions they were obliged unto ; they punished faults with the same easiness as they rewarded virtue ; and whatever alteration befell their states , you should find none in them ; they seemed to be raised to so high a pitch of perfection , as one might say , in the weakness of man they had the assurance of a god. there have been others , whose government hath been no less happy , and who have yet been of a quite different disposition ; for as their empire was no less dear unto them than were their own bodies , no alteration could happen therein which might not be read in their faces ; good success put them in good humor , they were afflicted at unhappy accidents , they were touched to the quick even with evils that threatned them from afar off , and every thing that befel their state made so strong an impression in them , as they seemed to live in two bodies , and that having two lives to lose , they had two deaths to fear . i dare not blame this their restlesness , since it was occasioned by an extream love ; and a body must be unjust to condemn a prince that makes himself miserable , for no other cause , but that he may make his subjects happy . augustus caesar was of this humor , and though he had endeavoured to compass so much constancy , as not to be troubled at any thing , yet could he not hear of any good or bad success which befel his common-wealth , without witnessing his resentment thereof by his word and actions . varrus his defeat cost him tears , and this accident which he was not prepared for , made him say such things as i do rather impute to his affection than to his weakness , since upon other occasions he had given so good proof of his courage . their number is great who have laboured after glory , and who have had no other passion but how to acquire honour . nothing seemed difficult unto them which bear with it the face of glory , insomuch as by an inevitable misfortune , they neglected virtue , when in obscurity ; and put a valuation upon a glorious vice . according to their tenets it was as lawful to overthrow a state as to found one , to oppress a republick , as to defend it ; and to undertake a war against allies , as well as against enemies . they run after glory by unlawful wayes , and as some make fortunate faults pass for virtues , these took glorious pieces of injustice for heroick actions . the first caesar held this maxime ; his ambition perswaded him that nothing was infamous that could purchase him honor , and that he ought not to consider whether an enterprise were just or unjust , provided that it might add unto his reputation , and make his name look big in story . his son in law was of the same opinion , and though he had fairer pretences for his designs , his motives thereunto were no better ; for under colour of preserving the common-wealth , he increased his particular authority , and by a detestable piece of art , he made use of the senate , to establish his tyranny . there needs no great policy go to the observation , that so unruly a passion is disadvantageous to states , and that this is not that which ought to precede in the soul of princes . i shall therefore willingly side with those who attribute this honour to the zeal of justice , and who will have the hearts of monarchs animated by this harmless affection ; for since the welfare of their people is the end of all their labours , the justice that must produce and preserve it , must be the scope of their desires , and they must maintain a well grounded quiet in the variety of conditions whereof their states are compounded . who is not indued with this virtue , knows not how to reign ; and though he have all the rest , he deserves not to bear a scepter , since he wants that which makes kings good , and kingdoms happy . i cannot end this discourse without taking notice of the excessive obligation which we have to divine providence , who hath given us a prince of so pure inclinations , as he seems to have no part in this sin , which hath put our nature out of order ; and who loveth justice so passionately , as he would be therewithal adorn'd , and chose the title of just , as the only recompence of all his heroick virtues . he might have assumed unto to himself the title of happy , as well as sylla ; since the sea hath born respect unto his endeavours , that the alpes have humbled themselves , and their snow dissolved to make way for his victorious forces ; and that upon a thousand occasions the elements have fought in his behalf ; he might have taken the title of great , as well as alexander , since his actions have exceeded our hopes , and that he hath undertaken , and effected designs which all his predecessors have thought unpossible : lastly , he might have challenged the name of victorious , as well as trajan , since men may number his victories by his battels , since his souldiers were never worsted in his presence , and since good success hath alwayes accompanied his enterprizes . but knowing that justice is the virtue of kings , he hath contented himself with the title of iust , and hath preferred it before those of happy , great , or victorious ; to teach all monarchs , that zeal of the publick good is the passion which chiefly ought to rule in them . the end of the first part. the second part of the vse of passions . of passions in particular . the first treatise of love and hatred . the first discourse . of the nature , properties , and effects of love. divinity teacheth us that there is nothing more hidden , yet nothing more known than the god whom we adore ; his essence fills the world , and his immensity is such as he can produce nothing which he encloseth not ; all creatures are the images of his greatness , and the proofs of his power ; one cannot see them without knowing him ; and they by their motions discover unto us what the prophets have declared unto us in their writings ; yet is there nothing more secret than he , he is every where , and he is no where ; he makes himself to be felt , yet will not suffer himself to be touched ; he environeth us , yet will not permit us to approach him ; all people know he is , and no philosophers know what he is . the belief that we have , that he is , is so ingraven in the very ground-works of our essence , as to eface it , were to annihilate our selves ; yet cannot our understanding comprehend him ; and this sun casts about so much light as dazles the eyes that would behold him . though love be but a passion of our soul , yet hath it this advantage common with the divine essence , that it is as secret , as it is publick ; and that there is nothing in nature more evident , yet nothing more hidden . every one speaks of love as of the soul that preserves the universe , and as the secret knot which entertains the society of the world ; our desires declare it , and a man that wisheth , witnesses his love ; our hopes divulge it , and all our passions do discover it , yet is it retreated too within the bottom of our hearts ; and all the marks that it giveth of its presence , are as many clouds which hide it from our understandings ; men feel the power thereof , yet cannot explain its essence ; even they who live under its empire , and who reverence the laws thereof , are ignorant of its nature . poets who interest themselves in its greateess , will have it pass for a god ; lest men may blame the violence of love , they give it a stately name , and endeavour to excuse the true fury thereof by a false piety . the platonicks make love a spirit , and attribute unto it so absolute a power over the passions , as they will have even hatred it self to obey its will , and will have hatred change all her rage into mildness , that she may please love. the stoicks term love a fury , and judging of its nature by its effects , they cannot believe that that motion of our soul be well ruled , which is as direful to us as hatred , and which hath so little government , as it most commonly offendeth even those whom it intendeth to oblige . the peripateticks dare not give it any name at all , for fear of being mistaken ; and aristotle , who defineth the most hidden things , contents himself with the description thereof , leaving us in a despair how to know a passion which he knew not : sometimes he terms it sympathizing , sometimes an inclination , sometimes a complacency , and teacheth us by these different terms , that the nature of love is no less obscure , than is the nature of the soul. amongst so many doubts , some philosophers affirm , that it is the first impression which the bonum sensible makes in the heart of man , that 't is a pleasing wound which man hath received from a fair object , that it is the beam of a sun which warms him , that it is a charm whose virtue is attractive , and that it is the first motion which carries him , either to what appears to be good , or to what truly is so . but if i may be permitted to differ from common opinions , that i may follow the more true , i will say that love is all the passions ; that according to its different conditions it hath different names , but that custom hath so prevailed , as in its birth it beareth the most glorious name ; for when an inclination is formed in the heart , and that a pleasing object doth with delight stir up the will , we call it love ; when it sallies forth from it self to join with what it loves , we call it desire ; when it grows more vigorous , and that its strength promiseth good success , we call it hope ; when it encourageth it self against the difficulties it meets withal , we call it choler ; when it prepares to fight , and seeks out weapons to defeat its enemies , and to assist its allies , we call it boldness . but in all these conditions 't is still love ; the name which philosophers have given it in its birth , agrees not less with it in his progress ; and if when but a child , it merit so honourable a title , it deserves it better when it is grown greater by desires , and strengthened by hopes . 't is true that loves first condition is the rule of all the rest , and that as all rivers derive their greatness from their spring-head , all the passions borrow their strength from this first inclination which is termed love ; for as soon as it is taken with the beauty of an object , it kindles its desires , excites its hopes , and carries the fire into all the passions which hold of its empire : 't is in the will as in a throne , where it gives orders to its subjects ; 't is in the bottom of the soul as in a strong hold , from whence it inspireth courage into its souldiers ; 't is like the heart which giveth life to all the members , and the power thereof is so great as it cannot be well expressed by any example . kings oft times meet with disobedience in their subjects ; the most valiant commanders are sometimes forsaken by their souldiers , and the heart cannot always disperse its spirits throughout all the members of the body ; but love is so absolute in his dominion , as he never finds any resistance to his will ; all the passions get on foot to execute his commandments , and as the motion of the moon causeth the ebbing and flowing of the sea , so doth the motions of love cause peace , or trouble in our soul. now this love , the nature whereof is so hidden , hath divers branches ; and may be divided into natural and supernatural ; the latter is that which god disperseth into our wills , to make us capable of loving him as our father , and of pretending unto glory as to our inheritance ; the former is that which nature hath imprinted in our souls , to fasten us to those objects which are delightful to us ; and this is divided into spiritual and sensible love ; spiritual love resides in the will , and rather deserveth to be stiled a virtue than a passion ; sensible love is in the lower part of the soul , and hath so much commerce with the senses , from whence he borrows his name , as he always makes impression upon the body ; and this it is which is properly termed passion . in fine , these two lovers are divided again into two others ; the one of which is called the love of friendship , the other the love of interest . the first is the more noble , and he who is touched therewith , respecteth nothing but what may be advantageous to whom he loveth ; he wisheth him well , or procureth what is good for him ; and having no consideration but honour , and his friends content , he sacrificeth himself for him , and thinks himself happy if he lose his life , to assure his friend of his affection . this noble passion is that which hath done all the glorious actions which are observed in history ; 't is she that hath filled tyrants with admiration , and who hath made these enemies to society , wish to love , and to be beloved ; judging aright that soveraigns are better guarded by their friends than by their souldiers , and that all their forces were but weak , were they not supported by the love of their subjects . the second sort of love , which we term the love of interest , is as common as unjust ; for the greatest part of affections is grounded upon utility , or upon pleasure ; those who suffer themselves to be carried away thereby , have not so much friendship as self-love , and if they will speak their minds , they will confess that they love themselves in their friends , and that they love them not so much for any virtue , which they observe in them , as for the good they hope to reap by them ; thus we may see that such like affections last no longer then they are either useful , or pleasing ; and that the same interest which gave them life , makes them die ; they betake themselves to the fortune , not to the person , and these are commerces which last no longer than they are entertained by hopes of profit or of pleasure . of so many sorts of love which philosophy hath marked out unto us , we will here consider none but that which resides in the inferior part of the soul ; let it have either virtue or interest for its foundation . and since we know the nature thereof , we will examine the qualities ; the first whereof is , that it always seeks what is good , and never betakes it self to an object , which either is not good , or appears not so to be ; for as nature is the workmanship of god , she cannot have strayed so much out of the way , but that she must preserve some remainder of his first inclinations , insomuch as having been destinied to enjoy the summum bonum , she longs after it ; by an error which may very well be excused , she fastens her self to all that hath but the likeness thereof , and by an instinct , which remains in her , though in disorder , she suffers her self to be charmed by all things which have in them any thing of beauty or of goodness . as if she had found what she seeks after , she indiscreetly betakes her self thereunto , and by a deplorable misfortune she oft-times takes a falshood for a truth ; she committeth idolatry whilst she thinketh to perform actions of piety ; and attributing that unto the work , which is only due unto the workman , she runs into the same error which a lover should do , who by a strange malady should forget the mistress which he vows service to , and passionately adore her picture . this fault ought rather to be imputed to man , than to his love ; for love being blind follows his inclination , not being able to discern between appearances and truth , he loves the good which offers it self unto him ; that he may not miss of what he looks for , he betakes himself to what he finds ; and is only to blame in being too faithful ; but man cannot excuse his sin , since reason is his guide , and that he may learn by her , that all those goods which are touched by the senses , or are the objects of the senses , are but the shadows of that which he ought to love . he must correct his love , and keep it from betaking it self to objects , which though they be indeed beautiful , are not the soveraign good , or summum bonum which he seeks after . when he thinks the qualities they are endued withal may work a change in him , he might shun them as snares , and use violence upon himself to get free from the creatures , lest they make him forget his creator . from this propriety of love ariseth a second , which is , that he never is at quiet , but goes always in pursuit of what he loves ; for seeing so many shadows of that supream beauty which he adores , he is always in action , leaving one to take another , he seeks in all , what he cannot find in one alone ; and his change is not so much a proof of his fickleness , as of their vanity ; he becoms wise at his own cost ; when he meets not with what he expects in the beauty which he idolatrizeth , he repents him of his fault , & betakes himself to another subject , which he is forced to forgo again , because he enjoys but one part of that universal good wherewithal he is taken ; his inconstancy would last as long as his life , did not reason teach him , that what he covets is invisible , and that the abiding place wherein we are , is not destined for the passion , but for the hope thereof ; he then sets at nothing what he so much esteemed , and considering that natural beauties are but steps whereby to raise us to supernatural beauty , he loves them with reservedness , and useth them as means whereby to purchase what he seeks after . the powerful impression which this beauty makes upon love , causeth loves third propriety , which is , that he cannot live in quiet , and that being solicited by his desires , he is always busie ; he is of the nature of the constellations , which are in a perpetual motion ; the end of one trouble is the beginning of another ; and he hath not so soon ended his first design , but he frames a second ; he is like those conquerors , who egged on by ambition , prepare always for new combats , never tasting the pleasure of victory . i cannot therefore approve of the poets invention , who have feigned love to be the son of idleness ; for if his genealogy be true , we must confess he is not of his mothers humour . that unfortunate poet , who was loves martyr , and who saw himself justly persecuted for having forged weapons against womens chastity , avows that this passion is working ; and that it is so far from being at rest , as it obligeth its partakers to be souldiers ; and that to love , a man must resolve to wage war. hence it is that st. augustin mixing sacred love with prophane , makes them both equally operative , and acknowledgeth that a true affection cannot be idle . ambition , which is the love of honour , is a good proof of this , since it makes such impression upon the hearts of those that are ambitious , as they have not much more rest than have the damned , and that they are always cause of more trouble to themselves , than to those whom they oppress . avarice , which is the love of money , doth authorize this truth no less than doth ambition , since those wretchmen which are therewithal possessed , rend up the bowels of the earth that they may not be unuseful , and seek out hell before their death , that they may not be exempt from pain whilst alive . this propriety is so peculiar to love , as it is not found in any other of the passions . for though our desires be the first rivulets that derive from this spring-head , yet do they give us some respit ; and when they are weary of seeking after a far distant good , they suffer us to take a little rest ; we oft-times dry our tears , and if we make not peace , we conclude a truce with our sorrow ; we do not always meditate upon revenge , and choler as so much less lasting as it hath more of impetuosity and violence . our hatred is sometimes laid asleep , and requires a new injury to awaken it ; our joys are so short , as the longest of them endure but for a moment , and they love idleness so much , as they cease to be pleasing when they begin to be operative . but love is always in action , it tarries not till age give it strength to work , it formeth designs as soon as it is born ; though abandoned by desires and hopes , it ceaseth not to think of what it loveth , and to entertain it self to no purpose with the thought of good success , which it never shall enjoy . in fine , activity is so natural unto it , as the life thereof consists in motion ; and as the heart , it ceaseth to live when it ceaseth to move . from hence proceeds its fourth propriety , which is the strength which doth accompany it in all its designs ; for though but new born , it is vigorous , if true ; and giving proofs of its courage , it tameth monsters , which it is not yet acquainted withal ; it measures its strength by its desires , & thinks it self able to do whatsoever it will ; it is not astonished with difficulties : if one propound them to love , that they may stay the careir thereof , he thinks 't is done to try its will , and solicited by glory it endeavoureth to overcome them : love neither accepts of , nor makes excuses . it will try all its forces before 't will acknowledge an impotency , and it doth oft-times overcome enemies , which the most generous virtues durst never set upon . hence it is that the holy scripture compares it to death , not only for that it separateth us from our selvs , to join us to the things we love ; but because nothing can resist it ; for of so many pains which divine justice hath found out , wherewith to punish us , there is none , but death , which we may not defend our selves from . we save our selves from the injuries of the weather by cloaths and houses ; we overcome the barrenness of the earth by our excessive labour ; we correct nourishments by the help of physick ; we reduce wild beasts to our obedience by art or forces ; we oft-times turn our pains into pleasure , and we draw advantages from the misery of our condition , which we should not have found in the state of innocency . but nothing can resist death ; and though physitians have found out secrets to prolong our lives , yet do they in vain seek out means to defend themselves against death , which makes havock throughout the whole earth , pardons neither age nor sex ; and palaces , which are environed with so many guards , cannot keep kings from the reach thereof : so love finds no difficulties which it overcomes not , no pride which it lays not low , no power which it tameth not , nor no rigour which it doth not allay . briefly , by another propriety which is not less considerable than the former , love charmeth troubles , mingleth pleasures with pain ; and to encourage us to difficult actions , finds out inventions to make them either pleasing or glorious . hunting is rather a business than a diversion , 't is an image of war ; and men who pursue wild beasts , seem as if they studied how to overcome their enemies ; the victory is therein doubtful , as well as in combates ; and honour is therein purchased sometimes by the loss of life ; yet all these troubles are the hunters pleasures , and their passion to this exercise makes them term that a pastime which reason would term a punishment . there is nothing of delight in war , the very name thereof is odious ; were it not accompanied with injustice , disorder , and fear , it would notwithstanding have horrors enough to astonish all men ; death makes her self be there seen in a thousand different shapes ; there is no exercise in war wherein the danger doth not exceed the glory ; and it never furnisheth souldiers with any actions which are not as bloudy as glorious ; yet those that love it , make it their delight , they esteem all the deformities thereof beauties , and by an inclination which proceeds rather from their love than from their humour , they find delight in dangers , and taste the pleasantness of peace in the tumults of war. this it is which made st. augustine say , that lovers troubles are never troublesom , and that they never find pain in serving what they love , or if they do , they cherish it . but we shall never make an end if we would observe all the proprieties of love ; i therefore pass on to the effects thereof , which being so many pictures of love , will represent unto us its nature , and will discover unto us what it is able to do . the first of its miracles , is that which we call extasie , for it frees the soul from the body which she inanimates , that she may join to the object which she loveth ; it parts us from our selves by a pleasing violence ; and what the holy scripture attributes to the spirit of god , befals this miraculous division ; so as a lover is never at home with himself ; if you will find him , you must seek him in the person that he adores . he will have people know that contrary to the laws of wisdom , he is always without himself ; and that he hath forsaken all care of his own preservation ; since he became a slave to love . the saints draw their glory from this extasie , and truth it self , which speaks by their mouths , obligeth them to confess , that they live more in jesus christ , than in themselves . now as a man must die to himself , to live in another , death accompanieth this life ; and as well sacred as prophane lovers cannot love unless they be bound to die . 't is true that this death is advantageous to them , since it procures unto them a life wherewithal they are better pleased than with that which they have lost ; for they live again in those that they love ; by a miracle of love , they , like the phenix , take life again from their ashes , and recover life in the very bosom of death . he who doth not conceive this truth , cannot understand those words , by which s. paul teacheth us , that we are dead unto our selves , and alive in jesus christ. this effect produceth another , which is not much less admirable ; for as lovers have no other life than what they borrow from their love , it infallibly falls out that they transform themselves thereinto , and that ceasing to be what they were , they begin to be that which they love ; they change condition as well as nature , and by a wonder , which would surpass all belief , were it not usual , they become like unto that which they cherish . 't is true that this power shines much more gloriously in divine than in prophane love ; for though kings abase themselves in loving their subjects , and that they forgo their greatness , as soon as they engage themselves in friendship , yet do they not raise those up into their throne whom they love . jealousie ( which is inseparable from royalty ) will not suffer them to give their crown away to him who possesseth their heart . but if they should arrive at this excess , the maxim would only be true in them , and their subjects could not change conditions by the force of their love , for the love of greatness makes not a soveraign , nor is a man the more accommodated though he love riches ; the desire of health did never yet cure a sick man ; & we have not found , that the bare passion to know , hath made men wise . but divine love hath so much power , as it raseth us up above our selves , & by a strange metamorphosis it makes us be that which it makes us love ; it renders the guilty innocent ; it makes slaves children , changeth demons into angels ; and that we may not diminish the virtue thereof , whilst we think to heighten it , let it suffice to say , that of men , it makes gods. it doth not therefore become us to complain of our misery , and to accuse our creator , for not having equalled our condition to that of angels ; for though those pure spirits have great advantages over us , and that we hope for no other good than that which they possess , yet are we happy enough , since we are permitted to love god , and that we are made to hope , that our nature being by love transformed into his nature , we shall lose what we have of mortal , and perishable , to acquire what is incorruptible and eternal . this is the consolation of divine lovers , and this is the only means how to aspire , without blame , to that happiness , which lucifer could not do , but with impiety . i cannot end this discourse without justly reproaching those that whilst they may love god , engage their affections on the earth , or on earthly things , and deprive themselves of that immense felicity which divine love promiseth them ; for in loving of the creatures , they cannot share in their perfections , without doing the like in their defaults ; after having laboured much they oft-times change an obscure and peaceable condition , into a more glorious , but a more dangerous one . so there is always hazard in the love of the creatures , and the advantage that may be drawn from thence , is never so pure , but that it is mingled with somewhat of misfortune . for whatsoever passion we have for the creature , we are not sure the creature hath the like for us ; yet this miraculous change , which passeth for the principal effect of love is made in this mutual affection , and in this correspondency of friendship . but we run not these hazzards in consecrating our love to god ; his perfections are not accompanied with faults ; and we know it cannot be disadvantageous to us , to make a change with him . our love is never without this acknowledgment , since it is rather the effect than the cause of his , and that we love not him , till he hath first loved us . he is so just as he never denies our affection the recompense which it deserves ; he is not like those misbelieving mistresses , who amongst the numbers of their lovers , prefer him who is best behaved , before him that loveth best ; in the commerce which we hold with him , we are sure that he that hath most charity , shall have most glory , and that in his kingdom the most faithful lover shall be always the most honoured . the second discourse . of the badness of love. since there is nothing so sacred but meets with some sacrilegious person , which doth prophane it , we must not wonder if love , which is the holiest passion of our soul , meet with impious persons , which corrupt it , and who contrary to its own inclination make it serve their designs ; for love seeks only the summum bonum ; she is not without some sort of violence made to love her own particular good , which is but the shadow of what she desires ; to abuse it therefore , sin must disorder nature , and turn natural love into self-love , making the spring-head of good , the original of all our evil . for during the state of innocency , men had no love save only for good , and nature was so well temper'd with grace , as that all her inclinations were holy : in this happy condition , charity and self love were the same thing ; and a man feared not to injure his neighbour by loving himself ; but since his disobedience , his love changed nature ; he who looked upon another mans advantage and his own with the same eye , began to separate them ; and forgetting what he ought to god , he made a god of himself . he confounded all the laws of innoceney , and as if he alone had been in the world , he forsook the sweets of society , he took a resolution to rule his affections by his own interests , and to love no longer any thing but what was useful and pleasing unto him . this mischief , like poyson , disperst it self throughout the whole fabrick of nature ; and reason cannot defend her self against it , without the assistance of grace . the gallantest actions lost their lustre by this irregularity ; philosophy by all her precepts could not reform a disorder , which was rather in the bottom of nature , than in the will. she put some of her might to fight against this monster , and spying a glimering of light amidst the darkness with which she was blinded , she confessed that man did not belong so much to himself as to his country , and that he ought endeavour more the glory of the state , than the good of his own family . she thought that the love of our neighbour should be formed upon the love of our selves , and believed that in willing us to treat them as our selves , she had corrected all the abuse of humane nature . but this malady lying not only in the understanding , her advice was not sufficient to cure it , so as she was enforced to confess that there was none could reform man , but he that made him . thus shall we find no remedy for our misfortunes but by the assistance of grace ; and our desires have had no freedom , save since jesus christ came into the world to banish self-love from out our souls ; for his coming had no other motive , nor his doctrine any other end , than the ruine of this dreadful monster . he setteth upon it throughout all his maxims , and hardly doth any word proceed from his divine mouth which gives it not a mortal wound . he protests he would admit of no disciples , who have not changed their selflove into an holy aversion ; and that he will not suffer any subject in his kingdom , who are not ready to lose their lives for the glory of their soveraign . he condemns the excess of riches , and the love of honour , only for that they nourish this inordinate passion . and he obligeth us to love our enemies , only to teach us to hate our selves . mortification and humility , which are the ground-works of his doctrine , tend only to destroy this inordinate affection which we bear unto our souls , or our bodies . in fine , he hath appointed us charity , only to overthrow self-love , and he died upon the cross , only to make his enemy die , which is the cause of all our quarrels and divisions . we ought also to confess that this evil includes all others , and that there is no disorder in the world which doth not acknowledge this for its original ; and i am of opinion , that a man cannot only not make a good christian of one that doth too excessively love himself , but i hold that according to the laws of policy and morality , one cannot make a good man , nor a good statesman , of such a man ; for justice it absolutely necessary in all manner of conditions , and this virtue cannot subsist with self-love . justice will have a man endued with reason , to prefer the inclinations of the soul before those of the body , and that he preserve all the rights of authority to the soveraign . self-love ( which leans always towards the flesh ) will have the slave to govern his master , and that the body command over the soul ; justice will have a good man not to wish for any thing which exceeds his merit , or his birth ; and she instructeth him , that to be happy and innocent he must prescribe bounds to his designs . self-love commands us to follow our own inclinations , and to govern our desires only according to our vanity ; it flatters our ambition , and to insinuate it self into us , it gives us leave to do what we please . justice will have a good statesman prefer the publick interest before that of his own house ; that he be ready to lose his wealth , and to sacrifice his own person for the preservation of his country ; she perswades him that there is no death more glorious than that which is suffered for the defence of a mans country ; and that the horatii and scaevola's are famous in the roman history , only for having sacrificed themselves to the glory of their common-wealth ; though there be nothing more natural to a man than to love his children , some men have been found , whom justice hath made to lose this affection to preserve the like of good statesmen ; who solicited by this virtue , have butcherd those whose fathers they were , teaching by so rigorous an example , that the love to a mans country , ought to exceed the love to his own flesh and blood . a state cannot be happy wherein there 〈◊〉 any doubts made of these maxims , as oft 〈◊〉 the publick interest shall give way unto th●● particular , it shall always be near ruine , an● shall have no less trouble to defend it sel● against its subjects than against its enemies self-love , this mean while makes a man labour only for his own pleasure or glory ; 〈◊〉 makes this the end of all his actions , an● doth so bind man up within himself , as 〈◊〉 suffereth him not to consider the publick if he do his country any service , it is in order to his own particular good ; and whe● he seems most busie for the good of th● state , he wisheth the slavery thereof , 〈◊〉 conspires its ruine : marius & scilla do witness these truths ; pompey and caesar ha●● made us see how dangerous such statesmen are , who love themselves better than th● common-wealth ; and who , so they ma● preserve their own power , fear not to 〈◊〉 press their countries liberty . in religion this unjust passion is 〈◊〉 more fatal , and piety can never agree wi●● self-love . for there is no man that understands any thing , who will not affirm , th● to be godly , a man must submit himself 〈◊〉 the will of god. that with like submissi● we ought to receive punishments and rewards at his hands ; that we must adore the thunder wherewith he smiteth us , and have as great respect unto his justice as to his mercy ; that we must be cruel to our selves , to be obedient to him . that it i● piety to ●mmolate the innocent to him when he demands them ; and that as there is no creature which owes not his being to his power , there is none who is not bound to lose it for his glory . then what man is he who will submit to these truths , if he be a slave to self-love ? and how shall he be faithful to god , if he be in love with himself ? i conclude then , that this inordinate affection is the undoing of families , the ruine of states , and the loss of religion ; that to live in the world , a man must denounce war to this common enemy of society , and that imitating the elements , which force their inclinations to exclude a vacuum , we must use violence upon our desires , to overcome a passion so pernicious to nature and grace . from this spring-head of mischief flow three rivers which drown the whole world , and which cause a deluge , from the which it is very hard to save ones self ; for from this inordinate love arise three other loves which poyson all souls , and which banish all virtue from the earth . the first is the love of beauty , which we term incontinencie . the second is the love of riches , which we call avarice . the third is the love of glory , which we call ambition . these three capital enemies of mans welfare and quiet , corrupt all that belongs to him , and render him guilty in his soul , in his body , and in his goods . it is hard to say which of these three monsters is hardest to overcome ; for to boot , with their natural forces , they have auxiliaries , which they draw from our inclinations , or from our habits , and which make them so redoubted , that they are not to be overcome without a miracle . to consider them notwithstanding in themselves , ambition is the most haughty and the strongest ; voluptuousness , the most mild and soft ; and avarice the basest , and most opinionated . these are fought against by divers means , and all morality is busied in furnishing us with reasons to defend our selves against them . the vanity of honour hath cured some that have been thereof ambitious : for when they come to know that they laboured after a good which happened not to them till after death , and that from so many dangerous actions they could only expect to have their sepulchers adorn'd , or some commendation in history , they have ceased to covet an idol , which rewardeth ill the slaves that serve it ; and that for a little applause which it promiseth them , obligeth them many times to shed their own bloud , or that of their neighbour . the infamy of the voluptuous , the mischiefs which accompany them , the displeasures which follow them , and the shame which never forsakes them , have oft-times cured men to whom sin had left a little reason . age may likewise be a cure for this ; it is a disorder in nature to find a lascivious old man ; and it is no less strange to see love under gray hairs , than to see those mountains whose heads are covered with snow , and whose bowels are full of flames . the misery of riches , the pain that is taken in accumulating them , the care in preserving them , the evils which they cause to their owners , the ease which they afford to content unjust desires , and the sorrow caused by their loss , are considerations strong enough to make those contemn them who are not as yet become slaves thereunto . but when they shall exercise their tyranny upon the spirits , i esteem their malady incurable : age which cures other passions , encreaseth this . covetous men never love riches more than when they are near losing them ; and as love is then most sensible when it apprehends the absence of the party beloved ; avarice is most violent , when it apprehendeth the loss of its wealth . but without medling with another mans work , i shall content my self with saying , that to preserve a mans self from all these evils , he must endeavour to forgo self-love . for , as natural love causeth all the passions , inordinate love causeth all the vices ; and whosoever shall be vigilant in the weakning of this passion by repentance and charity , shall find himself happily freed from avarice , ambition and incontinency . but to arrive at this high degree of happiness , we must remember , that in whatsoever condition providence hath placed us , we are not for our selves , but for the publick ; and that we must not love our selves to the prejudice of our soveraign . we are in nature a portion of the universe , in civil life a part of the state , in religion we are the members of jesus christ. in all these conditions , self-love must be sacrificed to universal love . in nature we must die to give place to those that follow us . in the state , we must contribute our goods and our bloud for the defence of our prince ; and in religion , we must kill the old adam , that jesus christ may live in us . the third discourse . of the good vse of love. morality considers not so much the goodness of things as the good use of them , she neglects natural perfections , and puts a valuation only upon their rational employment ; metals are indifferent to her , nor doth she consider them otherwise than earth , whose colour the sun hath changed . but she blames the abuse , and commends the good husbanding thereof , she is troubled when wicked men abuse them to oppress the innocent , to corrupt judges , to violate the laws , and to seduce women . she is well pleased when good men make use thereof to nourish the poor , cloath the naked , to set captives at liberty , and to succour the miserable . there is nothing more glorious than the vivacity wherewithal nature hath endued men nobly endued . 't is the key which opens unto them the treasury of science , be it either to acquire them , or to distribute them to others ; 't is that which is acceptable to all companies , and 't is a quality which is as soon beloved as seen . yet doth not morality esteem it otherwise than as it is well husbanded ; and s. augustine who acknowledged it for a grace , confesseth it hath been pernicious to him , by reason of his ill employment thereof , and because he had entertained it amongst his errors . love without all question is the holiest of all our passions , and the greatest advantage which we have received from nature , since by the means thereof we may fasten our selves to good things , and make our souls perfect in the love thereof . 't is the spirit of life , the cement of the whole world , an innocent piece of art , by which we change condition , not changing nature ; and we transform our selves into the party whom we love . 't is the truest and purest of all pleasures ; 't is a shadow of that happiness which the blessed enjoy . earth would be hell , if love were vanisht thence ; and it would be a great piece of rigour in god , if he should permit us to see handsom things , and forbid us to love them . but that we may the better govern this passion , we must learn of morality what laws to prescribe unto it , and what liberty we must allow it . there are three objects of our love , god , man , and creatures deprived of reason . some philosophers have doubted whether we could love the first , or no ; they were perswaded his greatness did rather require our adoration than our love ; but though this be a religious opinion , and that it merits the greater esteem since it proceeds from the prophane ; we cannot deny , but that we were endued with love , to unite us to god ; for to boot , with our thorough sense of this inclination , to boot , that it is imprinted by nature in the very ground-work of our wills , and that uninstructed by our parents or our teachers , we labour after the summumbonum : reason teacheth us that he is the abyss of all perfections , and the center of all love ; so as a man need not fear committing any excess in loving him with all his might . he is so good as he cannot be loved so much as he ought to be ; and let a man do his utmost , he is obliged to confess , that the goodness of god doth far exceed the greatness of mans love. such souls as are elevated , and approach nearer unto him , complain of their coolness ; and wish that all the parts of their bodies were turned into tongues , to praise him ; or into hearts to love him . they are troubled , that since his greatness is so well known , his goodness is no more loved ; and that having so many subjects , he hath no more that love him . we must not then prescribe any bounds to this passion , when it hath respect unto god , but every one ought to make it his sole desire , and to wish that his heart were dilated , that he might infinitely love him , who is infinitely lovely ; but we must take great heed , not to rob him of what doth so justly belong unto him ; and we must remember , that though his goodness should not force his duty from us , we should be bound to render it unto him , in order to our own interest . for our love is never content but when it rests in god. it fears infidelity in the creatures , is never so assured of them , but that there remains some rational doubts ; and though it should have such proofs of their good will , as that it were constrained to banish all suspition , yet would it fear lest death might take from it what good fortue hath given ; & in one or other of these just apprehensions it could not shun being miserable . but it knows very well that god is immutable , & that he never forsaketh us till we have forsaken him , it knows that god is eternal , and that death being no less distant from him than change , his affection cannot end , but through our infidelity . 't is true there are carnal souls , who complain that he is invisible , and who cannot resolve to give up their hearts to a divinity which doth not content their eyes . but all things are full of him , his greatness is poured out in all the parts of the universe ; every creature is an image of his perfections , he seems to have made these pictures only to make himself be thereby known and loved ; and if he should not have used this piece of skill , we need only consult with our own reason to know what he is . error cannot corrupt her , and in the souls of pagans she hath verified oracles . those very men who offered incense unto idols , knew very well that there was but one god ; when nature spake in their mouths , she made them speak like christians , and they confess'd those truths , for which they persecuted the martyrs . for as tertullian observes , their soul was naturally christian ; when they were surprized with a danger , they implored the succour of the true god , and not that of their iupiter : when they took an oath , they raised up their eyes towards heaven , & not towards the capitol so as we must not complain that god is invisible , but we must wish that he may be as much loved , as he is known . and moreover this complaint is no more to be admitted of , since the mystery of the incarnation , where god became man , that he might treat with men ; where he hath given sensible proofs of his presence , and where clothing himself with our nature , he hath suffered our eyes to behold his beauty , our hands to touch his body , and our ears to hear his voice . since that happy moment he is become our allie , and he who was our soveraign , is become our brother , to the end that this double quality might oblige us to love him with more ardor , and might permit us to accost him with more freedom ; we cannot then fail in the use of that love which we owe unto him , but by being either too much reserved or too unfaithful . but the love we render to men may be defective in two manner of ways , and we may abuse it either in loving them too much , or not enough , as shall be shewn in the pursuit of this discourse . friendship is certainly one of the chief effects of love , and the harmlessest delight which men can take in society . very barbarians did reverence the name thereof ; those who despise the laws of civility , put an estimation upon the laws of friendship , and cannot live within their forrests without having some whom they trust , who know their thoughts , who rejoyce at their good fortune , and who are afflicted when any ill besals them . thieves who intrench upon the publick liberty , who make war in time of peace , and who seem desirous to stifle that love which nature hath placed in mankind , cease not to bear respect to friendship ; they have a certain shadow of society amongst them ; they keep their word , though with prejudice to their condition ; tortures cannot sometimes make them violate their faith ; and they will rather lose their lives than betray their companions . in fine , people subsist only by virtue hereof ; and who should banish friendship from off the earth , must raze towns , and send men into desarts . she is more powerful than the laws , and who shall have well established her in kingdoms , need neither tortures nor punishments to contain the wicked within their duties . but to be just she must have her bounds , to be true she must be founded upon piety ; those who will love one another , must be united in faith , and must have the same sense of religion ; their friendship must be a study after virtue , and they must labour to become better by their mutual communication ; their souls should rather be mingled than united ; from this mixture a perfect community of all things must arise ; their goods must be no more divided ; and the words thine & mine ( which cause whatever there is of division in the world must be totally banished ; when their conditions meet together , friendship is not to be blamed ; nay , the very excess thereof is to be prais'd , since being more divine than humane , & more grounded upon grace than nature , she should be freed from all those laws which are only made for common friendship . but in the one and the other of them , the pains which accompany them must be endured , and we must remember , that as there is nothing so perfect in the world , but hath its faults , there is nothing so pleasing which hath not its dislikes . friendship is that which sweetens life , and who is not therewithal endued , cannot hope for happiness ; it is the most rational concord which this world can afford ; and of as many pleasures as are , i find none more harmless , nor more true , but it hath its incommodity ; and who begins to love , must prepare to suffer . absence is a short death , and death is an eternal absence , which entayles upon us as much sorrow , as the presence of the beloved gives satisfaction . a man who loseth his friend , loseth one half of himself , he is at once both alive & dead ; and death accords not with life , save only to make him more miserable . but say they should be so fortunate in their fate , as they should both die in one day , they could not shun the miseries which accompany life ; they seem by being linkt together in affection , to have given fortune the greater hold of them , and their soul seems to be in two bodies , only that it may be the more capable of grief . aristotle therefore would not have a man to have many friends , lest he should be bound to spend his whole life in bewailing their misfortunes , or that exacting the same duty from them , he might not trouble all their joy , and make his friendship fatal . 't is true that these pains are pleasing , and that by a just dispensation of love they are always mingled with some contentment . tears are sweet when friendship is the cause of their shedding , if they ease him that sheds them , they comfort him for whom they are shed ; and they make them both taste of true pleasure in a common misery ; thus their malady bears the cure thereof about with it , and deserves rather to be envied than pitied , since the sufferer and bemoaner are equally assured of their mutual fidelity . but 't is much the harder matter to regulate the love between men and women , and to prescribe bounds unto a passion which asks counsel only of it self , and which thinks it self not true , if it be not in excess . therefore the greatest part of our divines do blame it ; and though it be not faulty , but as it is dangerous , they forbid the use thereof , to shun the hazard . to say true , this virtue is never so pure , but that it hath some clouds , it easily slides from the soul into the body ; and grant it could be without danger , it could never be without scandal . the age is too corrupt to judge uprightly of these communications ; if they were publickly allowed of , they would serve for a cloak to irregular affections ; and under pretence of friendship , every one would assume the liberty to make love. i know very well , there have been saints in former ages , but they have not been exempt from calumnies . paulinus bare no respect to the empress eudoxe , save only for that she was learned ; he was enamoured of her mind , not of her body ; and if he drew many times near to this fair sun , it was that he might be thereby enlightned , not heated . yet their frequent conversation caused jealousie in young theodosius ; and an apple as fatal as that of paris , wrought the death of paulinus , and eudoxes banishment . i know there is no sex amongst souls , and that a mans mind may be found in a womans body . i know that virtue undervalues not the advantages of beauty , and that she is oft-times more eloquent in the mouth of a fair maid , than in the like of an orator ; i know there have been muses as well as amazons ; and that men have no endowments which women possess not with as much or more of excellency . augustus followed livias counsel , and consulted with her in his most important affairs , as oft as with mecaenas , or agrippa . great origen's school was open as well to women as to men ; he thought them no less capable of the secrets of learning , or mysteries of religion , than men ; so as a man may conclude , for these reasons , and out of these examples , that the conversation of women is no less profitable than pleasing , and that if there be danger in their friendships , there is therein likewise advantage . but notwithstanding whatsoever all these discourses may perswade us , i am firmly of opinion , that an honest woman ought to have no other friend than her husband ; and that she gave a divorce of friendship when she engaged herself in marriage . she must have no more masters , nor servants , since she hath given away her liberty , and she ought to suspect even the holiest affections , since they may serve for colors to lewd desires . such complacencies as are found in those who are not of the same sex , are seldom innocent ; the same discourse which entertains , works upon their wills ; and love glides into the heart under the name of sutableness of disposition , and of civility . the malady is contracted before it be known ; men are oft-times in a fever before they feel any distemper ; and poyson hath already infected the heart before we think the mouth hath swallowed it . briefly , the danger is equal on all sides ; men make strong assaults , and women weak defences . the freedom of conversation makes men more insolent , and the pleasingness thereof makes women less couragious . i shall therefore never approve of such friendships as may cause more harm than advantage , and which for vain satisfaction of the sense , hazards the souls health . we live under a religion which commands us to forgo pleasures which are purely innocent ; we are taught by a master which commands his disciples to pluck out such eyes , and cut off such hands as have been cause of scandal to them ; we are brought up in a school where we are forbidden to look upon the face of women ; yet under pretence of a naughty custom we will have it lawful for us to win their affections , and to contract friendship with them , which beginning by irregular inclinations , are entertained by useless discourse , and end in criminal delights . chastity runs hazzards enough , and needs not to have new gins laid for her . the lustre of apparel , freedom of conversation , and that which is termed civility make sufficient open war against continency ; there needs no addition of wiles , or cunning to surprize her . when men shall be angels , it shall be lawful for them to contract amity with women ; when death shall have severed them from their bodies , they may without scandal converse together , and satisfie their inclinations ; but as long as they shall have sense common with beasts , and that beauty shall make more impression on their senses than virtue , they must imitate the prophet , which had sentenced his eyes not to look upon those innocent countenances , which seemed not to infuse other than chaste thoughts . in fine , they should resolve never to approach near those malign constellations , which burn more than they do enlighten , and which raise more tempests , than they shed light abroad . to remedy these evils , we must implore aid from charity ; for it is she that purifies love , that reforms the excesses , and amends the errors thereof ; she will not have it to be excessive , neither will she that it be confined to our own persons , or to our families ; she knows that love is disperst throughout all the world , & that when it goes from us , it passeth into our enemies ; * it takes its birth ( saith st. augustine ) in marriage , and enlargeth it self upon the children that proceed from thence . but in this condition 't is carnal . that passion is not to be commended amongst men , which is observed to be in tigers , and a man cannot praise such natural affections in reasonable creatures , as are seen in the most savage beasts . in its progress it extends it self to our kindred , and begins to be rational ; for though he that loves his parents , loves his bloud , and that though his love forgo his own person , it doth not forgo his family , yet is his love more expiated than is the love of fathers , and communicates it self to personages which are not so near unto him as are his children ; in the vigour thereof it passeth even unto strangers , it receives them into its house , it makes them share of what it hath , and not considering either their humors or their languages , their very having the aspects of men is sufficient to make them the objects of its liberality ; in this acceptation love is well waxen , but to be perfect , it must descend even to our enemies , and induing us with strength to overcome our inclinations , it obligeth us to do good to them who endeavour to do us harm . when it is arrived at this pitch , it may hope for reward ; but if it stop in the middle of its carier , it must expect nothing but punishment . these words comprehend all the use of this passion , and i can add nothing thereunto which will not prove weak or useless ; passing therefore forward , i come to the last object of our love , which is creatures void of reason . i wonder that in this point all men joyn not with the stoicks , and that their opinion passeth not for a law among all the people of the world ; for they hold , that creatures which want reason do not deserve our love , and that our will is given us only to tie us to god , or to man. truly if this maxim be a paradox , i hold it extreamly rational ; for what appearance is there that we should bestow our affection on creatures which not knowing it , cannot be obliged to us for it , and having no obligation , cannot be conscious of our affection ? in my opinion no man can be more prodigal than is the avaritious man , since he engageth his affection to an insensible metal , and that he loves without hope of being re-beloved . i think no man more irrational , than he who ties his love to the beauty of a flower , which for all its odour and splendor , is not sensible of the adoration that is given it . i cannot endure those extravagant men , who place all their passions upon a dog , or a horse , which do them no other service than what they are carried unto , either by instinct , or by necessity . i therefore think the profit which we reap by them should be the rule of the affection we bear them ; or , to speak more correctly , we must rather love ourselves in them , than them for our selves ; for they are too much beneath us to deserve our love ; and though some shadow of fidelity be observed to be amongst dogs , and some sparks of love amongst horses , yet both of them being void of reason , they are uncapable of friendship . to set our hearts on things insensible , is to prophane them . it is not just that the same soul , which may love the angels , love dumb beasts ; that the soul which may unite himself to god , join itself to metals ; and that it lodge in the same heart , the noblest of all spirits , with the most imperfect of all bodies . i would then make use of gold , yet not love it ; i would be master thereof , yet not slave thereunto ; i would keep it for my occasions , not adore it ; i would teach the whole world that it hath no valuation but what the good employment thereof bestows upon it , and that it is no less useless in the bowels of the earth , than in the coffers of the avaritious . but not to be mistaken in so important an affair , we must use some distinction , and say that the creatures may be considered in a threefold acceptation ; either as ways that lead us to our last end ; and thus they ought to be loved : or as nets which stay us on the earth , and thus they ought to be shunned : or as instruments which divine justice makes use of to punish us withal , and thus they ought to be reverenced : for when the creatures lead us unto god , that they express unto us his beauty , and that their perfections raise us up to the consideration of him that is their fountain , there is no harm in loving them ; and it were a piece of injustice not to acknowledge ; in them , him , whose images they are ; god himself hath invited us so to do ; when he made them , he praised them ; and having given them his approbation , he obligeth us to give them our love ; yet this our love must be moderate , and must unite us no further to them than they may unite us to the creator ; we must look upon them as pictures which we love not , but only for his sake whom they represent ; we must consider their beauties as the shadows of the like in god , and never permit that their perfections engage us so strongly , that we reserve not freedom enough to forgo them , when our souls health , or the glory of jesus christ requires it . if the devil make use of them to seduce us , and if by the permission which he hath received from god , he employ them to tempt us : if he will make the stars serve to make us idolaters ; if he will corrupt our innocence with gold ; if he make our pride swell , or sooth our vanity with riches ; and if by beauty he will rob us of our continency , we must shun them as nets spred abroad in the world to surprize us : and as things , which since the fall of man seem to have changed their inclination ; since they labour now to undo him , as they formerly laboured for his welfare . if , in fine , they be serviceable to the justice of god , if through a zeal to his honour they pursue his enemies , if the earth quake underneath our feet , if the thunder roar above our heads , and if the fire and water agree to declare war unto us , we must suffer them with respect , and love them with so much ardency , as we may with less danger ; for in this acceptation they have nothing of charm in them , which may flatter or abuse us ; they are rather hateful than loving , they cause in us rather a fear of god than love of our selves , and by an happy effect they loosen us from the earth and raise us up to heaven ; this counsel comprehends all that religion teacheth us touching the use of the creatures , and whosoever shall upon occasions make use thereof , will by experience find that they are never less dangerous , than when most cruel , and that they never oblige us more than when they punish us most severely . the fourth discourse . of the nature , properties , and effects of love. those who judge of things by their appearances , imagine there is nothing more contrary to man than hatred , and that since he takes his name from humanity , he should not tolerate a passion which breathes forth nothing but bloud , and finds no delight but in murder . yet it is a part of his being , and if he need love , to fasten him unto objects which may preserve him ; he hath need of hatred , to drive him from those that may destroy him . these two motions are so natural to all creatures , as they subsist not but by the love of their like , and by the hatred of their contraries . the world had been ruined ere this , had not the elements , whereof it is composed , kept it in being , by their oppositions and accords ; did not water by reason of the coldness thereof resist fire , fire would ere this have reduced all into ashes , and having no further fuel to nourish it , it would have consumed it self ; our humors which are nothing but tempered elements preserve us by their natural antipathies ; and choler would have dried up our whole body , were it not perpetually watered with flegm ; so as the great and little world consist only by the contrariety of their parts ; and if the author which hath produced them , should appease their difference , he would overthrow all his work , which would cease to love one another , if they ceased to hate their contraries . what is seen in nature , is observed in morality , where the soul hath her inclinations and aversions , to preserve and to defend her self , to fasten her self to things she likes , and to make her keep aloof off from what she likes not . and had not god indued her with these two passions , she would be reduced to a necessity of suffering all the evils which assail her , not having power to oppose them , or hope to defeat them . hatred is then as requisite as love ; we should have reason to complain of nature , if having given us inclinations to what is good , she should not likewise have given us an aversion from the contrary ; and if she had not indued our souls with as much vigour to shun objects which are prejudicial to her , as to draw near to these that are useful . these two inclinations differ then only in their objects , and to speak exactly , we must say , that love and hatred make but one and the same passion , which changes name according to their different uses ; which is called love , when it hath a liking to what is good ; and hatred , when it abhors what is evil . leaving here the first effect of hatred , which we have already considered , we will now examine the second , and will see what the nature , properties and effects thereof are . hatred in her birth is nothing else but a meer aversion in us from whatsoever is contrary unto us . 't is an antipathy of our appetite to a subject which displeaseth it ; 't is the first impression which a true , or an appearing evil makes in the lowest part of our soul , 't is a wound which we have received from a displeasing object , and it is the beginning of that motion which our soul makes to keep aloof off , or to defend it self from an enemy which pursues it . she hath this in common with love , that she oft-times prevents reason , and shapes her self in our will , not consulting with our judgment . she takes offence at divers things , which are not unpleasing in themselves ; and many times one and the same object causeth hatred and love in two different personages . sometimes it so falls out , that according to the divers dispositions of our minds we like what formerly we have disliked ; that which did hurt us , cures us , and becomes the remedy of the evil which it caused : she hath this of different with love , that she is much more sensible . for love is oft-times formed in our souls before we are aware ; our friends must give us ▪ notice thereof , and those whose company we keep , must teach us that we do love ; we must reflect upon our selves to know this passion in its birth , and as it is extreamly delightful , it wounds us so pleasingly as we do not feel the hurt , till by process of time it become an incurable ulcer . but hatred discovers it self as soon as it is conceived , because it proceeds from an object wherein we are only concern'd , as it hurteth us ; it makes us suffer in its birth , and from the time that it possesseth us , it becomes our punishment . it is as readily formed as love , a moment serves to produce it in our wills , notwithstanding the little care we have to entertain it ; it disposeth its flames abroad into all the faculties of our soul ; and as the most active of all the elements , it feeds upon whatever it encountereth ; but it hath this of misfortune , that it is not so soon efaced as is love ; when it hath once taken root in the heart , there is no tearing of it out ; time which hath produced it , preserves it ; and philosophy is defective of sufficient reasons , to cure a man who is affected with this troublesom malady . religion it self is never more troubled , than when she oppugns so opinionated a passion ; & the son of god seems to have descended upon earth , only to teach us to subdue hatred , and to pardon our enemies . neither did he oblige us to this duty , till he had suffered death for his enemies ; he believed that to establish so strange a doctrine , it must be confirmed by his example , authorized by his death , and signed by his own bloud . thus did he declare war to a passion which hath this advantage over other passions , as that it endeth not with our self ; it is so dearly esteemed of by men , as it is their sole entertainment . it serves to divert them when they are displeased ; and though it corrode their bowels , it gives content to their heart . i have heard of a princess , who after having lost her kingdom and her liberty , found comfort in the hatred she bore her enemies ; and confessed she was not so much possess'd with sorrow for her past happiness , as by her desire of revenge . we see fathers , who having their souls hanging upon their lips , and who being no longer able to live , do yet think how to continue their hatred ; they leave it as an inheritance to their children , they oblige them to eternal enmity , and make imprecations against them , if they be ever reconciled to their enemies . in fine , this passion is immortal , and as it resides in the bottom of the soul , it accompanieth her whithersoever she goeth ; & doth not forgo her , no not when she is loosened from the body . this it is which the poets ( who are the most excellent painters of our affections ) would represent unto us in the persons of eteocles and polynices , who continued their hatred after death , and who went to end the combat in hell , which they begun on earth ; this passion lived in their bodies deprived of sense , it passed by a secret contagion into their funeral pile , and waged war in the flames which were to consume them . but i wonder not that this passion is so opinionated , since it is so daring ; and i think it not strange that it continues after death , since it hath made men resolute to lose their lives for love of revenge , and that it makes them find some contentment in death , provided they see their enemies accompany them therein . for hatred ceases to be true when it becomes discreet , and we may say a man is not wholly possessed therewithal , when to spare his own bloud , he dares not shed the bloud of his adversary . when he hath given himself over to the tyranny thereof , he thinks he can never purchase the pleasures of revenge at too dear a rate . and propose whatever punishment you list unto him , he is well-pleased therewithal , provided his passion may be satisfied . atreus wisheth to be overwhelmed under the ruine of his palace , provided it fall upon his brothers head , and so cruel a death seems pleasing to him , so as he be therein accompanied by theistes . in short , hatred is very puissant , since all torments are endured to give it satisfaction ▪ and it useth strange tyranny upon such as it possesseth , since there is no fault which they are not ready to commit in obedience to it . if the proprieties of hatred be thus strange , the effects thereof are no less fatal . for as love is the cause of all generous and gallant actions ; hatred is the rise of all base and tragical actions . and those who are advised by so bad a counsellor , are capable of all the evil that can be imagined . murder , and paricide , are the ordinary effects of this unnatural passion . 't was this , that made us see in the day-break of the world , that a man might die in the flower of his age , and that one brother was not secure in the company of another . 't was this , that found out weapons to dispeople the world , & to ruinate gods goodliest workmanship . 't was this , that making man forget the sweetnes of his nature , taught him to mingle poyson in drinks , to shed humane bloud at banquets , & to kill under pretence of hospitality ; 't was this , that first instituted that fatal art which teacheth us how to murder with method , how to kill men handsomly , and which forceth us to approve of paricide , if it be done according to the laws of the world . 't was this , in fine , and not avarice , which tore up the bosom of the earth , and which sought within the bowels thereof for that cruel metal wherewith it exerciseth its fury . and to describe in a few words all the evils it is cause of , it will suffice to say , that anger is her first master-piece , envy her counsellor , despair her officer ; and that after having pronounced bloudy sentences as judge , it self puts them in execution as hangman . 't is true , that hatred never comes to these extremities , till it grow unruly ; but this unruliness is almost natural thereunto ; and unless reason and grace labour jointly how to moderate this passion , it easily becomes excessive . the fierceness thereof is oft-times augmented by resistance ; like an impetuous torrent it overthrows all the banks which oppose its fury , and when it 's forbidden any thing , it believes it may lawfully do all things ; therefore the remedy which is ordained for love , is no less necessary for hatred ; and to heal an evil which becomes incurable by time , early withstandings must be made , lest gaining strength , it grow furious , and be the death of its physitian , for having been negligent in its cure . the fifth discourse . of the bad use of hatred . though the greatest part of effects produced by hatred may pass for disorders ; and that after having described the nature thereof , it may seem unprofitable to observe the ill use that may be made of it , yet that i may not fail in the laws that i have prescribed unto my self , i will employ all this discourse in discovering the injustice thereof , and i will make it appear to all the world , that of as many aversions as molest our quiet , there is hardly any one that is rational . for as all creatures are the workmanship of god , and bear in their foreheads the character of him that produced them , they have qualities which render them lovely ; and goodness , which is the principal object of love , is so natural unto them , as it is not to be separated from the essence ; to cease to be good , they must cease to be ; and as long as they have a subsistance in nature , we are obliged to confess , that there remains some tincture of goodness in them , which cannot be taken from them without an absolute annihilation . thus god gave them his approbation when they were first made ; he made their panegyrick after they were created ; and to oblige us to make much of them , he hath taught us by his own mouth that they were exceeding good ; so as the belief of their goodness is an article of faith in our religion ; whatsoever opposition they may have to our humors , or our inclinations , we ought to believe that they have nothing of evil in them , and that their very qualities which hurt us , have their imployments , and their use ; poysons are serviceable for physick ; and there are certain maladies which are not to be cured but by prepared poyson ; monsters which seem to be errors of nature , or ordained by providence which cannot do amiss ; they do not only contribute , by their ugliness , to heighten the beauty of other creatures ; but are presages , which advertise us of our misfortunes , and which invite us to bewail our sins ; the very devils themselves have lost nothing of their natural advantages ; and the malice of their will hath not been able to destroy the goodness of their essence ; and though they are compleated in evil , they cease not to possess all the good which purely appertains unto their nature ; they have yet that beauty which they did idolatrize ; they enjoy all their lights which they received at the first moment of their creation ; they have yet that vigor , which makes a part of their being ; and were they not restrained by the power of god , they would form thunder , raise storms , spread abroad contagions , & confound all the elements ; 't is true , that these their advantages contribute to their punishments , and that divine justice makes use of their enlightnings and beauties , to make them the more miserable ; but this consideration , hinders not that their nature be not good , and that god see not in the ground-work of their being , qualities which he loveth and conserveth , as he sees in the ground-work of their wills , qualities which he detests and punisheth . therefore 't is that hatred seemed useless , and that to exercise it , a man must go out of this world to seek for creatures which may be the object of his indignation ; for there is nothing , neither in heaven nor in earth , which is not lovely ; if we meet with any thing which crosses our inclinations , we must attribute it to our ill humor ; or else we must blame sin for it , which having disordered our will , hath given it irrational antipathies , and forceth it to hate the workmanship of god. i know there are natural aversions between insensible creatures , and that it is no little wonder , that the worlds peace is caused by the discord of the elements : if their bodies of which all other bodies are compounded , had not some difference amongst them , nature could not subsist ; anh 't is gods will that their warfare be the worlds quiet ; but to boot , that their quarrels are innocent , and that they set not upon one another , to destroy , but to preserve themselves ; their combats are caused through their defaults , and their bad intelligence proceeds from their being imperfect ; for those other bodies which are more noble , and which natural philosophers call perfectè mixta , do not wage war , they cease not to love ; though they have different inclinations , and they oft-times use violence upon themselves , that they may not trouble the worlds tranquility ; whence i infer , that if a man bear a dislike unto his neighbour , he ought to blame his own misery ; and confess that his hatred is an evident proof of his defaults ; for if he could reconcile the particular differences of others , he would love in them , what he should find in himself ; and he could not hate that in their persons , which he should observe to be in his own ; but he cannot tolerate their advantages , because he himself is not master thereof ; the bonds which nature hath prescribed unto him , close him in within himself , and separate him from all others . if he were an universal good , he would love every particular good ; and if he were indued with all the perfections that are found in all men , he would find none that would contrary him ; but he is unjust because he is poor , and his aversion takes its original from his poverty ; god suffers not these unfortunate divisions , his infinite love cannot be bounded ; as he is the summum bonum , he loves all things that bear any badge of goodness ; as he gathers up within himself all these perfections , which are disperst abroad in his workmanship , he cherisheth them all together ; and he hath no aversion , because he hath no defaults . hatred is then a weakness in our nature ; a proof of our indigence ; and a passion which a man cannot with reason employ against the handy-works of god. self-love is the secend cause of its disorder ; for if we were more regulate in our affections , we should be more moderate in our aversions ; and not consulting with our own interests , we should hate nothing but what is truly odious ; but we are so unjust , as we judge of things only by the credit we bear them ; we condemn them when they displease us ; we approve of them when they like us ; and by a strange blindness , we esteem them good or evil , only by the satisfaction or displeasure which they cause in us ; we would have them change qualities according to our humours ; that like camelions , they should assume our colours , and accommodate themselves to our desires ; we would be the center of the world , and that all creatures had no other inclinations , than what we have . the fairest seem ugly to us , because they are not pleasing to us ; we are offended with the brightness of the sun , because the weakness of our eyes cannot tolerate it ; the beams of virtue dazle us , because that virtue condemns our defaults , & truth ( which is the second object of love ) becomes the object of our indignation , because she censures our offences : there is nothing of truly glittering , but her light ; she discovers all the beauties of nature , which would to no use have produced so many rare master pieces , had not truth taught us how to know them . truth hath more lovers ( saith st. austin ) than hellen of greece ; all philosophers court her ; she is the subject of all their contestations , she infuseth jealousies into them , and they dispute with as much heat to possess her , as do two rivals to enjoy a mistress ; every one seeks her out by several ways : divines in her fountains head , which is divinity ; naturalists in the bowels of the earth ; alchymists , in the bosom of metals ; painters and poets , under colours and fables ; yet this beauty , which causeth so much love to the whole world , ceaseth not to have enemies ; she angers those she would oblige , she loseth her friends in thinking to preserve them ; if she make her self be beloved of them by instructing them ; she makes her self be hated by reprehending them ; and she then becomes odious , when she ought to be most beloved . it is therefore extreamly dangerous to employ a passion , which assails virtue oftner than vice ; and which contrary to the design of him that indued us therewithal , undertakes good , and wages war with it , because having some shadow of evil , it crosses our interests , or our delights . for remedy of this evil , i would advise , to consider well the things which we hate , and to look on them on that side which may render them agreeable unto us ; for as they are good in their foundation , we shall always find some quality in them , which will oblige us to love them ; and we shall observe even in our enemies some advantages , which will force an estimation from us ; the injuries they have done us , and whereupon we ground the justice of our resentments , will furnish us with reasons to excuse them , and if we will calmly examine them , we shall confess , that there is hardly any injury , which bears not with it its excuse ; for ( that i may make use of seneca's words , and to confute christians by infidels ) methinks there can no outrage be done , which may not be sweetned , when a man shall consider the motive , or the quality thereof . hath a woman offended you ? you must pardon the weakness of her sex ; and remember , that she is as subject to do amiss , as to change . is it a child that hath injured you ? you must excuse his age , which suffers him not yet to distinguish between what is good & bad . hath your enemy used outrage to you ? it may be you have obliged him so to do ; and in this case reason wills that you suffer your turn about , for what you have made him suffer : is it your king that undertakes you ? if he punish you , you must honour his justice ; if he oppress you , you must give way to his fortune : does a good man persecute you ; disabuse your self , and forgo that error , and give him no longer a quality , which his fault hath made him lose . is it a naughty man that hath offended you ? wonder not at it ; effects hold of their causes ; you will find some body that will revenge you ; and without that wish , you are already revenged , and he is already punished , since he is faulty . the sixth discourse . of the good use of hatred . since nature makes nothing unuseful , and that of so many things that she produceth , there is not any one which hath not its employment ; hatred must find out its use ; and this passion which is born in us together with love , must find out some objects upon which it may innocently discharge its fury ; but since nature loves her workmanship , since this common mother bears an affection to all her children , and that she keeps them in so good a correspondency , as that those who violate it , pass for monsters ; hatred must likewise bear a respect unto them , and must go out of the world to find a subject which may provoke its indignation ; it must fight with the disorders of our soul , and must charge such enemies , as would destroy virtue ; yet must it take great heed lest it be deceived by appearances , and that thinking to do an act of justice , it commit not parricide ; for good lies oft-times hidden under the bark of evil , and things seem evil unto us , because they are contrary to us ; their contrariety is notwithstanding a perfection ; that which thwarts our humour , may agree with the humours of others ; and what is not pleasing to our eyes , contribute to the beauty of the universe ; this difference of affection makes it appear , that the evil which we hate , is rather imaginary than true ; and that we must rather lay the fault upon opinion , than upon nature . sin is therefore the only object of hatred ; to use it aright , we must govern our hatred according to gods example ; we must declare war against this monster , sin ; which god hath chased out of heaven ; which he pursues upon the earth , and which he punisheth in hell ; for this passion is the chastisement of the greatest crimes , it is the punishment of paricides , who defend themselves contrary to the justice of men : it besiegeth tyrants in their palaces , sets upon them in the midst of their guards , and maugre the fortune which protects them , it exacts reason for all the violences which they have committed ; for they are not unpunished who are hated by all people , and sin is not without punishment , which draws publick hatred upon the author thereof . but as we are not made judges of other men , and that gods justice demands not an accompt of us for other mens sins , methinks our own sins are the only legitimate objects of our hatred ; our neighbors sins may admit of some excuses ; we ought to suspend our judgments , and withhold our aversions , since we know not their intententions ; when they are become so publick , as they can be no longer dissembled , they should rather excite compassion in us , than hatred , and should rather draw tears from our eyes , than reproachs from our mouths ; since god excuses them , we ought not to condemn them , and since he hides them , we ought not to publish them . i should not notwithstanding blame a man , who preferring gods glory before the creatures welfare , should wish that the guilty might be punished , or who not being able to tolerate them , should avoid their company , and make his indignation be thereby known ; for the hatred of sin is an act of justice & the zeal which makes us detest sinners , is an effect of charity . david gave over praising of god , that he might make imprecations against the wicked ; and thought to assure god of his love , by assuring him of the hatred which he bore unto his enemies ; but that this aversion may be pleasing unto him , it must be perfect as was that of david ; and to be perfect , it must have two conditions which his had ; it must hate sin , and love nature ; it must detest the work of the creature , and cherish the work of god ; by reason of wisdom and justice , it must not love sin , for the mans sake ; neither must it hate the man for the sins sake ; with these restrictions , a man may make good use of hatred ; this guilty passion becomes innocent , it takes part with two excelent virtues ; and guided by grace , it is serviceable , at once , both to justice and charity . but it is much safelier exercised against our selves ; and we run much less danger in hating our own imperfections , than in hating the like of our neighbours ; for self-love keeps us from exceeding therein , and notwithstanding any whatsoever holy fury charity inspires in us , it is moderated by the inclination which we have to love our selves . therefore 't is , that the son of god wills that the hatred of our selves be the foundation of his doctrine ; he receiveth no disciples into his school , whom he teacheth not this maxime ; he seems to have a design to banish self-love from off the earth , and to turn this irregular affection into an holy aversion ; he teacheth us , that we are criminal , and that entring into the zeal of divine justice , we should hate that which it hates , and punish that , which it chastiseth . he would have us to be all ●ce for what concerns our selves , and all fire for what concerns our friends . in fine , hatred and love , aversion and inclination , are the two virtues which we learn in his school ; but he will have us husband them so , as that bestowing all love upon our neighbours , we reserve nothing but hatred for our selves ; 't is true , that this commandment is more rigorous in appearance , than in effect ; for whatsoever severity he witnesseth , he breaths nothing but sweetnes ; he hides the name of love , under that of hatred ; and by obliging us to hate our selves , he ordaines us to love our selves well . but all people do not agree in the manner that must be held to observe this . i am offended to see that christians do not better explicate this maxim , than prophane men do ; and that they confound seneca's doctrine , with that of iesus christ : for the greatest part of interpreters imagine , that the son of god , presupposing that we are composed of two parts , which fight one against the other , will have us to take part with the more noble , against the more ignoble ; that we prefer the inclinations of the soul , before those of the body ; and that living like angels , and not like beasts , all the imaginations of our hearts be rational : certainly had he had no other design than this , we must a vow , that he flies no higher a pitch , than does seneca ; and that banishing only the love of the body ( which is the more gross , and less faulty ) he should have left the love of the soul ( which is the more delicate , and the more dangerous . ) for this philosopher pleads always for the soul against the body ; all his gallant maximes tend only to re-establish reason in her empire , and to give her absolute power over the passions ; he cannot endure , that a subject should become a soveraign ; and pride which enlivens all his doctrine , furnisheth him with strong reasons to oppose voluptuousness . he will have the soul to treat her body as her slave ; that she grant unto it nothing but things necessary , and abridge it of all superfluities : he will have her nourish the body , to the end , that it may be serviceable to her ; he will have her love it only as a faithful servant , that she employ it to execute her designes ; but he wills likewise , when reason shall require it , she abandon it to the flames , expose it to savage beasts , and that she oblige it to undergo deaths as cruel as shameful . all these are bold cogitations ; we must confess they proceed from a generously minded man , and that he makes good use of the vanity of the soul , to overcome the delights of the body ; but by curing one evil , he causeth a greater , by closing up a slight wound , he opens a deeper ; by chasing self-love from the body , he drives it into the soul ; and to prevent a man from becoming a beast , he endeavours to make him a devil : these who side with this philosopher , are enforced to confess this truth , and if they who hold his maximes would examine themselves well , they will confess , that they rather puffe up than heighten courage : and that they inspire the soul with more of vanity , than strength , but the doctrine of jesus christ produceth a clean contrary effect ; for it subdues the body without making the soul insolent ; it sets at one and the same time , both upon pride and voluptuousness ; and whilst it ordains mortification , to submit the senses to reason , it commands abnegation to subject the will unto god. therefore ( if it be lawful for me to explain the intentions of jesus christ , and to serve him as an interpreter ) i believe that the hatred which he requires from us , should pass from the body to the soul ; and that to be perfect , it should extend it self to all the disorders that sin hath wrought in us ; for nature hath lost her purity ; and the two parts whereof we are composed , are become equally criminal ; the inclinations of the soul are not more innocent than are those of the body , the one and the other of them have their weaknesses ; & let philosophers say what they please , they are both corrupted ; the understanding is clouded by darknesses ; ignorance is natural thereunto , it learns with difficulty , forgets easily ; though truth be its object , it forgoes truth for falshood , and is enforced to acknowledg by the mouth of the wisest man in the world , that there are some errors , which is easilier perswaded unto than to some truths . memory is not more happy , though she pass for a miracle of nature , that she keeps deposited all the species she is trusted withal , that she boasts to represent them without confusion , and to be the enlivened treasure of all wise men ; yet since our disobedience she is become unfaithful , by reason of a contagion , which hath infected all the faculties of the soul ; ●●e fails us at our needs , and furnishes us rather with unuseful , than with necessary things ; the will , as most absolute , is also most criminal ; for , though it have so strong inclinations for the summum bonum , as that sin hath not been able to eface it , yet she indifferently betakes her self to all objects that delight her ; not listning to the advice of reason , she follows the errors of opinion , and is guided by the report which the senses make , which are ignorant and unfaithful messengers ; so as man is bound to make war as well against his soul , as his body , and to extend his hatred to both the parts which go to his composition , since they are equally corrupted ; and to obey jesus christ , he must fight against the darkness of his understanding , the weakness of his memory , the wickedness of his will , the error of his imagination , the perfidiousness of his senses , and the rebellion of all the parts of his body . these evil qualities which spoil the workmanship of god , are the true objects of our aversion ; 't is the evil we may hate with innocence , and with justice punish ; 't is the enemy we are obliged to fight with , and to overcome ; for to comprehend in few words the intentions of jesus christ , and the obligation of christians , we must hate in our selves all those sins which disorder hath placed there , and which grace could not suffer there ; we must destroy in our selves all that grace will have destroy'd : but very well knowing that in this combat the victory is doubtful , we must humbly intreat the son of god , who prepares crowns for the victor , to endue us with charity , to the end that thereby self-love may be diminished in us , and the detestation of our selves augmented . the second book , of desire and eschewing . the first discourse . of the nature , proprieties and effects of desire . as good is the only object of love , it never changeth form , but it obligeth this passion to undertake new customes ; she depends so absolutely upon it , as she changeth names and offices , as oft as it changeth condition ; when it is present , and discovers unto her all its beauties , she swims in pleasure ; when it runs any hazard , she is seized on by fear ; when it is assaulted by enemies , she takes up arms , and grows cholerick , to defend it ; when it is parted from her , she is afflicted , and suffers her self to be over-born with grief ; when it is absent , she consumes her self in wishes , and chargeth her desires to go find out an object , the far distance whereof causeth all her anxieties ( for desire is nothing els but the motion of the soul towards a good which she already loveth , but doth not as yet possess ; she extends her self , that she may arrive at it ; she endevors to forsake her body , and to separate her self from her self , that she may join her self to what she seeks after , she forgets her own delights , that she may not think of any thing save her beloved object ; she forceth her self to overcome nature and fortune ; and in spite of them , to render present the absent good which she desires . by this definition , it is easie to observe the proprieties of desire ; the first whereof is restlesness , which will not suffer the soul , which hath conceived it , to taste any true contentment ; for this soul is in a violent condition ; she fights with the body which she inanimates , that she may unite her self to an object which she loveth ; nature detains her in the one , and love carries her to the other ; she is divided between these two powerful soveraigns , and she feels a torment little less rigorous than death . thus have we seen men , who to free themselves thereof , have voluntarily condemned themselves to fearful punishments ; and who have esteemed all remedies pleasing , which could cure so vexatious a malady . banishment is certainly one of the cruellest punishments , which justice hath invented to chastise the guilty ; it separates us from all we love , and seems to be a long death , which leaves us a little life , only to make us the more miserable . notwithstanding we have heard of a mother , who chose rather to suffer the rigor of this torment , than the violence of desire ; and who would accompany her son in his banishment , that she might not be necessitated to lament his absence , and wish for his return . thus nature which saw that desire was an affliction , ordained hope to sweeten it ; for whilst we are upon the earth , we make no wishes , whereof our mind doth not promise us the accomplishment ; these two motions of our soul are only divided in hell , where divine justice hath condemned her enemies to frame desires void of hope , and to languish after a happiness which can never befall them . they long after the summum bonum , & whatever hatred they conceived against that god which punisheth them , they cease not , notwithstanding , to love him naturally ; and to wish they might enjoy him , though they are not permitted to hope they shall : this desire is cause of all their sufferings ; and this languishment is a more insufferable torment than the scorching flames , than the company of the devils , and than the eternity of their prison ; could they be without desire , they should be without anguish ; and all those other pains which astonish vulgar souls , would seem supportable to them , were they not adjudged to wish a happiness which they cannot hope for . but it is not in hell only that this passion is cruel , she afflicteth all men upon earth ; and as she serveth divine justice , as a means wherewithal to punish the guilty , she is serviceable unto mercy , as an holy piece of cunning wherewithal to exercise the innocent ; for gods goodness causeth them to consume in desires ; they are in a disquiet which cannot end but with their lives , they strive to get free from their bodies ; they call in death into their succour ; and say with the apostle , i desire to be dissolved , and to be with christ ; justice employs desires to revenge her self upon sinners ; and by a no less severe than rational guidance , she gives them over to this passion to torment them ; their desires tend only to afflict them , and their soul frames unruly wishes , which failing of effects , leave them in a languishment , which lasts as long as doth their life . in fine , divinity knowing that this passion is the cause of all our misfortunes , hath thought , that she could not describe happiness better unto us , than in teaching us , it was the end of all desires . philosophy would have said , that it is the end of all our evils , and the beginning of all our good , that it makes us forget our miseries by the sweets of her delights ; but divinity which very well knows that desires are the most violent punishments which we , suffer here below , is content to say , that happiness was the period thereof , & that when we should begin to be happy , we should cease to wish ; we must also confess that desire fastens it self to all the other passions of our soul , and that it either furnisheth them with weapons wherewithal to fight , or with strength to afflict us ; for those passions which make most havock in our hearts , would be either dead or languishing were they not animated with desire . love is only cruel because it coveteth the presence of what it loveth : hatred gnaws not on our bowels , save only because it desireth revenge ; ambition is only angersom , because it aspires after honour ; avarice tortures the avaritious , only because it thirsts after riches ; and all passions are only insupportable , because they are accompanied by desire , which like a contagious malady is shed abroad throughout all the affections of our soul to make us miserable . if it be thus cruel , it is not much less shameful ; and we are obliged to confess , that it is an evidence of our weakness and indigency ; for we never have recourse to wishes but when our power fails us ; our desires never do appear , but when we cannot effect them ; they are marks of our impotency , as well as of our love ; it teacheth kings upon earth , that their will exceeds their power , and that they would do many things which they cannot . i know that desires inheartens them to proud undertakings , where difficulty is always mixt with glory ; i know they excite their courage , and that they produce that general heat , without which nothing of gallantry is either undertaken or effected ; but they likewise teach them , that there is none but god alone ( who is able to do what he will ) that maketh not fruitless wishes ; and that it appertains to him to change when he pleaseth desires into effects ; he rather wills than wishes ; and doth rather resolve events than desire them : but amongst princes their impotency hinders oft-times the execution of their desires ; they are enforced to make vows , and to implore aid from heaven , when they fail of help on earth ; poor alexander seeing his dear ephestion die , could not witness his love unto him , but by his desires ; he who distributed the crowns of kings that he had conquered , and who made soveraigns slaves , could not restore health unto his favourite ; the vows which he offered up to heaven for his amendment , were as much evidences of his impotency , as of his sorrow , and taught the whole world , that princes wishes witness their weakness . they are also publick marks in all men of hidden poverty , for every soul that desires is necessitous ; the soul that desires forgoes her self , to seek out in another what she finds missing in her ; she discovers her misery by making her desires known , and teaches the whole world , that the felicity which she possesseth is but in appearance , since it satisfieth not all her desires : great tertullian hath therefore worthily exprest the nature of this passion , when he says , it is the glory of the thing desired , and the shame of him that doth desire ; for a thing must be lovely to kindle our desires , it must have charms which may draw us , and perfections which may stay us ; but for certain likewise , the will that doth desire must be indigent , and must stand in need of somewhat which makes it seek out a remedy . desire then is the honour of beauty , and the shame of the unchaste ; it is the glory of riches , and the avaritious mans infamy ; the praise of dignity , and the ambitious mans blame ; and as oft as princes are prone to this passion , it gives us to know , that their fortune hath more of glittering in it than of real truth ; that she gives not all the contentments she promiseth , since they are constrained to descend from their thrones , to quit their palaces , and by shameful prosecution to seek out a forreign good which they have not in themselves . the greatest praise which the holy scripture gives to god , is that , whereby they are taught that he is all-sufficient in himself ; and that possessing all things in the immensity of his essence , he is not tied to wish for any thing , nor to forgo his repose , to seek for contentment in his creatures ; the world contributes nothing to his greatness : if the worlds place should be supplied by a vacuity , and that there were no angels nor men to know and love him , his felicity would be no whit the less intire ; and all the praises which we now give him , add nothing to his glory ; when we offer sacrifices unto him , when we make the earth resound with the noise of his praises , when we burn incense upon his altars , and enrich his temples with the spoyls of our houses , we are bound to protest , that all our presents are of no use to him , that he obligeth us in accepting them , and that we offer up nothing to his greatness , which we have not received from his liberality ; desire is then a mark of indigence , and whatsoever creature wisheth , declares its poverty . but not to dishonour this passion totally , we must confess it is also a proof of our dignity , for it extends it self to all things , and pretends some right to whatsoever can enter into our imagination ; it seeketh out effects in the bosom of their causes , perswades it self it may aspire unto whatsoever may be conceived , and that it may add unto the number of its riches , all the goods which as yet it doth not possess ; it is humored with whatsoever is possible ; it is of so great a reach , as it embraceth all that fortune promiseth ; and nothing hath at any time happened to the most fortunate men in the world , which it thinks not it may with some sort of justice expect . a father of the church hath therefore said , that the apostles forgoing nothing , had yet forgone very much , since they had forgone their own desires ; and that despoyling themselves of a passion , which in their greatest poverty gave them a right to all riches , they might boast to have forsaken all things for jesus christ ; for the heart of man hath an infinite capacity , which can only be filled with the summum bonum ; it is always empty , till it possess him that made it , whatever else of good makes it the more hungry ; and not being able to satisfie it , they irritate the desires thereof , but do not appease them ; hence it is , that we cannot bound our desires , but that the accomplishment of one begets another , and that we run from one object to another to find him out , of whom , the rest are all but shadows . hence proceed all the unruly desires which gnaw upon the hearts of the greatest monarchs ; hence did alexander's ambition proceed , who thought the earth too little , and who was offended , that his conquests should be bounded by the limits of the world : hence did croesus his avarice derive , who thought himself poor , though he were the richest of all the romans ; & that he passed over hideous desarts to war against a people whose riches were their sole fault . these disorders have no other rise , than the capacity of our heart , & the infinity of our desires , which pursuing the good which solicits them , and finding none that can satisfie them , go always in search for new ones , and never prescribes any bounds unto them ; for though our understandings be not sufficiently enlightned to know the supreme truth in all his extent , and that our wills have not force enough to love the summum bonum , as much as he is lovely , yet the one and the other of them cease not to have an infinite capacity , which all the things of the earth cannot fill : a natural truth , how elevated soever it be , serves but as a step to our understandings , whereby to raise us up yet to an higher truth ; & a created good , how rare soever it be , doth only enlarge our heart , and dilate our will to make it capable of what is yet more excelent ; so do our desires perpetualy change objects , they despise such as they formerly valued , and advancing still forwards they become at last sensible that nothing can stop them , but he that can satisfie them . from these three proprieties which we have explained , it is easie to observe the effects which our desires produce in us ; or forth of us ; for since they separate the soul from the body , they cause all these extasies , and ravishments , which are attributed to the excess of love ; since they arise from indigence , they oblige us to demand , and consequently render us importunate to our friends ; and since they suppose that our hearts are fathomless , we must not wonder if they be not satisfied with all that can be granted them , and if , after having pursued after so many different objects , they grow weary of pursuing , and seek for their rest in the summum bonum , who is the end of all lawful desires . the second discourse . of the bad use of desires . those who would take the people for judges in this affair , would doubtlesly imagine , that there is no more solid , nor more harmless pleasure in the world , than to see our desires changed into effects , since it is the ordinary wish which our friends make for us ; and certainly , if all their wishes were well regulated , nothing would be more pleasing nor more useful to us than their accomplishment , and we should have reason to think our selves happy , if after a long pursuance , we should at last accomplish them ; but as they are almost always unjust , their success is oft-times prejudicial to us ; and for my part , i am of seneca's opinion , and hold with him , that the greatest part of our friends do innocently wish us ill , and make vows in our behalf , which are most pernicious to us , than the imprecations of our enemies ; if we will be content , we must pray to god , that nothing may befall us that is wished unto us : our very parents contribute to our misfortune through an excess of affection , and during our infancy , they draw down the anger of heaven upon us by the unjustness of their desires ; so as we must not wonder , if when we are further advanced in years , so many misfortunes befall us , since those that love us best have been the causers of it . there are three causes for the irregularity of our desires ; the first is self-love , which not being able to eface out of our souls , the inclination which we have to the summum bonum , doth turn it aside after such good things as are perishable , and maketh them to be wish'd for , with as much fervencie as if they were eternal ; for our heart longs always after god ; though the good desires thereof be weakned , they are not quite stifled , they betake themselves to what is good ; & sin hath not been able to bereave them of an inclination which is natural unto them ; but reason which ought to rule them , being clouded with darkness , they mistake , and fasten themselves to all objects that are pleasing to them . man seeks after a beauty which time cannot alter , which age cannot decay , nor death it self eface ; assoon ●s he discovers the shadow thereof in a vi●age , he awakens his desires , and thinks it ●s the eternal beauty wherewith he ought ●o be satisfied . he longs after a good which puts an end to all his miseries , which frees him from all his cares , and which cures him of all the evils that oppress him ; when he is falsly perswaded by opinion , that gold is a metal which assisteth us at all our needs ; which opens the gate to honour , which facilitates the execution of our designs , and which makes us triumph over all difficulties ; he commands his desires to purchase a good unto him , from whence he expects all his happiness : in fine , man seeks after a solid and true glory , which serves as a recompense to virtue , and which satiates him with honour , which cannot be efaced by time , nor injured by back biters ; when error hath once perswaded him , that battels are heroick actions , that conquests are the businesses of soveraigns , he orders his desires to go in quest of these glorious occasions ; and to undertake unjust wars , he forms designs to throw down towns , to ruine states , and to carry horror and death into all the parts of the world , that he may look big in story . the remedy to all these evils is easie ; and since the will hath not lost all her good inclination , there needs no more than to clear the understanding , & to fortifie it by solid reasons , which it may oppose to the false maxims of the world . the second cause of the irregularity of our desires , is imagination , which only makes use of its advantage to irritate them ; for they would be regular enough , did not this embroyling power put them in disorder . nature seeks only how to free her self from incommodities that molest her , she requires not magnificence in buildings ; and provided they save her from being injured by the ayr , all their adornments are of no use to her ; she wisheth not for pomp in apparel , provided they hide her nakedness , and that they fence her body from the rigour of the cold ; she is yet innocent enough to blame the disorder ; she seeks not after excessive pleasure , in what she eats or drinks , provided they sustain life , and allay hunger and thirst ; she values not the delicacies which accompany them ; but imagination , which seems to have no other employment , since the corruption of our nature , than to invent new delights , to defend us from our ancient misfortunes , adds dissoluteness to our desires , and makes our wishes irregular ; she adviseth us to enclose fields and rivers within our parks ; she obligeth us to build palaces more glorious than our temples , and greater than our forefathers towns ; she employes all artificers to cloath us , she makes whole nature labour ●o satisfie our pride , she dives into the entrails of the earth , and into the depths of the sea , to find out diamonds and pearls to deck us withal . in fine , she seeks out delicates in food , she will have no viands which are not exquisite ; she misprizeth what is common , and will try unknown cates ; she awakens the appetite when it is asleep , she confounds the seasons to afford us pleasure , and maugre the heat of summer , she preserves snow and ice , to mingle with our wine . in a word , imagination makes us wise in our coveted delicates , she instructeth them to wish for things which they did not know ; and putting our natural desires out of order , she makes them commit excuses , which they are only guilty of in being obedient to her . thus our debaucheries arise from our advantages , and we are more irregular than beasts , only in that we are more enlightned ; for aristotle , distinguishing between our desires , terms ( by a strange fashion of speech ) the most modest ones unreasonable , because they are common to us with beasts , and the most insolent reasonable , because they are proper and peculiar to our selves . in my opinion , 't is for this cause , that philosophers reduce us to the condition of beasts , and that they have propounded nature unto us for example , believing her to be less irregular or unruly than reason ; 't is for the same reason , that they have divided our desires , into necessary & superfluous ; and that they have affirmed the one to be bounded , the other infinite ; that such as were necessary would find wherewithal to content themselves in banishment and solitariness ; and that the superfluous would not find wherewithal to content themselves in towns and palaces . hunger is not ambitious , she requires only meat which may appease her ; all those several services , in preparing wherof so much care is had , are the punishments of gluttony , which seeks out means how to provoke appetite , after it is satisfied ; for she complaineth , that the neck is not long enough to taste meats , that the stomach is not large enough to receive them , and that natural heat is not ready enough to digest them ; she likes not wine , unless served in costly vessels ; nor can she resolve to take it , unless prepared by a fair hand . but natural desires are not accompanied with all these distastes ; we are almost always pleased with what is absolutely necessary for us . and nature which is a good mother , hath mingled pleasure with necessity , for our refreshment ; let us make use then of a benefit , which we may number amongst the greatest ; and let us believe , that she hath never more apparently obliged us , than when she hath freed all our natural desires of distaste . the third cause of their disorder is , our not sufficiently considering the quality of the things which we desire ; for we oft-times corrupt the nature of desire , & by extream violence we force it to seek out a thing which it ought to shun ; we only look upon objects , as they appear ; we betake our selves indiscreetly unto them , not considering their defaults ; and make our desires be succeeded by sorrow , and grief to be the sequel of our delights ; we wish for real evils , because they have some shadow of good ; and when after a long pursuit , we possess them , they begin to be unsupportable ; changing opinion , we change our desires , and accuse heaven of having been too easie to us in granting them ; we know by experience , that there be vows , which god doth doth exact at our hands , unless he be angry , and that we make wishes , the accomplishment whereof is fatal to us ; we are like the prince who repented his having wished for riches , and who was afflicted for having obtained them , his desire becomes his punishment , he abhorred that which he desired , and finding himself poor in the midst of plenty , he prayed to be delivered from an evil , which he himself had procured ; absence puts a valuation upon almost all we have of good , and their presence makes us despise them ; they appear great unto our imagination when far off , but when they draw nearer , they lose their false greatness , all their advantages vanish away , as shadows before the sun , and we turn our valuation into disesteem , our love into hatred , and our desires into detestation . prophane philosophy , desirous to find out a remedy to so many evils , gives us counsel which makes us despair ; for she will have us to moderate our desires , without reforming our soul , she inhibits us the use of wishes , as if the mischief lay only in them , and adviseth us to wish for nothing , if we woul be happy ; she builds her felicity in the cutting off of this passion . she thinks to have pronounced an oracle , when by the mouth of seneca , she says , that he who hath bounded his desires , is as happy as iupiter : and that without increase of riches , or addition to delight . if we would find a solid contentment , we need only lessen our desires . but certainly in flattering us , she abuseth us ; and promising us an imaginary happiness , she bereaves us of the means how to come by a true one : for she leaves us in the indigency wherein sin hath plac'd us , and forbids us the use of desires : she leaves us with the inclination which nature hath endowed us withal , for the summum bonum ; & will not suffer us to seek after it ; she will have us to be poor , and yet to have no feeling thereof ; and that to the misfortune of poverty , we add the like of insolence and pride . when we shall reign in heaven , and shall find our perfect happiness in the fruition of the summum bonum , we shall banish all wishes . but as long as we grovel upon earth , and that we suffer evils which inforce us to seek for remedies , we shall conceive just desires ; and shall learn from religion , how to make use of them , to the glory of iesus christ , and salvation of our own souls . the third discourse . of the good use of desire . though there be nothing more common than desires , there is nothing more rare then the good use thereof ; and of as many as make wishes , there are but very few that know how to rule them well ; for this passion is as free as love ; and as she is in her first production , she cannot endure to be constrained ; she is so glorious as that she receives no laws but from the summum bonum ; she sets not by the authority of princes ; and knowing that she holds not of their empire , she is not affrighted at their threats , nor is she moved by their promises . therefore kings , who sufficiently know the extent of their power , offer not to intrench upon her liberty ; they punish actions , forbid words , but they leave thoughts and desires to his guidance , who seeing them in the bottom of the heart can eternally recompense , or punish them , they make no laws to retain them ; they confess god is only able to suppress them , and that he is the only soveraign , whose prerogative it is to say unto his subjects , you shall not covet : they therefore are to be esteemed insolent , who undertake to reform desires unassisted by his grace ; and all the advices we can give to regulate them , do necessarily presuppose his assistance ; but after having rendred this acknowledgment to him from whom we receive whatsoever we have of good , me thinks we may prescribe certain conditions to the use of this passion , which may make it glorious , and useful to us . nature hath endowed us with desires , only to come by the good which we have not , and which is necessary for us ; they are help in our need , they are the hands of our will ; as those parts of the body labour for all the rest , our desires take pains for all the passions of our soul , and by their care oblige our love and hatred : but this advantage would be prejudicial to us , if , being given us to assist our poverty , we should make use thereof to increase it : therefore before we engage our selves in the pursuit of a good , we must be well assured , whether it be great enough , or no , to inrich us ; and if the enjoyment thereof will cause those desires to die , to which the want thereof gave birth ; for if it do only irritate , and if in lieu of healing our evils , it make them worse , a man must be mad to continue the desire . i would then only desire those real good things which may free me from my miseries ; and to the end that my passion may be rational , i would only wish them as far forward as they ought to be wished ; i would weigh their qualities , and i would fit my wishes to their merits ; i would endeavour riches , not to serve my vain-glory , but to supply my wants ; i would endeavour meat for sustenance , not to provoke appetite ; i would endeavor honour as an aid to virtue in its birth , and which hath need of some foreign help to defend it against vice ; yea , i would endevor harmless pleasures , but i would shun their excess ; and i would remember that they are of the nature of those fruits that are pleasing in tast , but are harmful to the body ; thus moderated , our desires would be rational ; if they fix us to things on earth , necessity will serve us for excuse , and we shall esteem the servitude glorious , which will be common to us with saints . we must have a care likewise to have only weak desires for things perishable , and to hold a hanck in such desires as may be violently taken from us . the stoicks philosophy is too austere to be listned unto , their maxims tend more to make us despair , than to instruct us ; for it absolutely inhibits us the desire of such things as we may be bereft of ; and it employeth all its sophistical reasons to perswade us , that the good which we come by by our desires , cannot be a true good : christian philosophy which knows very well that our felicity is not within us , and that we must forgo our selves ere we fasten to the summum bonum , blames this maxim ; but as she is not likewise ignorant that we may be bereft of other goods , she ordains us to desire them without anxiety , and to consider we are not so sure of their possession , but that it may sometimes meet with interruption ; she prepars us for their loss , when she permits us to seek after them ; she teacheth us that the desire of things perishable ought not to be eternal ; and that we must possess , without too much of addition , what ought to be forgon without sorrow ; she teacheth us that the goods of fortune , and of nature , depend upon divine providence , which doth not give us , but lend us them ; which refuseth them to her friends , and grants them to her enemies , and which doth so bestow them , as if they be not marks of hatred , neither are they testimonies of her love ; by these good reasons she fairly perswades us , that they ought not to be the principal objects of our desires ; and that to follow our soveraigns intentions , we must love them with coolness , desire them with moderation , possess them with indifferency , and contentedly forgo them . but the chief use we ought to make of so noble a passion , is , thereby to raise us up to god , and to make thereof a glorious chain to fasten us inseparably to him ; as he is the only object of love , he is also the only object of desires ; they miss of their end when they keep aloof from him ; they lose themselves , when they seek not him ; and they stop in the midst of their course , when they come not full home to him . he is the spring-head of all perfections ; and as they are without mixture of default , there is nothing in them which is not perfectly wishable : we see some creatures which have certain charms which make them be desired ; but then they have imperfections to make them be undervalued : the sun is so full of glory and beauty , as it hath made idolaters ; one part of the world doth yet worship it ; and christian religion , which is spread over the whole earth , hath not been able to dis-deceive all infidels ; yet hath its weaknesses ; which teacheth philosophers that it is but a creature ; the light thereof is bounded , and cannot at one and the same time enlighten the two halves of the world ; it suffers eclipses , nor can it shun them ; it grows faint , and sees it self obscured by a constellation , not so great nor glorious as it self ; it hath benign influences , it hath also malignant ones ; if it concur with the birth of man , it doth the like to his death ; if it be the father of flowers it is also their paricide ; if the brightness thereof serve to light us , it doth also dazle us ; if the heat thereof warm europe , it scorcheth africa ; so as the noblest of all constellations hath its defaults ; and if it cause desire in us , it is also cause of aversions & under-valuations ; but god hath nothing that is not lovely , innumerable numbers of angels see all his perfections , and are destin'd to honor them ; they have immortal lovers , which adore them from the beginning of the world ; men who know them , desire them ; and wish death unto themselves that they may enjoy them : this summum bonum is that which we ought to seek after ; for him it is that our wishes were given us ; our heart is sinful when it divides its love , and gives but one part thereof to him that deserves the whole ; gods abundance and mans indigence are the first links of alliance which we contract with him . he is all , and we are nothing ; he is a depth of mercy , and we are a depth of misery ; he hath infinite perfections , and we faults without number ; he possesseth no greatness which is not to be wisht for , & we suffer no want which obliges us not to make wishes ; he is all desirable , and we are all desire ; and to express our nature aright , it will suffice to say , that we are only a meer capacity of good ; there is no part of our body , nor faculty of our soul , which doth not oblige us to seek him ; we make inrodes in the world by our desires , we wander in our affections , but after having considered the beauty of heaven , and the riches of the earth , we are constrained to return again unto our selves , to fix our selves on him who is the ground-work of our being and to confess that none but god alone is able to fill the capacity of our heart . let us draw these advantages from our misery , and let us rejoyce that nature hath endowed us with so many desires , since they have wings which raise us up to god , and chains which fasten us to him . upon all other occasions desires are useless , and after having made us long , a long time , they furnish us not with what they made us hope for ; they torment us whilst they possess us ; and when despair causes them to die , they leave us only shame and sorrow , for having listned to so evil councellors . i know very well that they awaken the soul , and that they endue it with vigor to compass the good which it wishes for ; but the good success of our undertakings depends not upon their efficacy ; and should the things that we love cost us nothing but desires , all ambitious men would be kings ; all covetous men rich ; and we should hear no lovers complain of the rigors of their mistresses , or of their infidelity ; women would take their husbands from their graves , mothers would cure their sick children , and captives would regain their liberty ; we should do as many miracles as make wishes , and all mischief would be banish'd from off the earth , since men can wish ; but experience shews us , they are for the most part impotent , and that their accomplishment depends upon the supream providence , which at its pleasure can turn them into effects ; those that concern our souls health , are never useless ; fervency in wishing is sufficient to make a man good ; our conversion depends only upon our will ; our desire animated by grace , blots out all our sins ; and though god be so great , he hath only cost them wishes that possess him ; this passion dilates our soul , and makes us capable of the good we wish for ; she extends our heart , and prepares us to receive the happiness which she procures us . in fine , she gets audience , of god , makes her self be understood without speaking , and she hath such power in heaven , as nothing is denied to her demands ; she glorified jesus christ and the saints ; christ takes from them the most ancient of his names ; and before he was known by that of saviour of the world , he was already known by that , of the desired of all the people . his prophets honoured him with this title before he was born : he who shewed us the time of his coming , took his title from his wishes , and merited to be called , the man of desires ; his vows did advance the mystery of the incarnation ; the like of the virgin did obtain the accomplishment thereof , & ours will taste the effect thereof , if they grow not weary in begging them at gods hands . the fourth discourse . of the nature , proprieties and effects of the good & evil use of eschewing . nature would have failed us at our need , if having endued us with love to good things , she had not furnished us with desire to seek after them . these good things which now are cause of our happiness , would cause all our punishments , if being permitted to love them , we should be forbidden to wish for them : the summum bonum would only serve to make us miserable , and the virtue which it hath to attract hearts would contribute to our misery , if we wanted a capacity of atchieving it . we should have equal reason to complain of her charity , if having imprinted in our hearts the hatred of evil , she had not likewise engraven therein that passion which we call shunning , or eschewing , to make us keep aloof from it ; for we should see our enemy , and not have the power to defend our selves from him ; we should have an aversion from vice , yet should be enforced to tolerate it ; and by an unfortunate necessity , we must give lodging to a guest we should not be able to love ; but nature hath well provided for this , and her providence , which always watches over her children , hath given us a passion which eschews evil with as much impetuosity , as desire seeks after good . this keeps at distance from all that can hurt us ; and following the inclinations of hatred , whereof she is either the daughter or slave , she flies from all objects that displease her ; and fights to defend it self against her enemies : 't is the first succour we have received against evils ; 't is the first violence , the first salley which the concupiscible appetite makes to free us from them . though this passion be almost alwayes blameless , and that she cannot be made criminal but by surprizal ; yet ceaseth she not to have her ill use , and to be every day employ'd against the design of nature . those therefore that would make use of her , are bound to consider , whether that which they endevor to eschew , be truly so , or be but so in appearance ; and whether opinion , which easily seizeth upon the understanding , hath not perswaded them unto falshoods instead of truths . for it is apparent , that of two things that bear the name of evil in the world , there is but one of them which may properly be said to deserve it . sin and punishment are the two most ordinary objects of eschewing ; and most men do so confound them , as we know not which of them is most odious . punishment being more sensible than sin , it is more carefully shunned ; and there are not many people who do not love rather to be faulty than unfortunate . we shun the plague , and seek out sin ; we keep far from all infected places , the bad air whereof may work an alteration in our health , and we draw near to evil company which may rob us of our innocency : religion obligeth us not withstanding to believe that punishments are the effects of divine justice ; that they have beauties , which though austere , ought not to be the less pleasing ; that god honours himself by punishing of his enemies , and that he finds as much satisfaction in chastening the guilty , as in recompencing the just . the greatest saints have known that our punishments were favours , which did no less contribute to the welfare of man , than to the glory of his creator ; they have confessed that we must adore the arm which hurts us , love the wounds because of the arm that made them ; and teach all the world that heavens thunders are just , since those who are therewith struck , adore them ; but sin is a true evil , which hath nothing in it which is not odious ; its object is a soveraign good which it offendeth ; and if in the behalf of the committer , the malice thereof be bounded on his behalf against whom it is committed , it is infinite . sin violates all the laws of nature , dishonoureth men and angels ; and all the evils which we suffer are the just punishments of its disorders . 't was then for this dreadful evil that we were endued with aversion ; and this aversion cannot be more justly employed , than in keeping us far from a monster , the abode whereof will be hell , and death the eternal punishment . next to sin , nothing ought to be more carefully eschewed , than those that do defend it ; and who to enlarge the empire thereof , endeavor to make it appear lovely and glorious . as nature is the pure workmanship of god , she cannot tolerate sin , and that she may banish it from the earth , she hath laden it with confusion and fear ; it dares not appear in full day ; it hides it self in darkness , and seeks out solitary places , where it hath none but such as are complices with it , for witnesses . but its partakers raise it up upon a throne , and play all their cunning to win it glory ; they cover it with the cloak of virtue ; and if it hath any thing of affinity with its enemy , they strive to make it pass for virtue . they change their names , and by one and the same action committing two faults , they bereave virtue of her honour , that they may give it to sin : they term revenge greatness of courage ; ambition , a generous passion ; uncleanness , an innocent pleasure ; and consequently they term humility lowness of spirit ; the forgiving of injuries faint-heartedness ; and continency , a savage humor . they spread abroad these false maxims ; they turn evils into contagious diseases , and their errors into heresies ; they seduce simple souls , and presenting poyson in chrystal vessels , they make it be swallow'd down by innocent people . those who are most couragious have much ado to defend themselves from them ; the best wits suffer themselves to be perswaded by their lewd reasons ; we are therefore bound to have recourse to the succour that nature hath given us , to excite this passion , which keeps us aloof from what is evil , and furnisheth us with forces to fight against it . but her chief employment ought to be against incontinence ; and the heavens seem to have given a being to aversion , only to rid our hands of an enemy which cannot be overcome but by eschewing . all passions come in to the aid of virtue when she undertakes a war against vice : choler grows hot in her quarrel ; audacity furnisheth her with weapons ; hope promiseth her victory ; and joy , which always follows generous actions , serves instead of recompense : but when she is to set upon incontinency , she dares not employ all these faithful souldiers ; and knowing very well that the enemy , she is to fight withal , is as crafty as puissant , she fears lest he may seduce them , and by his cunning draw them over to his side . in truth , choler agrees easily with love ; and lovers quarrels serve only to re-kindle their extinct flames hope entertains their affections ; and joy oft-times takes its rise from their displeasures ; so as virtue can only make use of eschewing , to defend her self ; and of so many passions which assist her in her other designs , she is only seconded by eschewing , in her combate against impurity . but she thinks her self strong enough if succour'd therewithal ; and there is no such charming beauty , no so strong inclination , nor so dangerous occasion which she doth not promise her self to overcome ; provided she be accompanied by this faithful passion : she is the cause why chastity reigns in the world ; 't is by reason of her wisdom that men do imitate angels , and triumph over evil spirits in the frailty of the flesh . but the greatest miracle which she produceth , is , when being subservient to charity , she separateth us from our selves ; and when preventing the violence of death , she divideth the soul from the body , for man hath no greater enemy than himself ; he is the cause of all his own evils ; and christian religion agrees with the sect of the stoicks , that man can receive no true displeasure , save what he himself procures ; he is therefore bound to keep at distance from himself , and to hold no commerce with his body , lest it take part with the frailties thereof ; he ought to shun its company , if he would preserve himself in his innocency ; and by the assistance of eschewing , the soul must loosen her self from what she inanimates . men forbid solitariness to such as are affected , because it nourisheth their sorrow ; and endeavour to divert them , to make them forget their displeasures . so is solitariness forbidden unto sinners ; men dare not abandon them to their own thoughts , lest they entertain themselves therewithal , and be therewith too much possest ; and a thousand tricks are made use of to take them from themselves , lest they finish their own ruine ; for 't is well known that they take nothing but evil counsels in solitariness ; that they study how to lay traps for chastity , that they meditate on revenge , that they excite their choler ; and that losing that shame and fear which withheld them when in company , they give freedom to all their passions when they are drawn aside . to cure them of so many evils , 't is endeavoured to part them from themselves ; and to lead on this design with success , the charge is given to eschewing ; which by harmless cunning , separates the soul from the body , and keeps men aloof from what may hurt them . since then we are so much obliged to this passion of eschewing , and that we owe our welfare to her ; it will become us to employ the rest of this discourse in the consideration of her proprieties , that we may the better know a passion which doth us so many good offices . she is the same to hatred , which desire is to love ; though she seem to consider evil only , to the intent she may keep aloof from it ; yet seeketh she after good in all parts ; and like to watermen , she turns her back towards the place where she would be : her effects are as powerful as those of desire ; and those unfortunate people who keep far from a great danger , have no less trouble in so doing , than those who seek after a great good fortune . as desire calls in hope to her succour , to compass the good which she esteems too difficult ; eschewing imployes the aid of fear , to acquit her self of an evil which surpasseth her power . as desire is a mark of our indigence , eschewing is a proof of our weakness ; and as in desiring , we obtain that which we want ; by eschewing we overcome that which sets upon us . in fine , as desire doth dilate our heart , and make it capable of the good which it endeavoureth ; eschewing by a clean contrary effect , doth close up our soul , and shuts the door upon the enemy which would force her . so as these two passions are the faithful handmaids of hatred and love ; and as love undertaketh nothing of generous , without the assistance of desire ; hatred doth nothing of memorable , unassisted by eschewing ; and as we owe the possession of good to desire , which sought after it ; we owe our escaping of evil , to eschewing , which hath given it the repulse . the third treatise of hope and of despair . the first discourse . of the nature , proprieties and effects of hope . that art which riseth from the earth to consider the heavens , and neglects all the worlds beauties , that it may admire those of the stars , teacheth us that the sun changeth influences as she changeth houses ; for though he lose nothing of virtue in his course ; though the eclipses which rob us of his sight , take not from him that brightness which they hide from us , and his being the farther off doth not diminish his heat ; yet are their certain parts in the heavens where his aspects are more favourable , and his influences more benign ; there be constellations which he cherisheth , and in which he delighteth to oblige whole nature ; they seem to heighten his lustre , to augment his force , and he appears never to be more powerful , than when he communicates with them . morality , which knows no other sun than love , confesseth that he takes new force as he takes new countenances ; for though he be always himself , and that the different names that we give him , do not change his essence , yet he accommodates himself to the apprehensions of our soul which he employeth , and doth with them produce more extraordinary , or more common effects . he is cloudy in sorrowfulness , violent in choler , ready in desire , undertaking in boldness , calm in joy , and droops in despair ; but certainly , he is never more pleasing ; than in hope . 't is the throne wherein he appears with most pomp ; 't is the affection wherein he works most strongly ; 't is the passion wherein he most smoothly flattereth us ; so is it also the most generous motion of our soul. nature seems to have ordained it to assist great men in their highest enterprize ; and that nothing of memorable can be effected without the assistance of this passion . 't was at her solicitation that alexander undertook the conquest of asia ; distributing all the wealth that he had received from his father , he only received her for his patrimony ; and he who found the world too little , contented himself with the promises which hope gave him . caesar consulted only with her , when he resolved to change the state of the roman common-wealth , and to make himself master of that haughty queen which gave kings to all the people of the earth ; all conquerors have been her slaves ; and ambition which commanded over them , neither drew forth forces , nor took advice but from hope , which augmented their courage . but she is not so appropriated unto princes , as not to communicate her self unto their subjects ; for her care extends even to the meanest condition of men : she preserveth the worlds society ; and all that give her entertainments are only guided by her motions . the husbandman doth not cultivate the ground , merchants put not to sea , nor do souldiers give battel , but when solicited by the sweets of hope . though she have no warrant , and that all her promises be uncertain , she sees a thousand people follow her orders , and attend her recompenses . she hath more subjects than all the kings of the earth put together ; and she may boast , that neither the one nor the other do any thing but by her advice . 't is she alone that contents all men , and who in the difference of their conditions makes them expect the same success . 't is she that promiseth the labourer a happy harvest , favourable winds to mariners , victory to souldiers , and to parents obedient children . every one is ready to engage himself upon her word ; and that which is yet more strange , men believe her though they have tane her in a lie ; she gives so many colours to her new promises , as upon the assurance thereof men form new enterprizes , and throw themselves into new dangers . the labourer plows the ground after an ill year , and endeavoreth to overcome the sterility of the soil by the unwearisomness of his labour : mariners remount their vessels after a shipwrack , and cozened by hope , forget the horror of tempests , and the seas perfidiousness : souldiers return to the fight after a defeat , by the strength of hope ; they charge enemies that have beaten them , and promise unto themselves that fortune will grow weary of always favouring one side . in fine , there is no so unfortunate condition , which receives not comfort from this passion ; though she be a cheater , she will appear to be faithful ; and even in her lightness she gives proofs of her constancy ; for she accompanies her slave , ev'n to death ; she follows gally-slaves to the gallies ; she enters prison with the prisoners , she goes upon the scaffold with the guilty , and with what bad success soever she may have paid our desires , no man can resolve to abandon her . but as there is no advantage in the world which is not mingled with some defaults , hope wants not hers ; and if she flatter men by her sweetness , she astonisheth them by the fear which accompanieth it . for the good which she purchaseth is absent and difficult ; the absence thereof disquieteth her , and the difficulty astonisheth her : she knows very well that what she seeks after , is doubtful ; her very name teacheth her , that the event of her undertakings is uncertain ; and as oft as she considers the dangers that threaten her , she grows pale , as well as fear : she seems to be of the humor of that great commander , who always trembled when he began to give battel ; as if he apprehended the hazards whereinto his courage was like to throw him : she fears her own endeavour ; and her boldness is the chiefest cause of her fearfulness . this maxime is so true , as that a certain philosopher was of opinion , that our apprehensions sprung from our hopes ; and that to cease to fear , we must cease to hope ; for , though these two passions seem to have a contrariety , and that the soul which hopeth is full of assurance , yet doth the one of them arise from the other ; and , notwithstanding their ill intelligence , they go hand in hand , and seldom part ; they march together as do the prisoners with their guards , who are fastned with the same chain , and almost brought to the same servitude . but i wonder not that they have so much affinity , since they relate so much one to another ; and that the one and the other of them is the passion which holds a man in suspence , whom the expectation of what is to come , continually disquiets . when she hath not this unhappiness , and that the knowledge of her strength assures her of good success in what she takes in hand , she falls into another extremity ; and furnisheth our enemies with means to surprize us ; for she is naturally inconsiderate , whatever good advice be given her ; she hath an eye unto the good which attracts her , and considers not the evil which environs her ; she throws her self indiscreetly into danger , and guiding her self only by appearances which deceive her , she engageth her liberty to satisfie her inclination . thus we see fishes swallow the hook , because 't is covered with some bait ; thus we see wild beasts give against the toils , thinking to find some prey there ; and souldiers fall into an ambush , thinking to get some advantage . so as , hope is a rash counsellor , which in the obscurity of what 's to come , sees only false lights , and discovers no apparent good , save only to throw us into hidden and real evils : therefore do polititians always distrust her advices ; and those great men who govern states , do not easily believe a passion which hath more heat than light , and more courage than wisdom . but say she should make good all that she promiseth us , and that the good fortune which she makes us expect , should not be mingled with any displeasure ; yet should we have reason to complain of her ; since that in feeding us with what is to come , she makes us forget what is past , and obligeth us to build our contentment on the the most uncertain part of our life . time , which measureth all things , hath three differences ; the past , the present , and the future : the present is but punctum ( a point ; ) it runs away so fast as there is no staying of it ; we are tane in a lie whensoever we speak of it : it never understands the beginning and ending of the same discourse : when we think to make use of it for a witness , or to alledge it for an example , it escapes our hands ; we find it is no longer present , and that it is already past. the future succeeds it ; but it is so hidden , as the wisest men of the world cannot discover the first moments thereof ; the darkness of it is so thick , as that the light of wisdom cannot dissipate it : the success of things are shut up in the abyss thereof ; and one cannot come to the knowledge of them upon smaller terms than entring into eternity : a man must be a prophet to penetrate its secrets ; and all is there ( in respect of us ) so doubtful and so confused , as the days which we destine for triumph , are oft-times destin'd for our defeat ; and we reserve for our pastime , those which heaven hath ordained for our punishment . the time past is no more ; it flies us , and we flie it ; our wishes , which have somewhat of claim to what is to come , pretend none to this ; they cannot dispose of that which hath no further a being ; and that soveraign power which all things obey , will undertake nothing upon this part of time , save when the said power will new-mould the world ; and drawing our bodies from out the dust , will render unto the present that which the past had taken from it . 't is true , our memory hath some jurisdiction over it : she makes use thereof for our comfort ; she calls back our good days past to recreate us ; & by a harmless piece of art she makes present happiness of our past evils ; she raises our friends from their graves that we may entertain our selves with them ; she converseth with the dead without horror ; and maugre the necessary laws of time , she revives what is past , and restores unto us all the contentments which time hath bereft us of . it is likewise that part of our life which philosophers love best ; 't is that over which fortune hath no more power , and which cannot be incommodiated by poverty , tormented by fear , nor abused by hope . 't is a sacred time , which accidents dare not touch ; 't is a treasure which cannot be taken from us ; and tyrants , who have power over the remainder of our life , have none at all over that which is past : the passion thereof is peaceful ; and let the destinies do what they please , they cannot rob us of a good which we enjoy only by remembrance ; yet hope deprives us of these harmless riches ; and busying her self only about what is to come , she hinders us from thinking upon what is past ; she makes us poor , to enrich us ; she takes from us a certainty , to feed us with uncertainty ; and by an unjust extremity she draws us out of a calm , to engage us in a storm . i confess that wisdom and religion have an eye to what is to come , but they consider it not as doth hope ; for religion doth not ground her self upon that uncertain futurity which amuseth most men , but upon an assured futurity which we are promised in the holy scriptures ; she labours to compass it , she employs all her reasons to perswade us , that it ought to be the chief object of our desires ; she despises that deceitful futurity which humane hope seeks after , and makes so small esteem thereof , as she will not have us to esteem it a part of our life ; she forbids us to think of tomorrow , and euen condemns the false wisdom of men , who heap up riches , and build palaces , as if they were sure to live to eternity ; she will not have us defer the execution of our good resolutions to that unknown time ; and by a profound knowledge which she hath of the uncertainty of all things , she forbids us to defer our repentance , and commands us to look upon the present day as the last of our life . true wisdom considers the time to come , rather as a well-spring of evil than of good ; and when she will seek into the obscurity thereof , she takes advice rather of fear than of hope ; she defies all that depends upon fortune ; and knowing that the best conjunctures are always doubtful , she impatiently expects the time to come ; as she knows that good success is out of our power , she leaves the ordering thereof to divine providence , and is not troubled when she sees the wisest counsels succeed ill . so that hope is too blame to engage us in a time which is not in our disposal , and to ground all our good fortunes upon moments and hours , which peradventure the course of our life will not arrive unto . i know very well that the condition of our nature obligeth us to pretend some right to futurity ; that there being none , but god alone , which possesseth all his good together , we must allow something to the succession of time ; and that having so few present advantages , we may entertain our selves with those which futurity promiseth us ; but we must not build our welfare thereupon ; and 't is a high piece of folly to forgo the present , to forget what is past , and only feed upon what is to come . by all these good and bad effects of hope 't is easie to know her nature , and to make an exact definition thereof . 't is then a motion of the irascible appetite , which with fervency seeks after an absent , difficult , possible good . she hath this of common with all passions , that she is a motion of the soul ; but she differs from fear , in that she considers only what is good , not what is bad ; from joy , in that she looks upon an absent , not a present good ; from desire , in that she seeks not absolutely after good , but after such as is difficult . all these qualities teach us , that she may have her good and her bad uses ; that if young people abuse her in their pleasures , old men make good use thereof in their affairs ; and if she be pernicious to wisdom , when she leaneth indriscreetly upon the uncertainty of what is to come , she is useful to religion , when she grounds her self upon eternity . we shall see the proofs of these truths in the ensuing discourses . the second discourse . of the evil use of hope . passions cannot be more insolently abused , than when they are employed contrary to the design of nature ; or when , thwarting their principal proprieties , they are made to serve unworthy masters , who either by cunning , or violence , make them forgo virtues part . i cannot therefore more evidently shew the ill use which most men make of hope , than in letting them see that they give against her inclinations ; and that diverting her from her legitimate object , they propose others unto her which are not so fit for her . for according to the reason of all philosophers , this passion ought to respect a good which is absent , difficult and possible : whence i conclude , that the riches , honors , or pleasures of life , cannot be her true objects , since they have only an appearance of good ; and that it is opinion , which knows not well how to name things , that hath honor'd them with a title which they deserve not : for reason teacheth us , that all these things have no other valuation than what either ignorance or falshood gives them . before such time as avarice had rent gold from out the entrails of the earth , and that by a thousand tortures which she had made it suffer , she had given it the colour that dazles our eyes , it past only for an useless sand . honour depends so strongly upon opinion , as it is her meer workmanship : and virtue would be thought to be very miserable , had she no other recompense , than what is most commonly given to such crimes as have either good success or lustre . the pleasures of life are not innocent enough , and they are too pernicious to man , to be numbred among his good things : shame and sorrow accompany them ; sorrow which they so carefully eschew , finds them always out , and makes them bear the punishment of all the excess which they have committed . 't is peradventure this which makes the wise-man term these imaginary goods , deceitful pictures , which are in effect nothing less than what they appear unto our senses ; for those who judge of the workmanship of pictures only by the eye , think they see birds flying in the ayr , plains at such a length , as the eye reacheth not their extent , and personages which stand at distance from the cloth ; yet when they draw nearer , they find them but as stroaks of a pencil which deceive their senses , and which make them see things that are not . it fares thus with all those perishable goods which opinion hath cry'd up , and which owe all their valuation either to the weakness or to the ignorance of men . they are but the shadow of good , which having nothing of solidity , cannot be the objects of hope : the wisest men have therefore dismist them ; and there have been philosophers , who have never better known the vanity thereof than in their pomp & greatness . the example which seneca gives us of this , is too useful not to be observed ; he tells us , that attaius had a secret affection to riches ; and that though he profest philosophy , he thought that their goodness was answerable to their beauty , and that there was as much of sweetness in them , as of lustre : it fell out fortunately one day , that he saw a triumph , wherein all the magnificences of rome were exposed to sight ; he saw vessels of gold and chrystal , the workmanship thereof augmented their price ; stately habits , the colours whereof were more precious than the stuffe ; multitudes of children and women , whose different beauties did equally charm the eyes ; slaves laden with chains , who had formerly born crowns and seepters : he saw all the booty of the east , and those vast treasures which so many kings in process of so many ages had gathered together : he saw , in fine , all of rare that the roman power had purchased since her ambition gave place to her avarice . notwithstanding all this , this philosopher found a cure for his malady , where it was thought he should have increas'd it he grew to know the vanity of riches in the midst of their triumph ; for reflecting upon all that he had seen , and finding that thos● things were no less useless than deceitful he generously despised them ; this pom● ( saith he ) could endure but some few hours one afternoon hath seen the beginning and the end thereof ; and though the chariot that carried all this treasure , marcht but softly , they were quickly gone ; what likel●hood is then that that which could not entertain us one whole day , should possess u● all our life-time ; and that we should suffe● long punishment for a thing which is no● able to give a long contentment ? thus di● this philosopher learn virtue , where others reaped nothing but vanity ; and as oft as any object presented it self before his eyes , the appearance whereof might deceive him , he would say , what dost thou admire ( o my soul ! ) that which thou seest is a triumphant pomp , where we see things , but are not suffer'd to possess them ; and where , whilst we are therewithal delighted , they pass away and vanish . if riches , not being a real good , cannot be the object of our hope , whatsoever else the world promiseth us , cannot satisfie it , since they are not far enough off . for this passion looks far into what is to come : she neglects present things , and longs after what is absent , and builds her felicity upon a happiness which is not as yet come . it seems she would teach us , that the world is not her resting place , and that all those contentments which smooth our senses , and which charm our eyes or ears , are not those which she seeks after . she raiseth her self up to heaven , and pretending to eternity , she thinks not that absent which is closed up in the un-intermitted course of time ; she , by a generosity which cannot sufficiently be praised , doth undervalue all those greatnesses , of which imagination may form an idea , and aspires only to that supream happiness which eye hath not seen , neither ear heard , neither hath it entred into the heart of man. those then injure her who force her to fasten her self to all that we esteem good , and to languish for objects , which have not any one of those conditions that hers ought to have . for to boot , that her object ought to be absent , it must be difficult , and such as may cause trouble to those that will seek after it . this epithete will cause an error to arise in most minds , and men finding difficulties in the pursuit of such things as they wish for , will imagine that they deserve to be hoped for : the covetous man , who crosseth the seas , who goes to discover unknown lands , and to seek out new maladies under new climates , will perswade himself that riches are very well worth the wishing , since they are so hard to come by : the ambitious man , who enjoys not one hour of content , and who finds a thousand real hells in the imaginary paradise which he frames unto himself , will think that honour is the only object of hope . but philosophy pretends to fix difficulty to greatness ; she confounds the name of difficult , with that of noble and generous , she blames all those that labour after an infamous good ; and who forgetting the nobleness of their birth , have desires only after such things as are despicable . hope is too couragious to value smoak or dirt ; and she pities all those mean souls , which take such might pains to compass riches or honours . 't is true , they cause trouble enough to those who seek after them ; but they are not the more to be wished for , for their difficulty ; the pain which they are accompanied with makes them not the more glorious ; they resemble the punishment of the guilty , which cease not to be infamous , though severe . in fine , all that the most part of men desire , is not hopes end , because it is , for the most part , impossible . for though this passion be bold , yet is she wise ; she measures her strength ; and though she engage her self in glorious enterprizes , she will have some assurance of success : she aspires only to what she may obtain , and she quits the pursuit as soon as she finds they surpass her power ; she loves to be esteemed reserved rather than rash ; and to confess her impotency , rather than to shew her vanity . notwithstanding , all those that hope exceed these bounds ; and bereaving this passion of her natural wisdom , they raise their desires beyond their merits , and do oft-times labour after things equally unjust and impossible : a slave in irons promiseth himself liberty ; a guilty person under the hangmans hand hopes yet for pardon ; a man that is banisht from the court , pretends yet to government ; and you shall hardly find any so miserable , who do not indiscreetly feed themselves with some imaginary happiness : they perswade themselves that the heavens will do miracles for their sakes , and that they will change the order of the universe , to fulfil their desires . but of all these mad mad men , there are none more to be pitied than old men ; who seeing death already pourtray'd in their faces , do yet promise unto themselves a long life ; they lose every day the use of some part of their body ; they see not but by art , they hear not without difficulty , they walk not without pain , and in every thing that they do , they have new proofs of their weakness , yet they hope to live ; and because our forefathers lived many ages , they believe that in having a care of themselves , they may fence themselves against death ; and after so many sins that they have committed , taste a favour which hath not been granted save to such as had not as yet lost all innocence . a man must renounce his judgment to conceive so irrational a thought , and not know the grievances which do inseparably accompany old age ; for all sorts of death are mingled with some hope ; a feaver leaves us after a certain number of fits , their heats lessen as they increased ; the sea throws on shore those whom it had swallowed up , and a storm hurles ships into the haven ; and a souldier struck with pity , gives life to his conquer'd enemy ; but he whom old age leads to death , hath no more reason to hope ; he is incapable of pardon ; and kings who prolong the lives of such as are condemn'd , cannot do the like to old men : their death is with less pain , but it is more certain ; and as they ought not to fear death , so they ought not to hope for life . but we have sufficiently consider'd the outrages done unto hope : let us see the good offices that may be done unto her , employing her according to her own inclinations , and our need . the third discourse . of the good use of hope . christian religion is wholly built upon hope ; and as she neglects present happiness , we must not wonder if she long after a felicity to come ; she confesseth she is not of this world , and she thinks it not strange if sh● be persecuted in an enemies countrey : she knows very well that she is called from this miserable world to another more happy ; and that having nothing to possess on earth , she ought to hope for all in heaven . all christians who are instructed in her school , do with a holy impatience expect the happy day wherein the son of god will punish his enemies , and crown his subjects . they think themselves already saved , because they are so in hope ; and amongst so many evils that afflict them , they solace themselves in this virtue which promiseth much , but gives more : for it never confounded any body ; and though she suffer such as lay claim to her to be persecuted , , she inspires them with so much courage , as that far from resenting their sorrows , they cast the happiness of angels amidst their punishments , and laugh at the cruelty of tyrants and hang-men : let whatsoever accidents befall them , they are always secure ; and knowing that jesus christ is the foundation of their hope , they look upon all the changes of the earth , with calmness of mind . but whatsoever advantage christians may draw from the virtue , we must confess that she hath nothing to do with that passion which considers the time to come , and which seeks out a good which is possible and difficult ; for the one is a christian virtue which resides in the will ; and the other is a passion which resides in the sensitive appetite ; the one is a meer effect of nature , the other is the pure work of grace : the one by its one strength can extend but to some ages , the other by its proper vigor mounts even to eternity ; the one , in brief , makes not good all that it promiseth , and failing in her word , leaves her lovers in confusion and sorrow ; but the other is so faithful in her promises , as those who have sought under her banners , confess , that her recompenses surpass all their services ; yet in these their differences nothing hinders them from agreeing : the best use of humane hope is to assubject it to divine hope , and to make it aspire , by her assistance , to the possession of eternal happiness ; for though passion know no eternity , and that being engaged in the body she raiseth her self not much higher than the senses , she hath yet some inclination to follow after grace , and to suffer her self to be guided by her motions : as she obeys reason , she may obey godliness ; as she is useful to moral virtue , she may be useful to christian virtue ; and ( if it be not to give her too much advantage ) i should think , that as she inter meddles with patience and fortitude to frame moral habits ; she may do the like with hope and charity , to form super-natural habits . but without engaging my self in a school-dispute , it shall suffice me to say , that if all our passions may be sanctified by grace , hope being of no worse condition than the rest , may pretend unto the same favour , and contribute to all the good works of a christian. neither do i doubt but that the saints have made good use thereof , and that enlightned by faith , they have placed all that hope in jesus christ , which they placed in their kings , or in their gods , whilst they lived in paganism . i doubt not but that this generous passion which encouraged them in dangers for the glory of their princes , did animate them amidst flames for the quarrel of the son of god ; and i am firmly of opinion , that as by her own forces she made them good souldiers , so assisted from above , she made them couragious martyrs ; for nature is the ground-work of grace ; and as faith presupposeth reason , the fortitude of a martyr did presuppose the hope of a man ; and it behoved that passion should work in the hearts of those generous champions , wh●st grace wrought in their wills. god makes daily use of the mouths of his prophets to explain his mysteries ; when he discovers to them secrets to come , he makes use of their words to declare them unto his people ; and he accords nature with grace in them , to execute his designes . i therefore think that the best use a man can make of hope , is to assubject it to three christian virtues , which may make good use of her heat : the first is that which bears her name , and which by a harmless piece of cunning , loosens her from the earth , and gives her desires for heaven ; for though humane hope be so generous , yet cannot she pretend to the happiness of eternity ; and though in the souls of alexander and caesar , she aspired to divine honours , it hath not proceeded so much from any motion of her own , as from the like of vain-glory ; but when she is instructed by faith ; when she knows that god hath chosen us to be his children , and that jesus christ hath made us his brethren , that we may be coheirs with him , she wisheth with humility , for what the others wisht for out of ambition . the second virtue which she may be serviceable unto , is patience ; which in all the evils she undergoes hath no other comfort , than what hope furnisheth her withal ; for while she fights with grief and pain , she would be a thousand times opprest by their violence , did not this glorious passion point out unto her the rewards which are prepared for her ; and if she did not sweeten the present evil by future happiness which hope promiseth her . to understand this , you must know that patience is a virtue as mild as close ; she hath nothing of lustre ; and though she undertake great matters , she spares pomp and the theater ; darkness and the desarts are pleasing unto her , and she is content to fight in his prefence , by whom she expects to be crown'd : neither is she any ways given to use violence ; and , though her enemies be so powerful , she defends her self by suffering , and makes us win the victory by the loss of our lives ; she hardly takes the liberty to complain , and she shews so little feeling of outrages done unto her , or of her sufferings , as those who do not know her , accuse her of stupidity . so great a coldness ought to be animated by the heat of hope ; and so mild a virtue requires the assistance of an active passion . during all her displeasures , the recompenses which are promised her do only possess her , and in the sorrows which she suffers , she raiseth her self up to heaven upon the wings of hope ; and with the eye of faith , seeth the happiness which is prepared for her . but the chief use which we ought to make of this pashon is , when fortitude grapples with grief , and when she sets upon these dreadful enemies , which endeavour to triumph over her courage . for there is this difference between patience and fortitude ; the first is content to suffer ; the second will be doing ; the one , out of modesty , hides her self ; the other , out of generosity , shews it self ; the one expects till mischiefs come , the other goes to seek them out ; the one is mild , the other severe ; the one ( to speak properly ) suffers pains which she cannot shun ; the other endures torments which she easily might eschew . but amongst all these differences , they have this of common , that they cannot subsist without hope : 't is the soul which gives them life , and these two beātiful virtues would not attract the eyes of men and angels , were they not encouraged by this passion which regards futurity . for vain-glory is not able to inspire us with the contempt of sorrow ; and the sect of the stoicks , as proud as it is , hath been able to make but few philosophers generously suffer the violence of tortures , and the hang-mans cruelty ; but christian religion hath produced multitude of martyrs , who have overcome flames and savage beasts , and triumphed over pagan emperours . their fortitude was grounded upon the virtue of hope ; & whilst men went about to corrupt them with promises , to affright them with threats , and to vanquish them with to●ments , they raised up their spirits to heaven , and considered the recompenses which god prepares for those that serve him faithfully . 't is doubtless out of this reason that the great apostle hath given such glorious titles to hope , & that he employs all his divine eloquence to express the wonderful effects thereof ; for sometimes he calls it an anchor , which stops our vessel in the sea , which makes us find tranquility in the midst of a storm , and which fixeth our desires on heaven , and not on earth ; sometimes he terms it a buckler , under the shelter whereof we beat down the blows which our enraged adversary makes against us ; sometimes he calls it our glory , and represents it unto us as an honorable title , which blotting out our shame , makes us hope , that after having been gods enemies , we shall become his children , and that in this acception we shall share in his inheritance . by all these praises he teaches us that we have need of hope in all manner of conditions ; and that we may usefully employ her in all the occurrences of our life ; that it is our security in storms , our defence in combats , and our glory in affronts . but let us observe that she is not of this world , that she forbids us the love thereof , and that she promiseth unto us another more glorious and innocent , to be the object of our desires . let us neglect such a good as is perishable , that we may acquire that which is eternal ; let us remember that it is hard to have pretences at the same time both to heaven and earth , and that we must set at naught the promises of the world , if we will obtain those of jesus christ. the fourth discourse . of the nature , proprieties and effects , & of the good & evil use of despair . of all the passions of man , despair is that which hath been most honour'd , and most blam'd by antiquity ; for she hath past for the last proof of courage in those famous men , who have made use of sword or poyson , to free themselves from the insolence of a victorious enemy . poets and orators never appeared more eloquent , than when they describe the death of cato ; and they do so artificially disguise that furious action , that did not faith perswade us that it is an execrable attempt , we should take it for an heroick action . seneca never praised virtue so much , as this crime ; he seems by the high excomiums he gives it , to perswade all men to despair ; and to oblige all unfortunate people to commit paricide ; he imagines that all the gods descended into vtica to consider this spectacle ; & that they would honour a stoick philosopher with their presence , who not able to endure caesars government , though he had born with the like in pompey , plung'd his dagger into his breast , tore his entrails ; and that he might taste death , rent his soul from his body with his own hands . but truly i do not wonder that seneca would make a murder pass for a sacrifice , since he hath approved of drunkenness , and that he hath made it a virtue , that he might not be constrained to blame cato , who was accused thereof . others have absolutely condemn'd despair ; and because some men , giving themselves over unto fury , have dipt their hands in their own bloud , they have been of opinion that this passion ought to be banisht from out our soul ; and that nothing could befal us in this life , wherein it was lawful to follow the motions thereof . both these opinions are equally unjust , and do violate the sense of nature ; for let the disaster be what it please , which fortune threatens us withal , and whatsoever great mishap she prepareth for us , we never may attempt against our own life : our birth and our death depend only upon our lord god , and none but he who hath brought us into the world , can take us out of it ; he hath left unto us the disposal of all the conditions of our life , and hath only reserved to himself the beginning , and the end ; we are born when he pleaseth , and we die when he ordaineth it : to hasten the hour of our death , is to intrench upon his rights ; and he is so jealous of it , as he oft-times doth miracles , to teach us that it belongeth unto him . but if despair be forbidden us upon this occasion , there are many others wherein it is permitted ; and i am of opinion , that nature did never more evidently shew her care over man , than in enduing him with a passion which may free him from all the evils for which philosophy hath no remedy . for though good be a pleasing object and that by its charm it powerfully attracts the will , yet it is sometimes environed with so many difficulties , that the will cannot come nigh it ; its beauty makes her languish , she consumes away in desire , and hope , which eggeth her on , obligeth her to do her utmost in vain : the more she hath of love , the more she hath of sorrow ; and the more excellent the good which she seeks after , is , the more miserable is she ; that which ought to cause her happiness , occasioneth her punishment : and to speak it in few words , she is unfortunate , for that she cannot forbear loving an object which she cannot compass . this torment would last as long as her love , did not despair come in to her succour , and by a natural wisdom oblige her to forgo the search of an impossibility ; and to stifle such desires as seem only to afflict her . as this passion takes us off from the pursuit of a difficult good which surpasseth our power , so are there a thousand occasions met withal in mans life , wherein she may be advantageously made use of ; and there is no condition how great soever in the world which needs not her assistance . for mens powers are limited , and the greater part of their designs are impossible ; hope and boldness which animate them , have more of heat than government ; led on by these blind guides , they would throw themselves headlong into praecipices , did not despair withhold them , & did not she by her knowledge of their weakness , divert them from their rash enterprizes ; she is also a faithful counsellor which never doth deceive us , and which deserves not to be blamed , if , not being sent for till our affairs be in a sad condition , she gives us more wholsome than honorable advice ; we must accuse hope , which engageth us too easily in a danger ; and praise despair , which finds a means to free us from it . the greatest princes are only unhappy , for not having listned unto her ; for would they measure their forces before they undertake a war , they would not be enforced to make a dishonourable peace , & to take the law from their victorious enemy : but the mischief is , they never implore despairs assistance , but when she cannot give it them ; and they never advise with this passion , till all things be reduced to an extremity : yet is she not unuseful at such a time , and her counsels cease not to be profitable , though precipitate . for when princes know that their forces are inferiour to those of their enemies , and that all the advantage lies on the enemies side , despair wisely managed causeth them to retreat ; and this passion repairing the faults of hope and audacity , makes them keep their souldiers till another time , when they may assuredly promise themselves the victory for despair is more cautious than couragious , and aims more at the safety than glory of a kingdom ; it makes use of the evils which it hath observed , and thinks it self glorious enough , if it can escape the fury of him that doth pursue it . 't is true , that when it sees all ways of safety barred up , and that it is on all sides environed by death , it chuseth the most honourable ; and recalling hope which it had chased away , resolveth either to die or overcome . therefore 't is , that good commanders do never put the vanquished to despair ; but knowing that this passion becomes valiant when provoked , they make her bridges of gold , open all passages to her ; and suffer this torrent to disperse it self abroad in the open champion , lest her fury swelling by resistance , overbear such works as are opposed to her impetuosity . herein the nature of despair is strange ; for it ariseth from fear ; and its greatest wisdom consisteth in its timorousness ; in the good which it offers it self , it rather considereth the difficulty which may astonish , than the glory which may attract ; and be it , that it be more cold , or less courageous than hope , it hath not so much an eye to good , as to bad events ; yet when the danger is extream , and that the mischief is so great as it cannot be evaded ; it makes virtue of necessity , and gives battel to an enemy , which hope it self durst not assail ; it oftentimes plucks the lawrel from out the conquerors hand ; and performing actions which may pass for miracles , it exceeds nature , it preserves mens lives in making them contemn them , and wins the victory by seeking after an honourable death . by all these effects it is easie to judge of the nature of despair , and to know that it is a violent motion by which the soul keeps aloof from a difficult good , which it thinks it cannot compass , and by which likewise it sometimes draws near unto it ; rather to shun the evil which threatens it , than to possess the difficult good ; for in its birth despair is fearful , and hath no other design , than to divert the soul from the vain seeking after an impossible good ; but in its progress it becomes bold , and when it sees that by keeping aloof from a difficult good , it engageth it self in an infamous evil , it resumes courage , and employs all its power to gain a thing which it thought assuredly to have lost ; so as this is not a single passion , & to explain the nature thereof well , we must say , that she is mixt of fear and hope ; and that , as in the beginning she is more faint-hearted than the former , she is in the end more generous than the latter . but at both these times she hath need of government ; & that she may be serviceable to virtue , she must shun two dangerous extreams which bear her name , and stain her glory ; the one may be called faint-heartedness , the other foolhardiness ; she falls into the former , when not knowing her own strength , she keeps at distance from a good which she might compass ; she falls into the second , when not regarding her own imbecility , or the greatness of the danger , she undertakes an impossibilty , and engageth her self in a design which cannot have any good success . it belongs to reason to govern her , and to see when she may eschew without infamy , and when she may charge without rashness : if it be a lawful good , which may with justice be expected , it must seldom or never be despaired of ; upon such an occasion opiniatrecy is commendable ; and a man is not to be blamed who attempts even an impossibility , to purchase a happiness which his duty requires him to seek after : but if that which he wisheth for , be hard to come by , and perishable , he must cure himself of his vain desires , and foolish ●●pes , by a rational despair . but he must beware , that though this passion be in nature oft-times innocent , she is always guilty in relation to grace ; for nat●ral hope being grounded upon our proper forces , it is lawful to forgo her , to embrace despair ; and there is nothing of inconvenience , that man whose misery is so well known , do quit his designs when he cannot compass them ; but supernatural hope being grounded upon divine power , we must not forgo her ; and it is a capital fault to suspect god of falshood or of weakness . those therefore who despair of their souls health , justle his highest perfections , and make themselves unworthy to receive pardon of their sins , from the time they cease to hope ; for since the holy scripture teacheth us , that god is good , and all-powerful , those who perswade themselves , that he either will not , or cannot save them , commit outrage against his power and goodness ; and by one and the same fault give against his two most excellent qualities : and if we will believe st. austin , they who despair imitate proud people , and make themselves equal with god , by losing the hope of their salvation ; for when they fall into despair , they imagine that gods mercy is not so great as their sin is , and by an injurious preferrence , they raise their wickedness above his goodness ; they prescribe bounds to an infinite love , and bereave him of perfections , who possesseth more than our souls can imagine . true it is , that if despair be faulty in relation to grace , there is an excess of hope which is not much less dangerous ; and there are certain christians in the church , who are opinionated in their sins , only out of a confidence they have of gods mercy : they make use of his goodness only to injure him ; they think not of his favours to sinners , save to abuse them ; and by irrational consequences , which philosophy cannot have taught them , they conclude that they ought to be wicked , because god is good , and that we ought to offend him , because he doth not punish his enemies : had not these shameless sinners lost their judgment together with their piety , they would argue after another manner , and say ; that since god is good , man must be obedient ; that since he is prone to forgive , man ought to have a care how to offend him ; and that since he loves the welfare of man , man ought to love his honour . but certainly , if they had not these just considerations , gods mercy should not maintain in them their foolish confidence ; for to boot , that his mercy agrees with his justice , and that the one doth not intrench upon the others rights , he hath so temper'd his promises with his threats in the holy scripture , as they banish from out the soul of man both despair and presumption ; to assure those that despair , he hath proposed penitency unto them , the gate whereof is open to all those that repent ; and to terrifie the presumptuous , who through their delays despise his mercy , he hath made the day of death uncertain , and hath reduced them to a necessity of fearing a moment , which as being unknown , may surprize the whole world . the fourth treatise of audacity and fear . the first discourse . of the nature , proprieties and effects of audacity and fear . if virtues be the more to be valued by reason of the difficulties which accompany them ; if such as are most painful , be most beautiful ; we must confess that among passions , audacity ought to be esteemed the most glorious , since it is the most difficult ; and that it undertakes to fight against whatsoever is most terrible in the world ; for though hope be generous , and that she be not pleased with what is good , unless it be auster ; yet doth the beauty thereof invite her to seek after it , and the charms thereof endue her with strength to overcome the difficulties which surround it ; but audacity wants this assistance , and considers an object which hath nothing in it of lovely , she sets upon evil , and coming in to the aid of hope , she denounceth war to her enemies , and proposeth no other recompense in the combat , but glory ; she is of the humour of conquerors , who leave all the booty to their souldiers , reserving only the honour to themselves . for all those that describe her nature , agree in this , that she is a passion of the soul which goes in quest of dangers , to grapple with them ; and overcome them ; she may therefore be termed a natural fortitude , and a disposition to that generous virtue which triumphs in sorrow , and in death ; as she undertakes nothing but what is difficult , she is more severe than pleasing ; a certain severity may be seen in their countenances whom she inanimates , which sufficiently shews , that her delight lies in troubles , and that she hath no other pastime , than what she takes in overcoming sorrows ; nothing comforts her but glory ; nor doth any thing nourish her but hope ; with this weak succour she assails all her enemies , and gains almost as many victories as she fights battels . but to afford this discourse more light , we must know , that good and evil are the two objects of all our passions ; love considers good , and employs desire and hope , to obtain it : sometimes the good proves so hard to be come by , that love through despair forgoes it , thinking it a piece of wisdom , to renounce a happiness which cannot be obtained . hatred detests evil , and to withstand an enemy which declares perpetual war with it , she employs such passions as hold of her empire ; she makes use of fear , and of eschewing , to keep from it ; and sometimes she employs boldness and choler , to fight with it and overcome it ; but as despair would never forgo a difficult good , did not fear perswade that the difficulties which attend it cannot be overcome ; audacity would never undertake to set upon a dreadful evil , did not hope promise her the victory ; so as these two passions cease not to be of one mind , though they have different objects : though the one seek after what is good , and the other provoke what is evil , they both labour for the quiet of the mind , and by several ways endeavour the same end . the truth is , the condition of the one is much more sweet than is that of the other ; for hope hath only a respect to the good which she desires ; if sometimes she cast her eye upon the difficulties which surround it , 't is rather out of necessity than inclination ; and if she hazard her self upon some danger , 't is not so much out of glory , as out of profit ; but boldness considers only what is evil , and by a certain confidence which accompanies her in all her designs , promiseth her self to overcome it by her own strength . hope doth easily engage her self ; and being as light as vain , she undertakes all enterprizes which she judgeth to be glorious and feasible ; but she would thereby reap nothing but confusion , did not audacity come in to her aid ; and by the greatness of that courage which is natural to her , happily execute that which her companion had rashly undertaken : hope resembles the trumpets which sound the charge , but never enter into the scuffle : audacity contrariwise , is of the nature of those souldiers who are silent , and keep all their forces to fight with the enemy : hope promiseth all things , and gives nothing , and abuseth men with fair words , which are not always follow'd by good effects ; but audacity promiseth nothing , and performeth much ; she attempts even impossibilities to make good hopes promises ; and endeavours to overcome the difficulties which hinder the execution thereof . in fine , she is so generous , that her designs , though they be difficult , cease not to be fortunate ; and she is so accustomed to overcome , as the poets , to give some colour to her victories which she wins contrary to the laws of war , have feigned that she hath a divinity which encourageth her , and that her deeds are rather miraculous than natural . but to the end that these differing qualities may the more evidently appear , i will add examples to reasons , and make it known by certain remarkable histories , how much daring is more considerable than hope . no monarch was ever more powerful than xerxes , and his power never appeared more than when he framed the design of conquering greece : his army was composed of two millions of men , the field-room was too little to receive a body of men , the parts whereof were monstrous ; the earth groaned under the weight of the engines which he caused to be carried about , to batt●r towns which should resist him . this dreadful number of foot and horse drained up rivers , the hail of arrows shot from so many hands darkned the sun : those who would flatter this prince , said , that the sea was not large enough to bear his shipping ; and that greece was not great enough to quarter his troops . this mean while leonidas seized upon the streights of thermopilae , and intrenching himself in those mountains , resolved to give him battel with three hundred men as he should pass by . hope and audacity enflamed the heart of this noble captain , and those two passions enconraged him to an enterprize as difficult as glorious : hope laid before him the glory which he should receive in opposing the common enemy of greece , in preserving the liberties of his countrey , in saving the temples from being burnt , in defending towns from being pillaged , and in keeping the women from the insolence of a victorious . barbarian she forgot not to point out unto him all the honours which the lacedemonians would give him ; the statues which would be erected in memory of his name , the praises which should be given him by all the people , and the magnifique titles which historians would give him in their writings : it may be she would flatter him with an impossible victory , and perswade him that a disorder falling out in an army wherein were many men , but few souldiers , he might easily defeat it . but courage , fuller of truth than hope , knew the greatness of the danger , and not abusing this commander , laid open before his eyes , that though his death were certain , he was not to quit the passage which he had taken ; that there was no need of conquering , but of dying ; and that he should do enough for the welfare of greece , if , by losing his life , he should make his enemies lose their resolution . he gave belief to the advice of this generous passion ; he resolved to stand the shock of an army which he could not stay , and invited his souldiers to fight and die at the same time . by this example it is easie to judge , that hope considers only the good which doth solicite her ; and that andacity respects only the evil that threatens her ; that the one entertains her self only with the glory which she promiseth to her self ; and that the other is only taken up with the danger which she withstands : that the one feeds her self with an imaginary pleasure , and that the other nourisheth her self with real pain : 't is true , the latter finds her contentment in her duty , and sings triumphantly in the midst of her defeat ; for though she bear not away the victory over the persians in the person of leonidas , she carries it sheer away over the fear of death ; and she is sufficiently contented to have overcome the violentest of all her enemies : she is not troubled for being beaten by men , provided she may overcome fortune ; and good success is to her indifferent , so she may vanquish the apprehension of danger . if it be permitted to add fiction to history , we shall see the divers motions of those two passions , in the person of iason . the purchase of the golden fleece is the subject of his journey : hope makes him put to sea , and promiseth him fair winds , which shall fill his sails , and bring him in despite of tempest , to the coast of colchis ; she shews him how all greece have their eys fixt upon him ; and that she hath no commander who in this expedition will not fight under his ensign ; that in so noble an enterprize profit is joyn'd to glory , and that the recompense which he may expect , is as rich as honorable ; but audacity which cannot flatter , lays before him souldiers which he hath to overcome , monsters to tame , and a serpent which always waketh , to surprize ; yet he accepts of all these conditions , and undertakes to assail all these enemies upon confidence of his own forces ; he is not sure to overcome the bulls and serpents which he shall meet withal ; but he is very well assured to overcome fear ; he knows that success depends upon fortune ; but he knows also that boldness depends only upon courage ; it sufficeth him to set at naught all these monsters , which present themselves before him under such dreadful visages , and without any further recompense , thinks himself glorious enough , if he can triumph over fear . by these two examples , the advantages which audacity hath over hope , are easily discerned ; but in their oppositions somewhat of resemblance may be found ; and the same causes that make us hope for good , seem to make us despise evil ; for youth , which abounds in heat , imagines nothing impossible ; & because her vigour gives her assurance , she easily engageth her self in difficult and glorious designs ; good success doth likewise feed this passion ; and when fortune smiles upon commanders , they do not greatly refuse to fight ; though their forces be inferiour to those of the enemy , they perswade themselves that their very name is able to affright them ; and being accustomed to overcome , they cannot fear a misfortune which hath not yet befallen them . power contributes no less than good success to make men bold ; for when a prince commands over a great state , when every town furnisheth him with an army ; when the revenues are such as will afford him to entertain them divers years ; when his neighbours fear him , and that he hath no more to do to make them his subjects , but to march into the fields ; he shuns not the undertakings of any war , nor ever despairs of victory . but of all things in the world , nothing makes a man more bold than innocence ; for though the enemy that assails him be powerful , and that the earth fight in favour of him , he imagines that god ought to take his part , and that he who protects the innocent , being interessed in his cause , is bound to defend him ; so as he marcheth undauntedly amidst dangers , dreads no ill success ; and expecting help from heaven , promiseth unto himself assured victory . the one and the other of these passions may be mistaken ; and as they become glorious virtues , when they are guided by prudence ; they may degenerate into shameful vices , when they suffer themselves to be governed by indiscretion : this is that we will examine in the ensuing discourses . the second discourse . of the bad use of audacity or boldness . audacity having no other guide than hope , we must not wonder if she undertake enemies which she cannot vanquish ; and if her desires have , for the most part , ill success ; 't is not likely that rash enterprizes should be fortunate , and that actions which are not governed by wisdom , should be accompanied by good success : fortune grows weary offavouring the audacious ; and having oft-times kept them out of danger , wherein they had indiscreetly engaged themselves , she forsakes them with some seeming justice , and punishes their fool-hardiness , to remedy the like in others . all men are therefore bound to weigh well the counsels which hope giveth them , and to consider their strength , before they follow the motions of audacity ; for though they be full of gallantry , and that most souldiers confound them with the motions of valour , they cease not notwithstanding to be fatal , and to be dayly the cause of the loss of armies , and ruine of states . but to find the spring-head of this evil , we must know that the passions reside in the inferior part of the soul , and cannot discourse ; they only consider their object , and by a blind impetuosity they either draw near unto it , or keep far from it ; they do not mark so much as the circumstances which accompany it ; and not comparing the difficulties with their strengths , they engage themselves indiscreetly in a war , or shamefully run away ; their judgment is so ready , as it is almost precipitate ; for after having listned to what the senses say , they advise with their inclination ; and not expecting orders from reason , they bear away the whole man , and enforce him to follow their motions . hence it comes , that he oft-times repents him of his designs , condemns what he formerly approved , and cannot end what he had begun . but of all passions , none is more unfortunate than audacity ; for she betakes her self to powerful enemies , and she grapples with pain and death : fighting is her ordinary exercise , and she oft-times bathes her self in tears or bloud ; she is always encompassed with dangers ; and on what side soever she turns , she sees nothing but ghastly images , and fearful apparitions ; this mean while she borrows no aid , nor takes no counsel , save only of hope ; and the same that hurries her into danger , is she that counsels her ; she who sets her on work , is she who puts weapons into her hands ; and who under vain promises engageth her in extream difficulties ; she also often sees the greatest part of her designs prove abortive , and reaps nothing of all her useless endeavours , but sorrow for having followed evil counsel ; oft-times she discourageth her self , and seeing that her undertakings do exceed her strength , she suffers her self to be astonished by fear , beat down by despair , and consumed by sadness ; for these passions do almost always succeed her ; and experience teacheth us that those who at the beginning of a fight have been more couragious than men , have at the end thereof been found more fearful than woman . the fewel of boldness soon takes fire , but it is as soon extinguished ; and as the fury of waves turns into foam , the violence of the audacious turns into fearfulness ; and for all the confidence they shewed in their designs , all that remains unto them , is weaknesses , as full of shame as of guilt . 't is true , that choler sometimes sides with boldness , and furnisheth it with new forces , when the danger hath made it lose its own : but this assistance is not always sure : the souldier that engages himself in battel upon her weak succours , is in as great danger of losing the victory , as he who puts his hope in despair ; and is no more assured of conquest , than he that fights , only because he cannot retire . desperate men have been seen to die with their weapons in their hands , and if sometimes they have revenged their deaths , they have not always preserv'd their lives : bold men have also often been seen , who for being cholerick , have not more luckily evaded the danger whereinto they had precipitated themselves . cholers forces are as well limited as are those of boldness ; and unless the one and the other● of them be guided by prudence , they ought● not to expect any thing but dreadful consequences : that which hath happened upon one occasion , will not happen upon many others ; and the heavens are not obliged to give the same success to all rash enterprizes . alexanders example ought not to serve for a rule to all conquerors ; he lived not long enough to be certainly imitated ; the fortune which followed him in his youth , would peradventure have forsaken him in his age ; his rashness would not always have been so fortunate ; and if he had begun his conquest in europe , he might not perhaps , have carried them so far as asia ; the birth of rome would have staid the course of his victories ; and she that shut up pyrrhus in his dominions , would have driven him back into macedonia . for my part , i am of seneca's opinion , & believe that this prince had more courage than wisdom , and more rashness than courage : in effect , his fortune did oftner preserve him than his valour ; and if the heavens had not made choice of him to punish the pride of the persians , he had been stopt in the first battel ; he would not take those advantages which the greatest commanders do commonly make use of , when their forces are not equal to those of their enemy ; he would not set upon darius his army whilst favoured by the night , but with a piece of rashness , which deserved more blame than it hath received praises : he would tarry till it were day , and have th● sun for witness of his victory ; he though● he should have stoln a victory , if he shoul● have won it by night ; and though parmen● advised him to prefer his souldiers safet● before the glory of arms , he contemne● that advice ; and to shew that he owed a● his advantages to fortune , he rejected a● the maxims of prudence : i do also firml● believe , that his confidence hath been th● undoing of as many princes as have imitated him , and that his guidance is more fatal to conquerors , than rocks and tempes● unto mariners . i know very well , that caesae adventur'd much , and that he could not undertake the ruine of the roman common wealth without having conceived a grea● good opinion of his good fortune , whic● he was able to guide by wrath and virtue and we are bound to acknowledge that 〈◊〉 victories were no less the workmanship o● his wisdom , than of his fortune , he shewe● no audacity but upon such occasions wher● advice was useless ; and he boasted not o● his good fortune , but to conjure down th● tempests , and put confidence in his pilot : i● fine , he made use of hope in all his enterprizes , he submitted it to prudence , and taught all commanders , that to be valiant a man must be more wise than rash . the third discourse . of the good use of audacity or boldness . though passions be more faulty than i●●ocent , and that , by reason of the irregularity of our nature , they lean more to vice than virtue ; yet with a little help a man may make them virtuous ; their inclinations are good , but their judgments precipitate ; they always seek for good , and withstand evil ; but this is most commonly with a little , too much ardency ; they imitate such orators as defend a good cause with bad reasons ; or are like those unfortunate innocents , who when tortured , and wanting perseverance , confess faults which they never committed : for in effect , they become guilty through want of patience ; and grow vicious by not being able to endure the absence of good , nor presence of evil. did not hope pursue honours which she cannot compass , never would she bring the ambitious to despair ; and did not boldness engage her self to fight against mischiefs which she canno● overcome , she would never be accused o● rashness ; but the fault is not without remedy ; for , if she will listen to reason , i● ( after having calmed the fury of her first motion ) she will suffer her self to be guided by wisdom , she will alter her nature ; and of a simple passion , she will become a glorious virtue : audacity and fortitude consider the same object , and their inclinations are so like , as one may say , that fortitude is a rational audacity , and that audacity is a natural fortitude ; their enemies are common , and they summon all their forces to fight with them ; they are agitated by the same motives , and seek the same end . for , fortitude , according to her truest definition , is a science which teacheth us either to suffer , or to beat back , or to provoke injuries : she constantly endures all the evils which nature is subject to ; she will not be dispensed withal in general rules ; and knowing that the necessity of death is a sentence pronounced against all men , she never appeals from it ; with calmness of spirit she sees sickness approach ; the first remedy which she applies to cure them , is to think that they arise from our constitution , and that they make up a part of us ; contagion doth not astonish her ; & be it either for that ●he looks upon it as a punishment of sin , or that she considers it as an effect of nature , she accuseth not the stars of it , and pretends not to be exempt from an evil which doth not pardon princes : with a noble neglect she beats back all such disasters as take all their strength from error ; and which do not offend our bodies , but as they hurt our imagination : she defends her self against poverty , by desiring only necessary things ; she despiseth honours , considering that they are oftner the recompense of vice , than of virtue ; she laughs at voluptuousness , knowing that it is pleasing only in appearance , and that under a specious name it hideth shameful and real pains ; she provokes sorrow , to try her courage ; she seeks for calamity , as an occasion to exercise her virtue ; and if she had not tasted the disasters of life , she would think her self ignorant of the better half of what she ought to know : she hath rather a greediness than a desire after dangers , and since the evil she undergoes contributes unto her glory , she fore runs it , thinking it a point of baseness to tarry expecting it . in fine , she hath overcome death in its most ghastly hue ; nor hath the cruelty of tyrants invented punishments over which fortitude hath not triumphed . scoevola derided the flames , and witnessed more constancy in seeing his hand burn , than his enemies did in beholding it : regulus was an honour to the rack whereon he died ; socrates turn'd his prison into a school , his executioners became his disciples ; and the poyson which he swallowed , made his innocence glorious : camillus suffer'd banishment calmly ; and rome had remained captive , had not this famons exile restored unto her her liberty . cato slew himself , and though he suffer'd himself to be overcome by impatience , he may at least boast of having preserved his liberty . but without making use of prophane examples , where virtue is always mingled with vice , we have no martyr which hath not overcome some tyrant , & in the severity of their sufferings given many proofs of their courage . the ignatii have provoked wild beasts ; and as if that death had been a courtesie , they sought after it with eagerness , and endured it with pleasure : the laurences have vanquisht the flames , and while their bodies distilled drop by drop upon the fire-brands their tongues reproached their judges , and gave praises to jesus christ : the clement● and agathaes have wearied their executioners ; their martyrdom endured thirty years ; the famousest cities of the world have served for theaters to their sufferings ; all the earth hath been water'd with their bloud ; and heaven hath shewn a thousand miracles to prolong their lives , and to make their triumphs more famous . but if fortitude encouraged by charity hath held out all these brunts , and had the better of all these enemies , audacity may claim to a great share in the glory ; for it is she that maketh martyrs ; and though grace be more powerful than nature , yet doth she not despise the assistance thereof : as the soul and body conspire together to practise virtue , nature agrees with grace to beat down sin . boldness is the ground work of all glorious actions ; and had not this noble passion fill'd the heart of the first christians , fortitude had not gotten such glorious victories ; they have so much of affinity between them , as they cannot subsist asunder : fortitude languisheth without audacity ; and audacity without fortitude is rash . vir●●e would be succor'd by pasion , & passi●● guided by virtue . audacity is the beginning of fortitude , and fortitude is au●●cities perfection ; or to speak more ●early , audacity is an imperfect virtue , and fortitude is an accomplisht passion . but to arrive at this perfection she must have three or four remarkable circumstances ; the first is , that she be accompanied by justice and prudence ; for he that takes up arms to ruine his countrey , deserves not to be stiled couragious ; his design dishonors his passion , and his audacity becomes faulty , for his not having chosen a lawful end . let cataline take up arms , let him encourage his souldiers to the battel by his examples , let him be besmear'd with his own bloud mixt with that of his enemies , let him die with his sword in his hand well advanced in the scuffle , and let fury & choler be seen in his visage even after death ; he shall never pass for a couragious man ; his audacity was not discreet , since trespassing against all the laws of discretion , he had undertaken so pernicious a design : neither was it temperate , since he won his souldiers good will , only by satisfying their avarice , or uncleanness of life : it was not just , because he had conspired against his countrey ; and it was rather an obdurateness than a greatness of courage ; since to compass glory , he committed paricide . the second is , that the motive of audacity be generous , and that the daring man expose not his life upon a slight consideration ; for he very well knows his own worth , and not born away with vain-glory , he knows his life is precious : he hath preserved it with much care , and if he endanger it , it must be for a subject that deserves it . there is a great deal of difference between a valiant man , and one that is desperate ; the latter seeks out death to free himself from misery ; but the other pursues it only to discharge his duty , and content his inclination : he will not then engage himself in danger to purchase a little honor ; he will not be guided by the example of the rash ; he values not those maxims which are authorized by folly and indiscretion ; but he will go whithersoever the trumpet summons him , and will throw himself , though single , upon a body of horse , if he have order so to do ; he will die a thousand times rather than forgo the station given him in charge ; and he will cover the place with his body which he is not able to defend with his sword . the third is to try his own strength , before he set upon the enemy ; for virtue is too rational to engage us in an impossibility ; she exacts nothing from us , but what is in our power , and she will have us in all our enterprizes , to observe whether our means to be answerable to the end endeavoured . there is nothing more glorious than conquest of the holy land ; and if the greatness of our monarch might beincreas'd by wishes , we would desire , that to his other august titles , that of the deliverer of the land of palestine might be added ; but he who should engage himself in that design would be more rash than couragious , if before putting to sea , he had not quieted all his own dominions , if he had not raised forces enough to fight with those of the infidels ; and if he had not by his intelligences caused an insurrection in the eastern parts , thereby to work a powerful diversion . to boot with all these conditions , christian audacity ought to have two more ; the first is humility , which agrees very well with greatness of courage , since her enemy vain-glory , is always accompanied with faint-heartedness : the second is hatred of our selves , for he that hath not overcome his own inclination , must not expect to overcome his delights ; and he who hath not warred against his own body , is but ill prepar'd to denounce war against sorrow . let us then use our strength against our selves , that we may employ it to purpose against our enemies , and let us vanquish self-love , if we will overcome the fear of death . the fourth discourse . of the nature , proprieties and effects of fear . there are some passions whose names belie their natures , and are nothing less inwardly than what they outwardly appear to be . the name of hope is pleasing , but her humour is violent ; and she is cause of as much evil as she promiseth contentment : the name of despair is odious , but her nature corresponds with reason ; and we are obliged unto it , when it makes us forgo the pursuit of a good which we cannot compass . the name of boldness is glorious ; we no sooner hear thereof , but we conceive a greatness of courage , which despiseth pain , and seeketh out death ; but the inclination thereof is savage ; and if it be not withheld by wisdom , it engageth us in dangers which cause much mischief to us , and little glory . the name of fear is contemptible ; and errour hath so cried down this passion , as 't is taken for the mark of a coward ; but her humor is wise , and if she warn us of our misfortunes , it is to free us from them . for nature seems to have given us two passions to our counsellors in the divers adventures of our life ; hope and fear ; the first is doubtless the more pleasing , but the second is the more faithful ; the first flatters us to deceive us ; the second frightens us to secure us ; the first imitates those inte●essed counsellors , who in all their advices have respect rather to the fortune than person of their prince , and who by a dangerous flattery prefer his contentment before the welfare of his state ; the second resembles those faithful state-ministers which discover a mischeif that they may cure it , and who stick not to anger their king a little , to purchase him a great deal of glory . in fine , the first is oft-times useless ; and the number of what is good being small enough , she hath not many employments ; and if she undertakes any thing which belongs not to her , she makes us lose our labour and our time ; the second is almost always busied ; and the number of evils being infinite , she is never out of exercise ; she looks far into what is to come , and seeks out the evil which may happen , not to make us miserable before the time , as she is unjustly accused , but to secure our happiness , and to disperse all the disasters which may bereave us of it . for fear is a natural wisdom which oft-times frees us from danger , by making us apprehensive thereof ; she spreads her self over all the actions of our life , and is no less useful to religion than to a common-wealth : if we will believe prophane authors , 't is she that made the gods ; and though there be some impiety in this maxim , a man may notwithstanding observe some shadow of truth in it ; for 't is the fear of eternal punishment which perswaded men they were to appease the incensed gods ; 't is she that hath made sacrifices , builded temples , set up altars , and immolated victimes ; 't is she that keeps the just within their duties , and which after a fault committed makes them lift up their hands to heaven , and witness their sorrow for it . though men talk of generosity in religion , and boast that they are won rather by promises than by threats ; yet it must be confest , that fear hath sav'd more guilty people than hope ; so is she termed in the holy scripture , the beginning of wisdom ; that is to say , the prop of virtue , & the foundation of piety . sin would grow insolent , were it not supprest with this passion ; & all laws would be unuseful , had not nature imprinted fear in the soul of offenders ; she is therein engraven in characters which time cannot deface ; they apprehend the punishment of a secret sin ; and though they know the judges can punish only such as they come to the knowledge of , they tremble in the midst of their friends , they awake affrighted ; and this faithful minister of gods justice suffers them not to find assurance , neither in towns , nor yet in desarts , 't is a proof that nature is not wholly corrupted , since there remains in it horrour for sin , and dread for the punishment thereof ; for let a sinner hide himself in what part he pleaseth , he carries fear about with him ; and this uncorruptible passion teacheth him , that there is a divinity which sees our secret faults , whilst we live , and punisheth them when we are dead . often doth she convert libertines ; and by an unconceiveable miracle , she perswades them unto truths , which they would not have believed , lest they should be obliged to fear them she stings even the most opinionated ; and of as many as acknowledg jesus christ , there are few that owe not their love to their fear ; they endeavour not to gain heaven , save to free themselves from hell ; and they love gods goodness only because they fear his justice . i very well know that this resentment is not pure , and that a man who should stop at fear would be in danger never to acquire charity ; but it is much that she opens the gate of salvation to infidels , and shews the way of virtue unto sinners . if she be profitable to religion , she is no less necessary to a common-wealth ; which could not subsist by recompenses , if it did not terrifie the guilty with punishments : we ●●ve not now in those innocent times , wherein the people were united by friendship , which renders the use of laws boot●ess ; every one loved his neighbor as himself ; and love banished injustice from off the earth ; there was no need to inhibit vice , nor to recommend virtue ; but since corruption hath crept into nature , and that ●an , out of too much love to himself , be●an to hate his neighbor , it was necessary to ●ave recourse unto laws , and to reduce ●●ose by fear , which were not to be gain'd by love. gallowses were erected to frighten the guilty ; punishments were invented to make death the more terrible ; and that which was a tribute due to nature , was made the chastisement for sin . all of innocence that remains in us , is an effect of fear all inclination to good , and aversion from evil , would be razed out of our will , did not this passion by her threats detain them there ; and all rights , divine and humane , would be violated , did not she preserve the innocent by punishing the guilty ; in fine , she is the greatest occasioner of our quiet ; and though she be timorous , all politicians acknowledge her for the mother of security . i know very well , that the stoicks have cry'd her down ; but what passion hath ever been able to defend it self against their calumnies ? they will have us banish love from off the earth , because it makes some unclean ; and consider not , that being the ligament of society , a man must cease to live , if he were forbidden to love : religion is preserved only by charity , which is a kind of love ; and god would never have made men , had he not meant to make them lovers of him . the same philosophers will stifle desires , because they cannot moderate them ; and are like to those who out of despair , kill themselves to cure a malady . they condemn hope ; and to perswade us ●hat they possess all things , they will hope for nothing ; they are of the humour of that poor athenian , who was only rich in that ●e was foolish , and who cared not to heap 〈◊〉 wealth , because he thought all the ships ●n the haven belong'd to him . they flatter ●hemselves with a vain soveraignty , which ●he wise-man claims over the world ; and as ●hey think to have gotten wisdom , they think that all her portion too belongs to ●hem . they laugh at fear , and to their reasons add reproaches , to make her contemptible or ridiculous ; they make her the enemy of our quiet ; and to hear them speak of this harmless passion , one would think they painted out a monster to us , so dreadful do they make her : they say , she is inge●uous for our misery ; that by nature she is ●mpatient , and that she will not tarry till the evil do happen , that she may make us suffer ●t ; that she hath a malign foresight , and which penetrates into the secrets of futuri●y , only to make us therein to meet with our torment ; that she contents not her self with present evils , but that , to oblige all the differences of time to conspire mischief ●gainst us , she calls to mind what is past , she vexes her self with what is to come , an● unites pains together , which all the cruelt● of tyrants could not bring to a contrac● they add , that as she laboureth to foresta● our misfortunes , she takes delight in increa● sing them , and never representeth them un● to us , but when she hath made them greate● than they are , to astonish us ; that if sh● threaten us with death , 't is always with tha● which is most full of horrour ; that if sh● make us apprehend a malady , 't is alway● the most cruel ; and that , if she make us ex●pect any displeasure , 't is always the mos● angersom ; so as we find , that she is mor● insupportable than the evil which she fore● sees ; and that of all imaginable torments that which she makes us suffer is always the most rigorous ; that also there are not many that would not rather once die , than always fear death , and who do not prefer a violent punishment before a languishing apprehension . i know not whether the stoicks fear be so fierce as they make it , but i know very well that there is a more moderate sort of fear , and that this passion in the purity of its nature doth more good than harm : 't is true she seeks out evil , but 't is that she may shun● it ; and she is so far from delighting to increase it , that on the contrary she qualifies ●t by anticipating it ; and lessens the rigour ●hereof by giving us notice of its arrival . do not the stoicks confefs with us that blows foreseen hurt not so much as do others ? and that the greatest part of our sufferings comes from being surprized by evil ? wherefore do they then blame foresight in fear ? wherefore do they condemn that in this passion , which they approve of in wisdom ? and wherefore do they make that pass for a fault which she hath in common with so noble a virtue ? nature gives us to understand , that she hath not endued us with fear to torment us , since her pleasure is not that the evil which fear considers , be inevitable ; for those who have well ponder'd the humour of fear , confess that she is always accompanied by hope , and that she never foresees other than such great evils from which she may defend her self ; if they be common , she is so noble-minded as she deigns not to busie her self about them ; but leaving them to eschewing , to be kept aloof from , she remains quiet : if they be inevitable , and such as wisdom it self knows not how to evade , she troubles not her self with thinking how to withstand them ; and knowing that useless means are blameable , she adviseth sadness to bea● them , but if they be of such a nature , a● they may be overcome , she advertiseth u● of them ; and though audacity intrench of● upon her rights , she forbears to awaken her , and to crave succour from her to beat back the enemy which presents it self . who will not judge by these conditions , that fear is a friend to our quiet ? that she labours for our security , that being far from procuring what may dislike us , s●e takes notice of our misfortunes , only to chase them away ; & gives the alarm , only that we may bear away the victory ? i confess , there are evils which are so great & so sudden , as they put the soul into disorder , & hinder fear from foreseeing or evading of them ; the first raise astonishment , the second bring an agony upon us ; both the one & the other of them throw us into despair , if they be not readily repuls'd ; but since there are mischiefs which wisdom cannot divine , and which valour it self cannot overcome , we must not wonder if there be some which surprize fear , and bear down a passion , after having triumph'd over two virtues . mans power is limited , and though no disaster happen which he may not make use of , yet his natural weakness needs the assistance of grace ; and she must inanimate passion , and virtue , to make them victorious . but it may suffice us , to know that fear is not unprofitable ; and it remains that we consider , what sins she may favour in her disorder , and what virtues she may be serviceable unto , if well used . the third discourse . of the good use of audacity or boldness . since the nature of man is out of order , and that she stands in need of grace to recover the innocence which she hath lost , we must not wonder , if passions , not succour'd by virtue , become criminal ; and if by their proper inclination they degenerate into some sins . effects are always answerable to their causes ; the fruit holds of the tree ; and men , for all their freedom , draw their humors from the sun that lightens them , and from the earth that nourisheth them ; whatsoever can be taken to correct their defaults , some marks thereof remain always ; and education is never powerful enough wholly to change nature this is evidently seen in fear ; for she lean● so much toward disorder , as it is very hard to stay her ; and she is so giddy a humour , that she oftner sides with vice than with virtue ; she is so unconstant , that she produceth rather contrary than different effects ; and she takes upon her so many several shapes , as it is hard to know her . sometimes she bereaves us of our strength , and brings us to a condition of not defending our selves ; sometimes she infuseth a chilness throughout all our members ; and detaining the bloud about the heart , she makes the image of death appear in our faces ; anon she takes our speech away from us , and leaves us only sighs to implore aid from our friends ; sometimes she fastens wings to our feet , and makes us overcome them by our swiftness , who overcame us by their courage : sometimes she imitates despair , and paints out the danger so hideous to us on all parts , as she makes us resolve to change a fearful flight into an honourable resistance ; she is sometimes so indiscreet , as thinking to shun an evil , she runs headlong upon it ; and oftentimes out of a strange fantasticalness , she engageth her self in a certain death , to shun a doubtful one . if her effects be extravagant , her inclinations are not more rational ; for unless she be guided by wisdom , she easily degenerates into hatred , despair or loathfulness : we do not much love what we fear ; and as love is so free that it cannot endure constraint ; it is so noble , as it cannot tolerate an outrage ; all that doth affright it , irritates it ; when men will by violence overcome it , it turneth to aversion ; and changeth all its gentleness into choler ; hence it is that tyrants have no friends ; for being bound to make themselvs dreaded , they cannot make themselves be beloved ; and their government being grounded upon rigour , it cannot produce love ; those who are nearest them , hate them ; the praises which men give them , are false ; and of so many passions which they endeavour to excite , fear & hatred are the only true ones ▪ likewise , seeing that the mischief of their condition obligeth them to cruelty , they renounce love , and care not though they be hated , so they be feared : god alone can accord the two passions ; it is only he that can make himself to be feared of those that love him , and loved of those that fear him ; yet do divines confess , that perfect charity banisheth fear ; and that those who love him best , are those who fear him least . but though it be usual for this passion to turn it self into hatred , yet is she not always permitted so to do , and this change is a sign of her ill nature ; there are some whom we ought to fear , and cannot hate , their greatness obligeth us to respect them , and their justice forbids us to hate them ; that majesty which environs them , produceth fear ; but the protection which we draw from thence , ought to make us love them ; so as the propensity to hatred is a disorder in fear ; and to follow her irrational inclination , is to abuse this passion . she also easily changeth her self into despair ; and though she march differing ways , she fals into the same praecipice ; for she paints out dangers in so horrid a manner unto hope , as she makes her ●ose all her courage ; and this generous passion suffers her self to be so far perswaded by ●er enemy , that keeping aloof from the g●od which she did pursue , they both of them turn to an infamous faint-heartedness . but of all the monsters which fear doth produce , none is more dangerous than slothfulness ; for though this vice be not so active as others , and that her nature , which is remiss , suffers her not to frame any great designs against virtue , yet is it guilty of all the outrages that are done thereunto , and seems to be found in all the counsels which are plotted to her prejudice ; it hath such an aversion to labour , as it cannot endure innocence , because she is laborious ; and we may say , that if it be not one of her most violent enemies , it is the most dangerous & most opinionated enemy , that innocence hath ; it produceth all the sins which cover themselves with darkness ; and to make them cease , it would be only requisite to kill this their father , which gives them their birth ; 't is this that nourisheth uncleanness ; and love would have no vigour , were it not for it ; 't is this that entertains voluptuousness ; and who to amuse her , doth furnish her with shameful entertainments ; 't is this that authorizeth poormindedness , and which diverts it from those glorious labours that make men famous . 't is this , in fine , which loseth states , which corrupteth manners , which banisheth virtues , and is the cause of all vices ; mean while , it assumes to it self a venerable name ; and to colour its laziness , it causeth it self to be called honest vacancy ; but certainly there is a great deal of difference between the rest of philosophers , and the idleness of the voluptuous ; the former are always a doing ; when they seem to do least , they are most busied ; and when men think they are unserviceable , they oblige the whole world to their labours . for they make panegyricks on virtue , they compose invectives against vice , they discover the secrets of nature , or they describe the perfections of her author ; but the later are always languishing ; if their mind labour , 't is for the service of the body ; if they keep from the noise of the world , 't is that they may taste pleasure with the more freedom ; and if they banish themselves from the company of men , 't is that they may be with lewd women : these wretches know how to conceal themselves , but they know nat how to live ; their palaces are their sepulchres , and their useless rest is a shameful death . the leisure-times of good men must be rational , they must not withdraw themselves to solitariness , but when they can be no longer serviceable to the state ; they must leave the world , but not abandon it ; they must remember that they make a part of it ; & that whither soever they retire themselves , the publique hath always a right in them : those are not solitary , but savage , who forgo society , because they cannot endure it ; who keep far from the court , because they cannot endure to see their enemies prosperity ; or that hide themselves in obscurity , because they cannot tolerate the brightness of virtue . rest , that it may be laudable , ought to have a just motive ; and he that hath neither occupation , nor studious employment , is the tomb of a living man. now fear out of a natural propensity turns her self into this infamous sin , and becomes lazy if she be not moderated : she apprehends labour ; and excusing her self upon her weakness , she perswads her self there is no exercise which doth not exceed her strength ; she imagineth difficulties in the easiest things ; and to be released from an honest occupation , she makes it pass for a punishment ; she finds nothing that doth not astonish her ; and the holy scripture which knows very well the humour of fearful men , teacheth us that when they want pretences to hide themselves , they go to seek them out in the forrests , and to feign to themselves that lions will come out of their dens to surprize them by the way ; she never parts timorousness from sloth ; & knowing what affinity there is between these two vices , she makes one and the same picture of them , and sets them forth in the same colours . to all these defects we may add imprudence , which is not much less natural to fear , than sloth ; for though natures intention was , to make her serviceable unto prudence , and by her care to prevent the evils which threaten us ; yet it so falls out by a mischievous irregularity , as she that ought to free us from evil , engageth us therein ; and that the passion which ought to give us counsel , hinders us from taking it ; for reason wills , that we consult as often as any important affair happens , the success whereof depends not absolutely upon our power ; and the evils which fear considers being of this nature , it seems she would move us maturely to deliberate , and to seek out the means how to defend our selves from the enemies that assail us ; and yet she puts so much confusion into our mind , that she makes us incapable of consultation ; and she deciphers forth dangers so dreadful to us , as banishing wisdom , she hurries us into despair : so by two contrary effects , she obligeth us to ask counsel , and will not suffer us to receive it ; she makes us know our indigence , and will not permit us to seek out a remedy . we must therefore be careful , how we make use of so strange a passion , and which contrary to the design of nature , offers us her light to discover the evils that are to come , and yet refuseth it us to shun them : wisdom will amend this fault , and the following discourse will shew us what means we must use to deal with fear . the third discourse . of the good use of fear . vve must not think it strange , that passion may be criminal since she is indifferent ; & we ought not to complain that she neighbours upon vice , since virtues self is thereby besieged ; for all morality confesseth , that there is no virtue which is not environed by sins , & which sees not an enemy threatning her on either side . clemency , which may be termed the ornament of princes , & happiness of states , stands in the midst between indulgence and severity ; let her step never so little awry , she lights upon one of these two monsters ; and assuming some one of their qualities , she unluckily loseth all her own . fortitude , or that valour which encourageth conquerors to glorious enterprizes , is placed between rashness and remisness ; if she expose her self unadvisedly , she becomes rash ; and if she too carefully preserve her self , she is suspected to be cowardly : liberality which wins the heart , after power hath conquer'd the body ; is quarter'd between avarice and profuseness ; if she husband her goods more carefully than decency permits , she is accused of avariciousness ; if she indiscreetly lavish them , of prodigality ; but the passions seem to me to be more happily quarter'd ; for if they be assailed by a vice , they have a virtue to defend them ; and if they prove faulty , they may also prove innocent : this is evidently seen in fear , which being serviceable to sloth and despair , may be the like to wisdom and shamefastness ; and by means of these two may preserve all other virtues . though fear be shy , and affrightned with the evils which she discovers , yet doth she much resemble wisdom , that a little aid may make her take her nature upon her : this virtues chief employment , according to the judgement of all philosophers , is to consider things past , to govern things present , and to foresee things future ; but she is more taken up with what is to come , than with what is present , or what is past : for to boot , that the present is but a moment , and that it comprehends but a small number of accidents , it is sensible , and our eyes are only requisi●e to judg thereof ; the time that is past is no longer in our power ; all the wisdom of the world hath no jurisdiction over it ; it is not hard to be known , and our memory ( if it be not very faithless ) represents unto us the events which it hath produced ; but the time to come is as doubtful as concealed ; it is environ'd with darkness which cannot be dissipated ; it draws along with it a prodigious train of adventures , which cause a thousand alterations in individual men , and in common-wealths ; so as futurity is the chief object of wisdom , which considers the other differences of time , only that she may the better judge of this : she studies not what is past , save only to know what is to come ; and she governs the present time , only to assure her self of the future . great politicians have therefore believed , that wisdom was a divine virtue ; that one could not consult the event of things without assistance from heaven ; and that to be a happy councellour , a man must be a true prophet : now fear is of the nature of wisdom ; for though she call to mind past evils , though she busie her self about the present , her particular entertainment is in future evils , and she useth all her best means , either to keep them far off , or to withstand them ; 't is true , she implores help of hope , and makes use of the courage thereof to rid her of her enemies ; but she more resembles wisdom , which after having foreseen a danger , useth the valour of souldiers to repell it ; for men are not so happy , as to possess these two virtues both together ; they require different tempers ; and though they mutually assist one another , they seem to have protested never to meet in one and the same person : wisdom is the portion of those old men that are grown white-hair'd in business , and who have spent all their lives in observing the humours of people , the revolutions of states , and the divers changes of fortune ; valour on the contrary , is the portion of young men , who having more vigour than experience , are fitter to execute than to deliberate ; and succeed better in combats , than in counsels . it appertains only to the eternal word , to be at once both wisdom and power ; the arm and the idaea of his father : but amongst the creatures these qualities are separated ; and who hath much strength , hath but little knowledg ; to make these two incompatible advantages meet , heaven must do a miracle ; and it is not more difficult to agree fire & water , than to unite wisdom & fortitude : it must also be confess'd , that as fear is fuller of advisedness than of generosity , she hath likewise more light than heat , and is far fitter for counsel than for combat . in fine , she is accused in taking things always in the worst sense , and of making evils greater than they are ; she resembles ( say they ) those faint-hearted spies , which moses sent to discover the land of palestine ; who thought by their false reports to have turned the iews from so noble a conquest : she makes a mountain of a mole-hill ; all beasts appear monsters to her , and she thinks all dangers which she sees , inevitable . 't is true , she doth almost always judge the worst ; and that she may be abused , doth paint out evil in its proper deformity ; but surely , in so doing , she remembreth wisdom the more , which never adviseth of what is to come , without fore-casting all the difficulties that may arrive , & without preparing forces to fight with such enemies as may assail her : she doth not consider only what is done , but what may be done ; when she sees an evil , she will know the progress thereof ; and takes some little trouble to procure assured quiet . the stoicks have no better expedient to defend themselves against an evil that threatens them , than to imagine it will happen , and to withstand it in their minds , that they may have the better of it in effect ; so as by the judgment of our enemies , wisdom hath no other maxim than fear ; and this faithful servant moves not , but as her soveraign doth . 't is true that as she neighbours upon the senses , and resides in that part of the soul wherein combustions are framed , she always apprehends trouble ; and her judgments are almost always accompanied with commotion ; but the understanding may easily disabuse her ; and by the brightness of its fire , may dissipate the fogs which rise from the imagination ; it must bind her to consider such objects as she is afraid of , and make her the bolder by making her view the cause of her astonishment at a nearer distance ; she must take away that solemnity from punishments which makes them so dreadful , and those complaints from grief which make her so eloquent ; it must teach her , that under those deceitful appearances , there is but a common death which children have endured , which souldiers have overcome , and which slaves have contemned ; the most appearing torments are not always the most violent ; a stopping of the urine is more painful than being broken on the wheel ; one troubled with the gout , suffers many times more pain in his bed , than an offender doth on the rack ; & a man whose head is cut off , endures not so much as he that dies of a fever ; it belongs then to the understanding to perswade fear that all those things which affright us , are not those which harm us ; that the greatest appearing evils are not the most sensible , and that those which appear least , are oft-times cause of greatest pain . thus will she be fixt against evils ; and suffering her self to be guided by reason , she will have no more apprehensions , than what shall be necessary to keep her from being surprized . but if fear may be serviceable to us in withstanding vice , she may be made use of to defend virtue ; and this seems to be the chief end for which nature hath ordained her : for shame is nothing but a fear of infamy ; and this innocent passion is the protectress of all virtues : 't is to her that judges owe their integrities , souldiers their courage , and women their chastity : 't is by her care that piety is preserved ; and all the world must confess , that not any affection of our soul is more delectable , or useful , than is shame . since we owe so much unto her , 't is reason that we acknowledge it , and that we give her the honour she deserves ; she carries the colour of virtue , and that blush which spreads it self over her face , is a mark of her innocence ; but she is so very nice , that the least thing in the world may corrupt her ; she is like those fruits new gather'd , whose verdure is lost assoon as they are handled ; she her self destroys her self ; she is offended at the praises that are given her ; and women are made to lose her by being reproached for her : if she be easie to be lost , she is as hard to be regain'd ; for though she be of a mild nature , yet she is stately ; and being once banish'd , she is very hardly recalled . hope doth oft-times succeed despair ; joy resumes the place which sorrow had possest , and sometimes hatred turns to love ; but shame never appears upon a face , when once it is driven thence by insolence and impudence : as this passion is a companion to purity , so is she of her disposition ; the loss of either is irreparable ; she so loaths sin , as she cannot endure the sight thereof ; she blushes at the very name of it , and she summons in all the bloud of her heart , to succour her in defence of her self against her enemy . but she is never of more might than when she fights in the defence of virtue ; for she doth such mighty things in her behalf , as she always procures her glorious victories ; she obligeth all the passions to second her ; she sets out guiltiness in so ghastly a manner to them , as she augments their hatred thereof ; and so presents innocence to them so beautiful as she augments their love thereof : she awakens hope , encourageth audacity , irritates desire , and enflames choler ; so as it is a passion that disperseth it self into all other passions , and which endueth them with new strength to maintain virtues quarrel : though she be timorous , she encourageth souldiers ; they are only valiant in being ashamed ; and if they despise danger , 't is only because they fear infamy , one fear drives out another ; and those who give not way to valour , suffer themselves to be overcome by shame : though she be indulgent , she makes judges severe ; and when men go about to corrupt them with bribes , or to frighten them with threats , she keeps them within their bounds by fear of dishonour ; though she be weak , she makes women couragious ; and whilst she displays her blush upon their visages , she seatters a secret virtue into their hearts , which makes them triumph over those dangerous enemies that pursue them . this sex hath no other strength than what it borrows from this innocent passion ; it preserves it self only by the fear of infamy ; and who should take this defence from it , would easily bereave it of all its other advantages . nature it self , which very well knows it loves beauty as well as virtue , hath perswaded it , that shame makes it more approved of : in effect , shamefastness is an innocent paint ; women never seem fairer than when they are somewhat shamefac'd ; aud there is no face , how taking soever , which receiveth not a fresh lustre from the innocent blush which accompanies shamefastness ; she is so appropriated to virtue , as men have a good opinion of all them that have her ; and she defends the interests of reason with so much fervency , that the empire thereof would ere this have been overthrown , if this passion had been banished from off the earth . for experience teacheth us , that more men abstain from sin for shame , than for duty ; and that the fear of infamy hath more power over mens minds than the love of innocence . the devil therefore very well knowing that this passion is averse to his designs ; and that to make us lose it , our nature must be destroyed , endeavours to perswade us that virtue is criminal , to the end that it being thought infamous by us , shame , which always defends her , may be enforced to abandon her : he thought it was easier to take from virtue her estimation , than innocence from shame : not being able to corrupt shame , she hath gone about to deceive her ; and to make her lose her aversion to sin , he hath made her believe sin to be glorious . this errour is so generally dispers'd throughout the whole world , as there are now adays some virtues which are esteemed infamous , and some vices honourable ; revenge passeth for greatness of courage , and forgetting of injuries for meanness of spirit ; ambition is illustrious ; and because it sets upon crowns , means to be no longer ashamed ; modesty and humility are despised ; and because they delight in solitariness and silence , they have lost all their glory . opiniatricy in a fault , is the mark of a stout spirit ; penitence and change of life , an argument of weakness ; thus all things are confounded , and shame suffering her self to be seduced by opinion , sides with vice , not thinking of it , and forgoes virtue : wicked men who hid themselves , now shew themselves upon the stage ; and being no more ashamed ( which was the only good that remain'd among all their evils ) they become insolent , and boast of their misdemeanors ; the way of salvation is block'd up unto them ; and since they have given titles of honour to infamous things , we cannot hope that shame should convert them , or reduce them to their duties . to shun this evil , this innocent passion must be disabused , and giving to every object the name that it deserves , she must be withdrawn from the error wherein she hath indiscreetly engaged her self ; she must be perswaded that the humblest virtues are most profitable ; and that those vices which are the most honourable , are the most dangerous : upon these good maximes she will side with innocence again ; and repenting for having suffer'd her self to be deceived , she will so much the more hotly pursue her enemies , by how much her hatred is augmented by their injurious dealing : and for that by defending virtues interests , she shall likewise revenge her self of her own particular injuries . the fifth treatise , of choler . the first discourse . of the nature , proprieties and effects of choler . the virtues are so streightly united one to another , as they are not to be parted without using of violence : oft-times also they mingle one with another ; and these noble habitudes are blended together , that they may make up one single virtue . clemency , which makes kings reign happily , borrows her beauties from two or three of her companions ; she ows her good government to prudence ; her mildness to mercy ; and her glory to generosity . valour , which makes conquerors triumph , holds all her riches from the liberality of all other virtues ; and he that should take from her the stateliness which she derives from magnanimity , the address which she takes from discretion , and the moderation which she receives from justice , would leave her but a vain shadow of all her real greatness . though the passions hold not so good intelligence as do the virtues , yet are there some of them which never forsake one another ; and there are some others which live wholly upon borrowing ; and which would be poor , should the rest forgo them . hope is of this nature , for she hath no other goods than what are given her ; and were she forsaken by desire , which eggs her on , by fear , which holds her in , and by audacity , which encourageth her , nothing but a bare name would remain unto her . choler is of the same condition ; though she make so much noise , she draws all her force from the passions which compose her ; and she appears not to be couragious , ●●ve only that she is well accompanied ; she is never raised in our souls uncalled by sorrow ; she endeavours not satisfaction for injuries done unto her , unless sollicited by desire , provoked by hope , and encouraged by audacity ; for he that is irritated , promiseth himself revenge of his enemy ; but when he is so weak , as he cannot hope for it , his choler turns to sadness ; and wanting the passions which did feed it , it loseth both name and nature . from all this discourse it is easie to gather , that choler is nothing else but a motion of the sensitive appetite , which seeks revenge for an injury . aristotle therefore thought she was rational , and that even in her fury , she had some shadow of justice ; the truth is , she is never moved , but when she imagines she hath received some injury ; and if she take up arms , 't is to revenge wrongs which she thinks have been done unto her ; herein she is much less faulty , than hatred ; for this later wisheth evil directly unto its enemy ; and without seeking any pretence or excuse for its fury , desires the ruine of the party persecuted ; but the other wisheth him only punishment for his fault , and looks not upon revenge , as an irrational excess , but as a just chastisement : the later is hardly ever pacified , but dischargeth its cruelty upon the innocent , and pursues the dead even to their graves : if we may believe poets , it descends into hell , to torment the damned there ; and would mount into heaven , if it could , there to afflict the blessed ; but the other is satisfied when she is revenged ; when she thinks that the punishment equals or exceeds the injury , she is appeased , and by a providence of nature , turns to pity ; she spares the faultless , and when even the faulty become distressed , she loseth her desire of revenge : i confess she grows greater when withstood ; and that when she hath the better of her enemies , she delights in their defeat ; but she seeks not that infamous content which tyrants feel in the death of their subjects ; for they seek not so much to revenge themselves of an injury , as to content their brutish cruelty ; and in punishing innocents , are guided more by the motions of fury , than of choler : in fine , all the philosophers have had so good an opinion of choler , as aristotle was perswaded , she sided always with virtue against vice ; that it was she that encouraged us to gallant actions ; and that the high enterprizes of princes were no less the effects of this passion , than of virtue ; he believed , that all the disorders of our soul , which contributed to voluptuousness , were not to be tamed but by choler ; and that the concupiscible appetite would pervert reason , were it not withstood by the irascible ; one would think to hear him speak that all great men are cholerick ; that this passion is not only the mark of a good nature , but of an excellent courage ; and that a mans mind can conceive nothing of generous , if it be not a little irritated . i believe , with him , that this resentment of our soul may be profitably employed in the service of virtue , when it is moderated by reason and grace , but certainly it stands in more need of their guidance , than do the rest ; and as it is extreamly violent , so causeth it great disorders , if it be not carefully suppress'd ; for let it have what inclination it pleaseth to good , it is too sudden to be regulated ; and though it seem to love justice and reason , yet is yet too furious to be just or reasonable ; we should be undon , were choler as opinionated , as it is sudden ; & the earth would be but one desart , if passion were as lasting , as it is hot : nature could not better shew her care she hath of our preservation , than in giving narrow bounds to the wildest of our passions ; and since the love she beareth us , hath obliged her to make monsters barren , and to allot but short lives to the most furious beasts , she was bound to affix brevity to choler , and to allow a short term of time to so dangerous a passion : nor doth her short time of duration keep her from causing much mischief ; she employs to her utmost those moments which nature hath given her , and in a few hours commits many outrages : for to boot , that she troubles the minds of men , that she changes their colour , that she seems to play with their bloud , ( making it sometimes withdraw it self to the heart , sometimes disperse it self over the face ) that she sets the eyes on fire , and she fills the mouth with threats , and that she arms the hands of as many as she meets withal , she produceth much more strange effects in the world ; she hath , since its birth , changed the face thereof a thousand times ; there is no province wherein she hath not committed some spoils ; nor is there any kingdom which doth not bewail her violence : those ruines which have formerly been the foundations of some goodly city , are the remainders of choler ; those monarchies that whilome gave laws to all the earth , and which we know only by story , complain not so much of fortune , as of choler : those great princes , whose pride is reduced to ashes , sigh in their graves ; and accuse only choler for the loss of their lives , and ruine of their states ; some of them have been assassinated in their beds , others like sacrifices offer'd up at the altars ; some have unfortunately ended their days in the midst of their armies , when all their souldiers that environed them could not defend them from death : others have lost their lives in their thrones ; the majesty that shines in the faces of kings , not being able to frighten their murderers ; some have seen their own children make attempts upon their persons ; others have seen their bloud shed by the hands of their slaves : but not complaining of the paricides , they complain only of choler ; and forgetting all their particular disasters , they only condemn this passion , which is the plentiful and the unfortunate spring-head thereof . and certainly , they have reason for their complaining , since of all the disorders of our soul , there is none more savage , nor more irrational than this . i know not why aristotle imagined it was serviceable to reason , and that it always moved as she did , unless it be that it had a design to teach us that this passion being more ambitiou● than the rest , would seem rational in he● excess ; and by an execrable attempt oblige reason her soveraign , to defend he● slaves injustice ; for she always seeks excu ▪ ses for her faults ; though she shed human● bloud , though she offer up innocents in sac ▪ crifice , beat down whole towns , and bur● their inhabitants under their ruines ; sh● will be thought to be rational : she some ▪ times knows well enough the vanity of he● resentments , yet she without reason perseveres in them , lest men should think she had no reason to begin ; her injustice makes he● opinionated ; she grows hot upon design she will have her excess to be an argumen● of her injustice , and all the world to imagine , that she hath punished her enemie● justly , because she hath punished them severely . see then what she borrows of reason , and how much more insolent she is in other passions , which are blind in their un● ruliness , and only offend their soveraign● because they know not his authority ; bu● this passion doth impudently abuse her , and by a fearful tyranny employes her soveraign to excuse her faults , after having made use of her to commit them . i therefore think , seneca had great reason to say that she is more faulty than the vices themselves , and that she commits injustice , whereof they are not guilty . avarice heapeth goods together , and choler dissipateth them ; the former only hurts her self , and obligeth her heirs that are to succeed her ; but the latter hurts all the world ; and as if she were a publick contagion , she puts divisions in families , divorceth marriages , and engageth kingdoms in war : uncleanness seeks a shameful delight , but such as only hurts the parties in fault ; & choler seeks an unjust one , which is prejudicial to innocents : envy , as malicious as she is , contents her self in wishing ill unto another ; she leaves the execution thereof to fortune ; and remits to her the accomplishing of her desire , but choler is so impatient , she cannot attend this blind power , but preventing the rigour thereof , she takes delight in making men miserable . in fine , she is the cause of all evils , and there is no fault committed , wherein she hath not a hand : there is nothing more obnoxious than duels ; 't is choler that entertains them : there is nothing more cruel than murder ; 't is choler that adviseth to it ; there is nothing more fatal than war ; 't is choler that causeth it : when she reigns in a soul , she stifles all other passions , and is so absolute in her tyranny , as she turns love into hatred , and pity into fury ; for there have been lovers , who in the height of their choler have buried the same dagger in their own bosoms , which they had just before plunged in their mistresses bosom , committing two real murders to revenge one imaginary injury ; avaritious men have been seen to betray their own inclinations , to content their choler , throwing all their riches into the water , or into the fire , to obey the impetuosity thereof ; ambitious have been known who have refused proffer'd honours , trampled diadems under foot , because choler , which wholly possess'd their souls , had driven thence the desire of glory . nevertheless , though she be so pernicious , yet there is no passion more common ; and it seems that nature , to punish all our faults , hath intended that she should persecute all men , as a revengeful fury ; there is no nation which hath not felt her rage ; and of as many people as there are , differing in customes , apparel , and language , there hath not as yet been any found exempt from this cruel passion : we have seen whole nations that have defended themselves against riot , favour'd by poverty ; and who have preserved their innocence through their never knowing riches : we have seen of them that having no abiding place , have kept in perpetual motion ; & banish'd sloth , for not having known the art of building houses ; we have seen others , who have gone naked , and whom neither shame , nor necessity hath been able to instruct , to make themselves clothes ; we see some which possessing all in common , cannot dispute for a part ; and who not having lost all their natural purity , are ignorant of the injustice which avarice causeth to arise amongst us ; but there hath not yet any been known which have been exempt from choler ; she reigns as well among people that are civiliz'd , as among barbarians ; she commands in all parts of the earth ; and where she hath not yet introduced the use of musket and sword , she employs bows and arrows in her revenge . in fine , one only passion hath never been seen to agitate a whole province , or to possess a whole army : love , though it be the master of passions , was never able to make a whole town in love with one woman ; helena had but a few lovers ; & of so many captains as fought for her at the siege of troy , none but her adulterer and her husband were taken with her beauty : avarice makes not all men sordid ; and if some heap up riches , other-some squander them away ; all men are not troubled with ambition ; if some seek after honours , others shun them as much ; if some are forward to shew themselves , others will hide themselves ; and amongst so many guilty people , some are always found that are innocent ; envy is no publick malady ; and if virtue hath her enemies , she hath also her admirers : but choler is a contagion which spreads it self through a whole town in a moment ; one oration hath made a whole nation take up arms , and men , women , and children , agitated with this passion , have been seen confusedly to kill their own citizens , or declare war against their enemies ; subjects have revolted against their princes , souldiers have conspired against their commanders ; the common people have bandied against the nobility , children have risen up against their parents , and all the rights of nature have been violated at the solicitation of choler . but that which is most vexatious in this so strange malady , is , that it takes its beginning from all things ; for though it be so great , and that it enlargeth it self like fire , a very small spark is sufficient to kindle it ; 't is so easie to be moved , as that which ought to appease it , doth oft-times provoke it , and what might satisfie it , offends it ; a servants negligence sets it on foot , the freedom of a friend makes it stark mad , and the scoffing of an enemy engageth it in a combat . notwithstanding all these mischiefs , choler would be to be born withal , if it were capable of counsel ; but she is so violent even in her birth , as she cannot receive the advice that is given her ; for she grows not by degrees like other passions ; she doth not encrease with time , she needs not moneths to get root in our hearts , a moment suffereth her to form her self ; she marcheth not a slow pace , as doth envy , or sorrow ; she is of full force at the beginning ; at her birth she is at her full growth ; & if other passions in their heat thrust us forward , this in her ftry doth precipitate us . as she is so sudden , we must not wonder if she be inconsiderate ; and if she make us hazard our lives to revenge an injury ; for she listens only to her own desires , she only follows her own motions , and she acknowledgeth no other laws but those of her own violence ; she never sets upon her enemy without discovery of her self ; she gives him never a blow without running the hazard to receive a greater ; she loseth the victory , by being too eager in the pursuit thereof , and falls into the power of her enemy , because she is not in her own . though all these evil qualities make us see clear enough , how easie it is to abuse choler , and how hard it is to make good use thereof , yet will i not forbear to pursue the order i have prescribed unto my self , and to employ the two remaining discourses , in making appear what vices , and what virtues she may take part withal ; but for the present i confess , that so violent a passion doth not yield much to reason , and that if we be not the more strongly assisted by grace , to resist her , she is very hardly to be overcome . the second discourse . of the evil use of choler . since choler is nothing else but a natural revenge , and that the one and the other of these do boast of justice , and greatness of courage , i can find no better way to discover the evil use thereof , than by making the injustice and pusillanimity thereof appear . for most men persist not in their disorders ; but for the esteem they have thereof , and those who are incens'd , continue their desire of revenge , only because they think it reasonable : the incontinent excuse themselves upon their weakness ; and if they be not blind , they approve not of a sin , which reason & nature do condemn ; the envious , and detractors seek pretences for their calumnies ; and knowing that their fault is accompanied with unworthiness , they cunningly disguise it , and strive to give it some colour of justice ; but revenge and choler believing themselves to be grounded upon reason , demean themselves insolently , and would perswade us that all their excesses are as just as courageous ; mean while they have nothing of what they think they have ; and of all the motions of our soul , there is none more unjust , nor more pusillanimous . men imagine it is generous , because it is useful among great ones ; and perswade themselves it is noble , because it takes up its abode in the hearts of kings ; but certainly choler is not so much a proof of their greatness , as of their weakness : had not voluptuousness mollified them , and had not that tenderness which accompanies good successes made them so sensible of the least injuries they would not so easily fly out into passion , they would contemn outrages ; and knowing that their own dignity raised them out of the reach of storms , the● would laugh at the vain endevours of thos● that go about to offend them ; but the slave●ry they require of their subjects , and th● shameful obsequiousness render'd to a● their desires , makes them be offended wit● a just liberty . they take good advice fo● neglect , and rational counsels for an un●dermining of their authority : they canno● endure a truth : and fortune hath mad● them so tender , as suspitions serve them fo● proofs to condemn the innocent : they are like to those that having not a perfect health , cannot endure a clear air , nor the light of the sun , the least exercise disquieteth them ; and what would be but a diversion to one in health , doth trouble and incommodate them : thus the most part of great personages cannot bear with fidelity in their domesticks ; truth must be corrupted , if you will have them to receive it ; and the temper of their minds is so weak , that sincerity in a servant is able to offend them : the remedies which men present unto them seem to them poysons ; they think men aim at their honour , while they reprehend their faults ; and let them express themselves therein , in never so mild terms , they always take it for an injury . who sees not , that this greatness is meer weakness ; and that the choler which transports them , is a mark of the infirmity which accompanies them ? thus the holy scripture , which very well knows the original of all our disorders , teacheth us , that the malice of women is not more violent than that of men , save only because their nature is more infirm , and that they have not strength enough to sustain the impetuosity of this passion : for when she finds resistance , or cannot easily work her end , she presently slackens , and losing her rage , suffers her self to be guided by reason ; but when she meets with any one that gives himself over to her power , who suffers himself to be born away by her motions ; and who hath not strength enough to oppose her violence , she takes the freedom to fly at all ; and believes that she may promise her self any thing from a slave , who can refuse her nothing : if she possess the soul of a king , who hath not courage enough to defend himself against her tyranny , she makes use of the weakness of his mind , and of the strength of his fortune to execute all her designs ; she perswades him that revenge is glorious ; that a prince is never more absolute than when he is dreaded ; and that of all the marks of soveraignty , there is none more certain than the death of enemies : then states become tyrannies , towns are overflown with the blood of subjects , the number of executioners is greater than that of the offenders ; and all things are in a deplorable condition , because choler abuseth the power of a prince , who cannot resist her . what hath not she undertaken , when she hath had kings for her slaves , and made use of their power to execute her fury ? what marks of cruelty hath she left in the world , when she hath reigned in the hearts of monarchs ? what champaigns hath she strew'd over with dead garkases ? and what provinces hath she made desolate ? cambyses , to satisfie his choler , made the noses of all the inhabitants of syria be cut off ; and judging that death was too common , and too honourable a punishment , he would invent another which should be as strange as shameful . he had dealt more ignominiously with all the people of ethiopia , had not a happy accident withstood the execution of so damnable a design ; for he was surpriz'd by a famine in the desarts , which forced him to return to his own state ; but before he put on this resolution , he follow'd the mad counsel of his choler , and suffer'd the best part of his army to perish by famine ; when his souldiers wanted victuals , they fed upon the leaves of trees , and such herbs as the uncultivated earth brought forth ; when they were engaged in the desarts , and that the scorching sands afforded them no further nourishment , they ate the leather of their bucklers , and all such other ●hings as necessity enforceth men to make ●ood of ; but when they could see no end of this their forlorn condition , this unnatural prince provided them a food more cruel than the famine ; he made them be decimated , and forced them to eat one another ; his passion govern'd in him amidst so many misfortunes ; and after he had lost one part of his forces , and eaten up another , he had not resolved to retreat , had he not feared that the lot might at last have fallen upon himself , and so have made him try the excess of that cruelty which he had commanded : but , to shew that unworthiness is inseparable from choler ; this savage monster made exquisite cates be carried upon the backs of his camels , whilst his miserable souldiers committed murders to defend themselves from famine ; and left posterity in dispute , who were the most to be commiserated , those who lived in so much misery , or those who died with so much cruelty . in fine , choler never goes unaccompanied with weakness ; and it sometimes a generous word escape her mouth , it always proceeds from a base soul ; and which affects greatness , only to cover its baseness . caligula is reported to have been offended with the heavens , when their thunder hindered his sports ; that he challenged his gods to fight with him ; and that using the words of a poet ; he said to them , either take me out of the world , or i will take you out of it . into what degree of madness had his choler thrown him ? for he must not only imagine , that his gods could not hurt him , but that their fortune , as wel as that of men , depended upon his will. seneca was of opinion , that this insolence cost him his life , and made his subjects conspire against him ; for they thought it past patience , to tolerate a man that could not tolerate the gods . choler then hath nothing in it of greatness ; and even then when she seems to contemn both heaven and earth , she discovers her unworthiness ; or if you take her excesses for marks of her greatness , confess , that riot is magnificent , because it builds thrones of gold , decks it self with purple , cuts through mountains , turns the channels of streams , encloses rivers within parks , makes gardens in the air , and finds inventions to remove forrests : confess , that avarice is a glorious crime , since it rolleth it self on mountains of gold , it possesseth territories as large as provinces ; and that her earmers have more ground to cultivate , than the first consuls of rome had to manage ; acknowledge , that incontinence is courageous , since she passeth the seas to seek out what she loves , that she fights either to come by it , or to keep it ; since women who are possess'd with this passion , despise death , to satisfie their desires ; and expose themselves to the fury of their husbands , to please their adulterers : lastly , confess , that ambition is generous , since she finds not any honour that contents her , will have all years bear her name , and that all pens be employed in writing her praises ; but certainly all these passions are pusillanimous , what shadow soever they have of greatness , they are in truth mean and poor ; and there is nothing great which bears not reason with it : or , to speak more like a christian , there is nothing august but what is enlivened by the grace of jesus christ. but to the end you may not believe , i seek out hateful examples , to take from choler that greatness of courage which she boasteth of , i will examine the reasons that are alledged in her defence , & consider her in a condition wherein she may challenge either praises or excuses . ought we not to be angry when all laws , divine as humane , are violated ? may not one give himself over to choler , when she perswades us to revenge our parents ? and is it not an action of piety to be incensed against an impious ●retch who prophanes altars , and disho●ors churches ? i confess , this passion cannot have fairer pretexts ; & that she is in her glory , when she is irritated for so rational subjects ; but you will find , that those who have been moved for the defence of their countrey , will have the same resentments for the preservation of their pleasures ; that they will be as angry for the loss of a horse , as for the loss of a friend ; and that they will make it as great as business to correct a servant , as to beat back an enemy ; it is not piety , but weakness , that excites this choler ; and since she is highly mov'd as well for a word as for a murder , we must conclude , ●he is neither courageous nor rational : the greatest part , likewise , of our revenges , are injuries ; and we run hazard of committing a fault , as oft as we will be judges in our own cause : our interests blind us , and our self-love perswades us , that the slightest injuries cannot be repaired , but by the death of the guilty : we are of the humour of kings , though we be not of their condition ; and imagine that all the wrongs that are done to us , are as many high-treasons : we would have neither fire nor gallows used , save to punish our enemies ; & are unjust enough , to desire to engage the justice of god in our interests : we could wish sh● would let no , thunder fall , but upon th● heads of such as have offended us ; and ou● of a height of impiety , we would that th● heavens were always in arms in our quarrel . but though we made no such wishes , ye● would our revenge be still irrational ; he● very name sheweth us , that she is faulty ; and though she seem so pleasing to those that cherish her , there is nothing more cruel , nor more pusillanimous ; for she differs from injury , only in time , and if he that provoketh be faulty , he that revengeth is not innocent ; the one begins the fault , the other ends it ; the one makes the chalenge , the other accepts of it : & the second is not more just than the first ; save that the injury he hath receiv'd , serves for a pretence to do another . therefore is it , that our religion forbids revenge , as well as injury ; and very well knowing , we cannot keep the rules of justice in punishing our wrongs , she commands us to remit them into the hands of god ; and to leave the punishment thereof to him , whose judgments are never unjust : she teacheth us , that to revenge affronts done unto us , is to intrench upon his rights ; and that , as all glory is due to him , ●ecause he is our soveraign lord ; so all re●enge belongs to him , because he is our edge : but that which is yet more admira●e in her doctrine , and which surpasseth as ●ell the weakness of our vertue , as of our ●ind , is , that she will have us lose the de●re of revenge ; and that stifling this re●entment which nature thinks so just , we ●ange our hatred into love , and our fury mercy : he will have us imitate his goodness ; and that , raised to a more than ●ortal condition , we wish well to those ●hat do us mischief ; he will have us pray to 〈◊〉 for their conversion ; and that ( accor●ing to the example of his only son , who ●btained salvation for those that butcher'd ●im ) we ask p●rdon of him for our enemies : he reserves his highest rewards for charity ; and teacheth us , that we cannot ●ope for forgiveness , unless we shew mercy ; 〈◊〉 raiseth this virtue above all others ; and ●eversing the worlds maxims , he will have 〈◊〉 to believe , that greatness of courage consisteth only in the forgetting of injuries ; all his endevours are to blot out of our ●ouls the memory of offences , and hatred of our enemies : to hear him speak , you would ●hink his state were grounded on this law only ; and that we cannot claim share in his glory , if we do not imitate his clemen●cy . humane philosophy hath not been abl● to attain to this degree of perfection ; yet sh● hath observed , that hatred was unjust , an● that revenge was poorly condition'd ; sh● hath made use of weak reasons , to perswad● us to rare virtues ; and when she hath no● been able to quite to abolish choler , she hat● endeavour'd to asswage it : she hath shew'● us , that the world is a republique , where●● all men are citizens ; that if the body wer● holy , the members thereof were sacred and that , if it were forbidden to conspire a●gainst the state , it was not lawful to at●tempt any thing against a man , who mad● a part thereof ; that it would be a strang● disorder , if the eyes should fight against th● hands , or that the hands should declar● war against the eyes ; that nature , whic● had united them in one and the same body had inanimated them with one and th● same spirit ; and that , contributing to th● publick good , they should mutually assi●● one another , lest the ruine of one part migh● draw on that of the whole : that , thus 〈◊〉 were bound reciprocally to preserve themselves for the welfare of the state , knowing that society subsists only by love , and tha● body cannot live , when the members ●hereof are at discord . all these maximes codemn revenge ; nature , as corrupt as she 〈◊〉 teacheth us by the mouths of philoso●hers , that jesus christ hath commanded us ●othing which is not reasonable ; and if we ●eed his grace to keep his commandments , it is not so much an argument of their difficulty , as a mark of our unruliness : as we ●aught to adore his justice , that punisheth 〈◊〉 , we ought to adore his mercy , which for●ifieth our weakness , and acknowledge , that ●he imposeth no laws upon us , but that at the same time he gives us strength to observe them . the third discourse . of the good use of choler . the poet had reason to say , that the way to hell lay open to all the world , and that all men were indifferently permitted to descend thither : but that to get from thence when one was once entred there , and to see the light again after one had been in darkness , was a favou● which the heavens granted only to tho●● grandees that had merited it by their glorious labours : there is nothing more eas● than to abuse choler , and engage on● self in the unjust resentments of re●venge ; corrupt nature hath taught u● these disorders ; and without other instru●cters than our own desires , we find mean● every day how to content this passion ; bu● assuredly , there is nothing more difficul●● than to make good use thereof , and she i● so hair-brain'd , as it is easier , totally to extinguish her , than to regulate her , and to banish her out of our soul , than to moderate her . for she is so violent , that she is not to be with-held , and so sudden , that she canno● be prevented ; her first motions are not in our power , and being once on the wing , she hath alredy acted most part of her outrages● the other passions are to be dreaded in their progress ; like scorpions which carry their poyson in their tayls , they reserve all their fury to the last ; and are never more dangerous , than when oldest : a budding hatred may be cur'd ; but , being increas'd with time , it is past remedy : an envy which is not yet throughly shap'd , may be effac'd ; but when it hath gotten all its strength , the heavens must work wonders , to stifle it ; a love which hath not yet past from the eyes to the heart , and which is rather a complacency than a passion , is as soon quench'd as set on fire ; but when 't is once gotten into the bottom of our soul , that it hath brought its flames into our will , a long time is required to mortifie it ; and unless hatred , despite , and jealousie come in to the aid of reason , she will be perplex'd to triumph over so puissant an enemy ; but choler hath all her forces in her cradle , she is at full growth as soon as formed ; and as if she were of the nature of spirits , she stands not in need of time to grow in ; so as she is hard to overcome , even from the time she begins to fight ; and contrary to the humour of other passions , she is more to be feared in her cradle , than in her saddle : she carries her poyson in her head , as vipers do ; if you think to stifle her when she is once on foot , you augment her fury ; and this monster is so wild , that the next way to appease her violence , is , to resolve to bear with her . i should therefore counsel all those that would make her serviceable to vertue , to prevent her birth , and to allay her before she be formed : it must be consider'd , that whatsoever it be that puts us in choler , it ought not so much as to disquiet us ; that we take offence at things , only because we know them not ; that riches and honour attract their greatness from our ignorance ; that the chances of fortune , and our enemies injuries take their strength from our weakness ; as for such things which waken our desires , we must perswade our selves that they are not worth the wishing for ; that their loss is more advantageous to us , than their possession ; that they are not what they appear to be ; and that under a false shew of pleasure , they hide real griefs ; we cannot yet give them the names they deserve ; and out of a strange blindness we term our punishments felicities : our troubles proceed only from our ignorance ; and we should never be surprized by choler , if we did know , that it is virtue which makes us rich and honourable ; all the good things that fortune can bereave us of , are not ours ; though she suffer us to make use of them , she keeps the soveraignty thereof to her self ; and oft-times she takes them from us , to teach us , that she doth but lend , not give us them : as they are rather favours of her liberality , than effects of our industry ; 't is fit , that after her prodigality , she should be covetous of them . in fine , all things that she disposeth of , are too mean for us to busie our selves about ; and we must not think it strange , that they put division between people who desire to enjoy them , and cannot endure the dividing of them . as for unthought of accidents , we must remember , that being in the world , we are subject to the laws thereof : that we should be too nice , to pretend to dispensations which kings have not obtained ; that nothing hath hapned in former ages which may not happen in this ; that our fortune is not better grounded , than that of so many monarchs who have lost their lives & their kingdoms in one and the same day ; that our health is no more setled than other mens ; and that being compounded of the same element , others suffer no maladies which may not happen unto us ; that our riches are not in safety , for their being well come by ; that fire may devour them , thieves may rob us of them , strangers may purloin them ; that the power of a great man , the malice of a judge , and violence of an enemy , are accidents which may well be foreseen , but cannot always be shunned . as for injuries , if they be slight ones , we must despise them ; if bitter ones , we must sweeten them ; they will never do us much harm as they do their authors ; an● if they be unjust , they will be glorious 〈◊〉 us : nothing doth exalt innocence so much 〈◊〉 injustice ; had not socrates and regulus ha● their persecutors , they never had bee● praised ; they are only famous , for tha● they have been unfortunate ; and they ow● the greatest part of their glory to thei● enemies cruelty : tyrants are requisite fo● the making of martyrs ; and the ones rigou● is no less necessary than the others constan●cie ; we must not be troubled if our enemie● intention be unjust , so that their action may be advantageous to us : ioseph was obliged to his brethren , their hatred made him glorious ; had he not lost his liberty ▪ he had never reigned in egypt and had he not been imprison'd , he had never sate upon the throne : what imports it us , that men● designs be evil , so long as he that manageth them by his providence makes them serviceable to us ? and if we would not refuse to lose our liberty to purchase a kingdom ; wherefore should we not bear with an injury , to gain an eternal crown ? when these reasons often thought upon , shall have made any impression in us , it will be very hard for choler to surprize us ; she will be tractable in her birth , if we be prepared against her assaults ; for her violence proceeds rather from our weakness , than her own strength ; and methinks , we are fuller of remissness , than she of impetuosity . with these precautions , i suppose , we may make some good use of choler ; and that kings and judges may advantage themselves thereby , in the behalf of justice : she should banish out of their hearts , fear , and lenity , when they indiscreetly oppose themselves against the severity of the laws : she should fill with her noble fire their minds , which suffer themselves to be corrupted by promises , or terrified with threats : in fine , she should succeed clemency , and fill the mouths of kings with such awful words , as keep subjects in obedience . thus we see , the ingenious poet gives iupiter some choler , as oft as he puts thunder into his hand ; teaching soveraigns , by this example , to have recourse to to this generous passion , when they have in vain employed mercy : 't is true , that this argument is not convincing ; and we must not wonder , if this prophane poet attribute the motions of our souls to his gods , since he imputes its disorders to them ; and that , after having described to us their murders , he acquaints us with their adulteries ; bu● the holy scripture , which was dictated b● the spirit of truth , teacheth us , that th● true god grows angry ; and that there 〈◊〉 some faults which cannot be sufficientl● punish'd , unless justice borrow heart from choler . therefore 't is , that the wiseman when he represents unto us that dreadfu● day , wherein god shall revenge himself o● his enemies , he gives him weapons , where with to terrifie and punish them ; he stin● him up with zeal and jealousie ; he clothe● him with justice , as with a curass ; he put judgment upon his head , as a corslet ; h● puts severity in his left hand , as a buck●ler ; and choler in his right , as a lance ; an● makes him descend upon the earth in thi● furious equipage , to punish the rebels o● his kingdom . i very well know , that th● prophet in this eloquent description fit● himself to our weakness , and his meaning 〈◊〉 not to perswade us , that gods choler is o● the same nature , as is ours ; nor that this passion doth trouble his rest ; which is not interrupted in hell it self , by the chastisements o● devils : but we must confess , that jesus christ made use thereof , to revenge himsel● of the wrongs done to his father , that he armed with whips and cords , those adored ●ands which were to be pierced with nails ; ●hat he suffered his just anger to be seen in his countenance ; and did , in this condition , whatsoever wise men use to do when they ●unish crimes , or defend innocence . in fine , the wisest of kings doth not be●●eve , that kingdoms can be well govern'd without choler ; he will have princes sensible of their injuries , that the sword which they bear be as well employ'd in punishing offenders , as in defeating enemies ; and that they shew as much indignation when their subjects violate their laws , as when their frontiers are seized on by their neighbours : he is of opinion , that the choler and mildness of a king ought to maintain the peace of his kingdom ; and using an excellent comparison , says , the one is as the roaring of a lion , whereat all the wild beasts of the forrests tremble ; the other , as the dew upon the grass , which defends it from the heat of the sun. but in all these just commotions which accompany the correction of offenders , the prince must remember , that punishments are remedies , and that the death it self which he ordains , is a kind of mercy which he shews to the faulty : he banisheth some , lest their conversation may augment the number of the wicked : from others he takes their wealth left they abuse it ; he deprives others of thei● liberty , for fear they would employ it against the state ; he takes their life from them , when he thinks their mischief in●curable ; and he thinks to do them a favour when he condemns them to death . h● therefore is obliged to divide himself , be●tween the relation of a judge and a physi●tian , to deal with the same person , as with one that is guilty and sick ; and to mingle mildness with severity , left his chole● prove more pernicious than profitable to his state. if kings are bound to be so cautious in the punishing of rebels , private men may judge , what a hand they ought to hold over their passions , and how mild their choler ought to be , that it may be reasonable ; for their power is not equal to that of kings ; they cannot be so highly injured , and their resentment is not so excusable . i will likewise advise them to stifle a passion , the use whereof is so dangerous ; and to dry up the spring , that they may drain the current : when it is natural to us , and makes up the chief part of our temperature , 't is very hard to subdue it ; and it is not in our power to change the elements whereof we are compounded , or to mend the faults which nature hath committed ; yet this mischief is not without its remedy ; and if 〈◊〉 cannot be totally cured , it may at least be much qualified ; wine which sets it on fire must be cut off ; and as plato saith , one fire must not be added to another : choler must not be nourished with delicious viands , left the mind swell according as the body is strengthened ; it must be held in exercise by moderate labour , which may diminish the heat thereof without extinguishing it , & which may turn all the fervency into scum : pastimes will be of good use to her , provided they be not excessive ; & harmless pleasures , provided they be moderate , will allay her fury ; but when she is more accidental , than natural , and that she proceeds either from sickness , which may have changed our constitution , or from immoderate watchings which may have heated it , or from debauchery which may have dried it up ; or from those other disorders which wound both soul and body , it will be no hard matto drive out an enemy , which holds no intelligence in the place ; and which is only entertained in our hearts , by reason of our wretchedness . but without seeking for so many remedies ; we may boldly use choler agains● our selves ; and suffer this passion to punish those faults whereof we alone are guilty self-love will hinder the excess thereo● well enough ; and without consulting with so many masters , the care we have of preserving our selves , will sence us from the violence of this passion ; it is against our selves , that we may with reason use her , since we have so many just motives that invite us to it ; we must make use of her fury to satisfie jesus christ , who demands of us reparation for injuries done unto him , and revenge for his death : we may lawfully employ her in our repentance , without any fear , that her excess may make us lose mildness , or her violence make us forget charity : for this virtue which punisheth faults , seems to be but choler allay'd ; and the penitent , who makes war upon himself , is but a man incens'd ; love and sorrow encourage him to revenge ; he cannot behold his sins without vexation ; and believes , that without violating the laws of nature , or of grace , he may be his own judge , and his own client , his own witness , and his own executioner ; & that without offence to justice , he may execute the sentence which he hath pronounced against himself : thrice happy choler , which only offends man , to appease god ; whlch by her tears washeth away her sins ; which by self-accusing gets absolution ; and which by slight punishments , frees her self from the pains of hell , and prepares for her self the joys of heaven . the sixth treatise , of delight and sorrow . the first discourse . of the nature , proprieties and effects of delight or pleasure . though hope be so much praised by men , and that of all the passions which flatter the sense , she is one of the most taking ; yet must she give place to pleasure , and confess that pleasure is a sun , whose presence defaces all her beuty : for if she promiseth ought that is good , this other giveth it us ; if the one hath flowers , the other bears fruit ; and if the one content us in word , the other makes us happy in effect . delight is the period of all the motions of our soul ; and as love is the beginning thereof , pleasure is the end ; it stoppeth the violence of our desires , and forceth those fickle passions to taste rest , to which they seem to profess enmity : it sweetens choler , and takes from her that forward humour which accompanieth her in all her designs ; it pays boldness for all her good services ; and is it self the recompense of those glorious labours which she hath undergone to compass it ; it drives away fear , and banishes all those vain terrors which disquiet us ; it kills despair , which seems to have conspired the death of it ; it banisheth sadness at first sight , and if it retain tears and sighs , they are the spoils which publish the victory , and honour the triumph thereof . love is content , when after having tane so much pains , it can rest in pleasure : of as many shapes as love puts on , this is that it most delights in , and doth not forgo it to assume another , without violence : love is unquiet when it desires , and its wishes are shamefull and true proofs of its indigency ; when it hopes , it is not without fear ; and those two keep it so faithful company , as they never leave it but it costs them their life ; for fear becomes sadness when 't is destitute of hope ; and hope is changed into despair , when it is parted from fear : love is not satisfied with revenge ; and though revenge be sweet , yet it is accompanied with pain : in boldness , it is cover'd with sweat and dirt ; glory flatters it , and threatning danger astonisheth it ; in hatred , it is tormented ; and the evil which it wisheth to its enemy , is a viper that lies gnawing upon it : in eschewing , it wants strength ; and it shuns not him that pursues it , save only because it cannot defend it self from him : in despair , it is vanquish'd ; and yielding up its weapons to the conquerour , suffers it self to be led in triumph : in sadness it is miserable ; and the remembrance of its fore-past happiness , serves only to augment its present sorrow : but in pleasure , it is at once both victorious , triumphant , and happy ; all its races are stopt , all its desires are accomplish'd , and all its designs at an end . and surely , we must not wonder if it be in so deep a tranquillity , since it enjoyes the happiness it sought for , and is luckily arrived at the end of all its labours : for pleasure is nothing else , but the enjoying of a pleasing good , which renders the soul content , and which interdicts it the use of desire , as well as that of sadness and fear . this definition excludes all such delights as spring only from remembrance , or from hope , and which make us happy only in that which we have been , or hope to be : memory doth not always entertain us with our misfortunes ; though she be more faithful in retaining a displeasure than a contentment ; & busies her self oftner about things which offend us , than about such as we are well pleased withall ; yet doth not she forbear to represent unto us past felicities ; and by a pleasing remembrance thereof , sweeten our present miseries ; to serve us , she triumphs over the laws of time ; to favour us , she recalls what is no more ; and seeks out in by-gon ages divertisments to recreate us ; but let her do her utmost endeavour , she cannot beguile our soul , nor give it true contentment in entertaining it only with a falshood ; things that are past are but so many shadows ; and if they make any impression in us , it is rather of sorrow than of joy ; good , when far distant from us , makes it self be desired ; but when past , it makes it self to be bewailed : its presence ingenders our happiness , and its absence causeth our desires , or our regret : loss , and fruition , of one and the same thing , cannot be pleasing ; and let memory use what cunning she can , she cannot call to our minds a good which hath no more a being , without awakening our wishes , and refreshing our sorrows . hope is not much more favourable to us ; for though she fore-run our good fortune , that she anticipate the birth thereof , and that she feeds us with a contentment which is not yet happen'd ; though by an impatience which is advantageous to us , she seeks out present felicities in futurity , and that , precipitating the course of years , she advanceth our contentment ; yet a man need not be over-wise , to observe that she deceives us ; and that she often makes us miserable , out of a desire of making us too soon happy : she is found false in her promises ; and after having long expected their effects , all we reap thereby , is shame , for having been too credulous ; and sorrow , for having grounded our happiness upon an uncertain good : solid pleasure requires the presence of its object ; and though , in morality , the end hath so much power over our wills , yet can it not make them happy , but by possession ; therefore is it , that the covetous and ambitious , who forgo a present good , only to entertain themselves with a future ; and who consider not so much what they have , as what they want , cannot be esteemed happy ; since in the very fruition of honour or riches , they are languishing ; and contrary to the nature of pleasure , they seek for what they have not , and value not what they have . by the same definition , we exclude all those sensualities , which spring from indigence , or which produce sorrow ; for to boot , that they are desired with so much anxiety as doth exceed the pleasure which they promise us ; they are such enemies to our quiet , as it is impossible to taste thereof , without becoming miserable and faulty , they wound at once both the soul and the body ; they weaken the one , and corrupt the other ; they are remedies worse than the evils which they would cure ; their disorder causeth always the like in our health ; and their excess is so pernicious thereunto , that we must take them moderately , if we intend to receive satisfaction thereby ; true delight is never more pleasing , than when in extreams ; the greater it is the more it doth ravish us ; and being agreeable to our nature , it never makes us more happy than when it most abundantly communicateth it self ; but sensualities are poysons , which must be prepared , if we will reap profit thereby ; and since the irregularity of sin , we had need of grace to fence our selves against their disorder : whatever pleasure they promise us , they have so great affinity with sorrow , that their words and effects resemble each other : they have their groans and their sighs , as well as sorrow ; when they are extream , they dissolve into tears ; and to shew us that they are enemies to our nature , their excess doth oftentimes cause our death ; but say they should not produce all these mischiefs ? 't wil be sufficient to undeceive us , to know that they are always follow'd by repentance , sorrow , and shame ; they dare not appear in publick ; and very well perceiving that they contribute not to the glory of man , they seek out shade , solitariness , and silence : they would blush , were they enforced to shew themselves ; and the confusion which would cover their faces , would trouble their contentment : maladies are the penance of their excess ; and physitians would be useless , could pleasure be regulated ; as long as man was content with such fruits as the earth yielded him ; and that without provoking his appetite with much-sought for viands , he did only eat to satisfie his hunger ; he had no superfluous humours to dry up , no defluctions to divert , nor fevers to cure . abstinence was all his remedy ; and the diet that he used dreined off the source of all his diseases : but , since he hath dispeopled both sea and land , to nourish him ; that he hath made the monsters of nature his food ; that he would know what taste tortoises , and other creeping things had , which the simplicity of our ancestors confounded with serpents ▪ since he would refresh wine with snow , accord those elements in his body , which wage war with one another in the world ; mingle fishes with birds , and place in one and the same stomach , things to which nature hath appointed such different habitations ; sicknesses have assailed him in crowds ; and the unruliness of his mind hath caused the disorders of his body ▪ the : gout hath stung his nerve ; the stone is formed in his reins , the winds have committed a thousand outrages in his bowels , and as if the elements were sensible of the confusion he makes of their qualities in his debaucheries , they for revenge have corrupted themselves , and ( as the utmost which hate can produce ) they ruine themselves , to kill their enemy . in fine , by this definition , we condemn all such pleasures as nature requireth not , unless seduced by opinion ; for her contentments are as regular as her desires ; and without looking after things unprofitable , she is contented with what is necessary ; she wisheth for such good things only , as she cannot be without : as necessity serves her for a law , so doth she consult with it in all her occasions , and makes no wishes without the approbation thereof ; hence is it , that they are not many ; and that she is contented with a little : water of the fountain sufficeth to quench her thirst ; fruits of the earth satisfie her hunger ; sheeps wool furnisheth her clothing ; and before luxury bound him to make war upon all the creatures . i know not but that the trees did furnish her with apparel ; and those that fed her with their fruits , clothed her with their barks ; but this at least i know , that in those innocent times men committed no murders , to adorn themselves , neither acted any pranks of injustice , to enrich themselves ; nor did they violate nature , to procure to themselves sinful delicacies , their houses were built without curiosity , and he that was the contriver of them , was also the carpenter and the mason ; the earth cover'd with moss served him for a bed ; and , as he never lay down uninvited by sleep , he slept without disturbance , and awaked with content ; he knew no other perfume than that of flowers , which being more pure than ours , was more pleasing ; he was not acquainted with the use of coaches , his journeys not being long , he made use only of such aids as nature had given him : war being hateful to him , and trafique useless , he permitted horses to enjoy their liberty , and employed not that noble creature , which fury and avarice have rendered necessary to us ; whithersoever he went , the earth was sufficiently fruitful to nourish and to cloath him ; he found in the desarts wherewith to satisfie his desires ; and that which we want in cities , he wanted not in places uninhabited . in his happy age all delights were innocent , and no man tasted any pleasure which was not true ; but now , since they are no longer natural , they are no longer rational ; they weaken the body , and destroy the soul : and experience teacheth us , that the use of them is as pernicious as the want of them is profitable . but lest i be accus'd to be an enemy to pleasure , and that i would bereave man of the remedies which nature hath given him to sweeten his misfortunes ; i will say , that the solid contentments are those of the mind ; and that man cannot be satisfied , unless the noblest part , whereof he is composed , be happy ; the knowledg of truth , and practice of virtue ought to be his chiefest diversions ; he must follow his holiest inclinations , and be more careful , in his own person , to please an angel than a beast ; he must remember that the body is but the souls slave : and that in the choice of pleasures , it is just that the soveraign keep her precedency ; besides , those which the soul relisheth , are the truest ; and if any man be of another opinion , we must believe , that sin which hath berest him of grace , hath likewise berest him of reason . for the pleasures of the senses are limited , whereas those of the soul have no bounds ; the pleasures of the body are strangers , those of the soul are natural ; the former may be taken from us without any great ado , death it self cannot bereave us of the latter ; which though it rob us of our riches , cannot rob us of our virtues : the one sort are in a perpetual succession ; as they hold of time , they cannot hold together ; and by a necessary law , those that are past , give place to them that are present ; and the present to the future ; so as the body never enjoys its contentment , but in part ; it is poor amidst its riches , whilst it thrives well on the one side , it languisheth on the other ; and by a misfortune which is inseparable from its condition , it finds no contentment , which gives satisfaction to all its senses ; but those of the soul are never divided , they present themselves all at once ; & the same thought which enlightens the understanding , heats the will , and fills the memory : her joy is universal ; one faculty is never sad whilst the other are satisfied ; and , as if there were a community amongst them in their contentments ; that which pleaseth the one , delighteth all the rest . in fine , spiritual pleasures are much more intimate than those of the senses ; for the soul is wholly filled therewithal ; the blessing she eujoys , penetrates her essence ; as she changeth into her self that which she knows , so she transformeth her self into that which she loves ; and by an admirable metamorphosis she becomes her own felicity ; but the senses are joyn'd to their objects only by accident ; they see the colours of things , & know not their essences ; they understand the sound of words , and conceive not the meaning of them ; so as the body is only content in effigie ; its bliss is but a shadow , and its felicity is but a false appearance ; but the mind is really happy , the contentment thereof is solid , and the goods it possesseth , essential . the second discourse . of the bad use of pleasure . of so many several ways that sin hath invented to abuse pleasure ; there are four which i undertake to discover , and enter combat with , because they have been approved of by famous men ; and some honest men have taken upon them their defence . the first is , voluptuousness , which seems to derive her name from pleasures self , and pretends to be enemy to virtue ; for though there be great difference between them , and that to preserve the one , we are oft-times enforced to abandon the other ; yet heretofore there arose up a sect of philosophers that would reconcile them , and who out of a good intent did much injure virtue , for finding , that the difficulty which did accompany her , made her odious to faint and lazy souls ; and that the labour that went to the acquisition thereof , made them lose the longing after her , they strove to perswade them that she was delightsom ; and that under a severe countenance she did hide a pleasing humor : upon their word , men began to court her , and thinking to find voluptuousness in her train , they made love to the mistress , hoping to enjoy her waiting-woman ; but when they were aware that this pleasure was as severe as virtues self ; and that , remaining in the bottom of the soul , it made no impression upon the senses ; they changed their design , and made open love to voluptuousness : in fine , a height of impudency , they would make use of philosophy to authorize their injustice ; and gave a glorious name to a base rebellion ; they endeavour'd to make men believe , that virtue did never forgo voluptuousness , and that they were not to be parted without violence : their cousenage was soon discovered , and the true philosophers loaded them with so many reproaches , that poor epicurus could never acquit himself of ; for though his design was excusable , and that he never would have proposed voluptuousness to men , but to make them in love with virtue ; yet because the success was unhappy , he could not avoid calumny ; & the zeal of his adversaries confounded his opinion with his disciples errour : yet was not he in fault , save only in seeming to endeavour to equal voluptuousness to virtue ; and to make the soveraign and the slave fit upon the same throne ; he deserved publick indignation , only for distrusting the power of virtue ; and because , to procure her lovers , he had adorn'd her with the trims of voluptuousness ; if his opinion , innocent as it is , hath not escaped blame , that of his disciples is too guilty to keep me from arguing against it ; 't is enough that it is condemned by the whole world ; and that the abettors thereof dare not publickly defend it ; it is sufficiently punish'd since 't is ashamed , and seeks out obscurity , as well to hide it self , as to take its pastime : it may suffice to know , that no honest man did ever take upon him to defend it ; and that even the most shameless amongst men took not its part , till they had forgot reason . the devil perceiving that this piece of ●unning was smelt out , and that it would ●educe none but such souls , as not staying for suggestions , would lose themselves of their own proper motions ; bethought himself of a wile , which was so much the more dangerous , as being cover'd with a fair pretence : for he would perswade men , that true pleasure consisted in honour , and that there was nothing glorious , which was not pleasing in perfection ; he made them believe , that glory was the recompense of virtue ; that the peoples approbation was the kings happiness ; that , if conquerors did at any time endeavour to win upon the liberty of strangers , it was to deserve praise ; and if they did them any mischief , it was to get honour thereby : all the great ones follow'd this faction ; and perswaded by reason , which had more of shew , than of solidity , they courted glory , they became her martyrs , and engaged their lives & liberties , to purchase reputation . from this pernicious maxime , arose a great mischief ; for men preferring honour before virtue , divided two things , which ought to be inseparably united , and through the malice of the devil , they became proud , and ceased to be virtuous ; they ran after glorious sins , they neglected bashful virtues , and with an injustice which merited exemplary chastisement , they for sook a soveraign , to court her slave : assuredly , they were ignorant of her height of merit , since they sought after another recompense , than what they find that enjoy her and they differ much from the humour of her true lovers , who forgo glory to preserve virtue ; and who are never more faithful to her , than when they are proffer'd preferment , to corrupt them , or laden with reproaches , to affrighten them : but not to engage my self , in the defence of a party so reasonable ; i will argue with them that gainsay it , out of their own interests : i will make them confess , that that which men call honour , cannot cause a true pleasure ; and that he who is rich in glory , is poor in contentment : for how can he find his happiness , in a thing he possesseth not ? how can he build his felicity upon a good which is distributed with so much injustice ; and which is often● given to vice , than to virtue : what satisfaction shall he enjoy , when his conscience shall give the lie to his reputation ? and that he shall blame those actions , which the world doth not approve of , save only because it knows not their motives ? how ●an he find rest in the diversity of mens opinions which do not agree , even in those things that are most certain ; and who , according to the passions wherewith their minds are agitated , condemn a virtue which they have formerly valued , and value a vice which they have formerly condemned ? pleasure , to be solid , ought to be constant ; and , if any glory can be the reward of a good action , it is not that which we expect from the people ; but what we receive from our own conscience : 't is then an abuse to virtue , to place her in so frail a thing ; and to seek a happiness in mens mouths , which ought to reside in our heart , is to prefer an appearance before a truth . philosophers , who thought to find her in science , seem to have gone upon better ground ; for besides , that the desire of knowledge is more natural to us , than is that of glory ; and , that truth makes much stronger impression on our soul , than doth honour ; it is a benefit we cannot be rob'd of , as being intrinsecal to us : tyrants , who take our lives from us , cannot bereave us of our knowledge ; and calumnie , which may stain our reputation , cannot obscure our understanding : we are learned i● despight of our enemies ; these precious riches accompany us in prison , follow u● in exile , and leave us not till death : we carry them with us , where-ever we go ; and fortune , which ravisheth honour from conquerors , which bereaves the incontinent of their voluptuosness , cannot rob● philosophers of their science . but let her pretend what advantage she can over her rivals , mans felicity cannot consist therein : for to boot , that she is mixt with ignorance , that her lights are mingled with obscurities , that there is more of doubt , than of certainty , more of errour than of truth in her ; she is oftentimes either unprofitable or faulty , in the most part of her imployments ; for as s. bernard says , some study out of a delight to be knowing ; and this is a frivolous curiosity ; others , that men may know , that they are knowing ; and this is a shameful vain-glory : others , out of a desire to sell their knowledge ; and this is a sordid commerce : 't is true , there are some that study , that they may edifie , and this is a laudable charity ; and others study to edifie themselves , and this is a discreet point of wisdom . of all these , there are only the two last , who do not abuse knowledg ; since they procure her only , to employ her in the service of virtue ; but in this very occasion , she hath her troubles , and her defects ; and if she be not accompanied with humility , she puffes us up with vain-glory , and self-love . after all , we must acknowledg , with the wise man , that 't is a troublesome occupation , which god hath given men for their punishment : and that it is rather an effect of his justice , than a mark of his love. if the use of all these pleasures be not innocent , that of riches is more faulty ; for let us give them what praises we please , they are enemies to virtue ; and if they be serviceable to magnificence and liberality , they are prejudicial to continence and justice : all vices employ them , to satisfie their unjust desires ; and he that would take them from avarice , pride , and obscenity , would reduce them to a happy incapacity of doing harm : the greatest philosophers have likewise acknowledged , that they were the ruine of families , and loss of estates ; that the despising of them , was safer than their possession ; and that , from the time they enter into a house , they drive thence all virtue ; they irritate our desires , awaken our hopes , encrease our fears , and oblige us to confess , that there is more anxiety in keeping● them , than in acquiring of them . in fi●e rich men are of so unhappy a condition that if they will therein taste any delight they must imitate the condition of poo● men , and seek for that in poverty , which they could not find out in abundance . but where then will you place pleasure if it be neither to be found in voluptuousness nor in glory ? and where will you lodg● her , if she agree not well neither with knowledg nor riches ? i confess , there are rational delights , lawful honours , modest sciences , and innocent riches ; but certainly , the common use thereof is out of order , and by a just judgment of god , every one finds his trouble , where he seeks his felicity : the incontinent are sad amidst their contentments : jealousie and suspition revenge violated chastity , and diseases make them pay use for their infamous pleasures ; the ambitious are the victimes of vanity ; they have this of evil in their best fortune ; that they are tormented with a twofold envy ; for they cannot endure their equals , and their inferiours cannot abide them ; they despise honours , as soon as they enjoy them ; and valuing none , but such as they have not , ● they mingle disquiet with enjoying ; and molest ●n assured happiness , with desire of an uncertain contentment : the learned are not much more happy ; they are tormented with the passions , which lost the first man ; the fathers fault is made the childrens punishment ; and the same knowledg which thrust him out of paradise , persecutes them in the world ; they consume all their days in learning things , either ridiculous or unprofitable : they fight for defaced letters ; and the inscription of tombes , which is also the reward of conquerors , causeth almost all the dispute of criticks ; they boast themselves , that 't is by these glorious paths , that men mount up to heaven ; they seek for immortality , and they treat with the dead , that they may reign with the gods ; they know how to speak , not how to live ; they are learned , and not virtuous ; and through a strange blindness , they see not that their knowledge being proud , is as boundless as ambition ; and that her desires being irregular , she is as inperate as voluptuousness . the avaritious are in pain , for all their riches ; they possess them , they do not enjoy them ; they worship their wealth , and dare not touch it ; they teach us , that they are slaves thereunto , not masters thereof ; and their only contentment lies i● hindering others from enjoying them . but left it be objected , that i discover an evi● without applying the remedy ; i intend i● my next discourse , to defend innocent and lawful pleasures . the third discourse . of the good use of pleasure . those who condemn pleasure , must consequently condemn nature , and accuse her of having committed faults in all her works ; for this wise mother hath dispersed delight throughout all our actions ; and by an admirable piece of wisdom hath order'd , that as those which are most necessary were the meanest , they should be the most pleasing ; and certainly , had she not found out this innocent slight , the world would have perish'd long ago ; and men , who are the noblest part thereof , neglecting their own preservation , would have left it for a prey to wild beasts ; for who would trouble himself with eating , were he not invited thereunto , as well by delight , as by necessity ? who would ever endure that sleep should benum his senses , take from him the use of reason , and make him change life with the shadow of death , did not the sweetness of her poppies make this remedy as charming , as it is shameful : as pleasure is profitable to the body , it is no less necessary for the mind ; which as ambitious as it is , would never undertake the atchievement of virtues , and the defeat of vices , were not the glory mingled with joy ; and did not these two make up the recompense of her labours : who would toyl to overcome shameful and sinful pleasures , were they not thereunto incited by innocent delights ? who would dare to assail death , and to fight with a monster , which triumpheth over both the victorious and the vanquished , were not his constancy animated by the contentment which the victory promiseth him ? who were able to overcome the difficulties which accompany all sciences , were they not seasoned with sweetness ? and who would ever contrive any famous design , were he not thereunto invited by the hope of pleasure ? but though nature hath shed it abroad in all actions , whether necessary or difficult ; she will have it be rather a help , than a motive to us ; and that it serve us rather for a refreshing then for a recompense : she will have us to look upon it as an assistance which she hath given us whereby to acquire virtue , and that we use it as a remedy found out by her to moderate our discontents ; for mans life is full of misery ; and had not the heavens sweetned them by joy , all passions would end in grief or in despair ; we should be press'd to death , under the burden of our misfortunes ; and losing the hope of vanquishing our enemies , we should lose the desire of fighting with them . to heighten our courage , this wise mother solicites us by pleasure ; and equally mingling it with things that are difficult and shameful , she obligeth us not to despise the one , nor to fear the other ; but whatever contentment she propounds to us , 't is always with this caution , that it shall not be the end , but that it shall serve us for a pleasing means to arrive the more contentedly thereat ; so that we are bound to taste of it with the same reservedness , as travellers look upon the goodly fields which lie in their way ; they serve to unweary them ; they admire their largeness , praise their fertility , value their riches , but they stay not to gather in the crop ; and knowing it is not lawful for them to enjoy them , they are contented with such recreation as thereby they receive , which whilst they do , they hasten their pace , and continue on their journey : so earthly pleasures may well solace us ; but they are not totally to possess us . when nature intermingled them with our actions , she meant them not for our felicity , but our consolation ; and she intends not , that they should stay us on earth , but that they should raise us to heaven : 't is brutish to seek for nothing but delight in eating , and to make that a contentment , which is nothing but a remedy : to love sleep , because it is accompanied with some sweetness ; and to place the happiness of life in the image of death , is to be void of reason : we must take it because it is necessary , and thank divine providence , which being more lucky and powerful than physick , hath provided pleasing remedies for us , and cures our maladies without exercising our patience : to court virtue only for pleasures sake , is to be unjust , and not to value her , she is too noble to be any thing but our end ; to seek out any other motive , or hope for any other recompense , than the possession of her , is to injure her : pleasure which acompanies her , is only for mean and poor souls , which have not courage enough to follow her , and her difficulties ; she is never more glorious , than when most difficult ; and her faithful lovers never think her more beautiful than when she is crown'd with thorns : yet doth not nature forbid us to taste this sweetness , which accompanieth the searching after her ; provided , we look upon it as a succour to our weakness ; and that we take not that for a consummated felicity , which is given us only for a refreshment : this is , notwithstanding , the fault of all men ; and so general is this disorder , that there is hardly any one who doth not seek after pleasure , and despise virtue : every one will make his utmost end of a mean which is not honourable , save only because necessary ; and all the world will have that a passion which nature hath placed in our soul , only to sweeten our misfortunes , should be the height of our felicity ; men now respect nothing but what delights ; glory gives place to pleasure ; and virtues self , by a high injustice , hath no more lovers , unless she promise them delight ; insomuch as of all passions , not any one doth more prejudice her , than joy doth : for desires are noble , hopes are generous , audacity and choler assail vice ; hatred and fear , defend themselves from it ; but joy is of a soft nature , and suffers it self to be corrupted , when sollicited by delights : other passions are in perpetual motion ; and being always upon the speed , they never fix themselves so strongly on an object , but they may be staved off , but joy is at rest , and making the good which she possesseth , her center ; she must be fought withal , before she will part with it . therefore the son of god , knowing how hard it is to conquer this passion when it is grounded in a soul , forbids us to give it entertainment , and counsels us to reserve it for such contentments as never shall have end : he distinguisheth his disciples from those of the world , as well by joy as by love : he employs all his reasons to perswade us , that temporal joy cannot agree with joy eternal ; and that to be happy in heaven , a man must be miserable on earth ; he mingles pain with our pleasures ; sows thorns amongst our roses , and poures bitterness upon our delights , to make us distaste them . he instructeth us , that pleasures are not only fading , but painful ; and that they are not only unprofitable , but faulty . in fine , they are the daughters and mothers of sorrow ; and all those which promise us the greatest contentment , subsist only by the pain which precedes them . monarchs triumph not till after the victory ; they had not defeated their enemies , had they not fought with them ; and joy measureth it self so justly by sorrow , that the beauty of the triumph depends upon the greatness of the combat ; when it hath not been throughly disputed , the pleasure is less , and the glory is not so splendid : mariners never taste the sweetness of life more than when they have escaped shipwrack ; and they are never more sensible of contentment , than when after despair of safety , a tempest drives them upon the shore : an only son is never so dear to his mother , as when he hath run great hazards , and hath cost her many a tear ; she thinks she hath been brought a bed with him , as many times as she hath wept for him ; her joy ariseth from her sorrow ; and the contentment of enjoying him would not be so great , had she not fear'd to have lost him : one must be hungry before he take delight in eating ; and as nothing sets forth light better than darkness ; so there is nothing adds more to pleasure than the pain that hath gon before it . but out of another consequence , as necessary , & more vexatious , pleasure turns to sorrow ; and that wherewith we were at first delighted , in process of time , becomes painful : too long sleep degenerates into a lethargy ; & the remedy which nature had found out to repair our strength , when it is continual , ruinates it . excess of meat suffocates the natural heat ; too violent exercise weakens our vigour ; and the innocentest pleasures become punishments , when they are immoderate . temperance might cure us of these disorders , if they went no father ; but experience teacheth us , that what passeth for a pleasure , in the world , is a sin before god ; and that the greatest part of our joys cause sorrow in the saints . a souldier rejoyceth in the murders he hath committed ; and men , in this corrupt age , call that valour , which , in more innocent times , would have been termed cruelty . a lustful person rejoyceth in having stollen away her that he loves ; and if he content his ambition , by satisfying his incontinence , the more sins he commits , the more pleasures he tastes : a tyrant rejoyceth in his usurpation ; and if he reaps glory by his injustice , he thinks himself more happy , than a lawful prince : a cholerick man rejoyceth in revenge ; though to obey his passion , he hath violated all the laws of charity ; he finds contentment in his crime ; and strangely blind , the more faulty he is , the more happy he thinks himself ; so that worldly joy is nothing else , but wickedness unpunish'd , or a glorious sin. therefore , when this passion becomes once faulty , no less than a miracle is required , to restore it to its innocence : for though such desires , as rise up contrary to the laws of god , are unjust ; and that there are punishments ordained in his kingdom , for the chastisement of irregular thoughts , yet are these but begun offences ; and which have not , as yet , all their mischief ; though fond hopes be punishable , and entertain our vanity , yet are they not always follow'd by effects ; and oft-times by a fortunate impotence , they do not all the evil which they had promised unto themselves ; our boldness is fuller of inconsideration , than of wickedness ; and an ill event makes it lose all its fervour : our sorrows and our griefs are not obstinate ; they are healed by any , the least help , that is given them ; and as they are not well pleas'd with themselves , they are easily changed to their contraries : our fears are slitting ; the evil which caused them being once withdrawn , they leave us at liberty ; and to conclude , in a word , there is no passion incurable , but joy : but since it hath mingled it self with sin , and that corrupting all the faculties of nature , it takes delight in evil ; morality hath no remedies more to cure it with ; 't is a great disorder , when a man glories in his sin ; and that , as the apostle sayes , he draws his glory from his own confusion : 't is a deplorable mischief , when together with shame , he hath lost fear ; and that the punishments , ordained by the laws , cannot hold him in to his duty ; but a strange irregularity is it , when his sins have made him blind ; or that he knows them not , save only to defend them ; but certainly , when he takes delight in his sin , when he grounds his felicity upon injustice , and that he thinks himself happy , because he is sinful ; this is the height of evil : to punish this impiety , it is , that the heavens dart forth thunders ; the earth grows barren , for the punishment of this horrid disorder ; when war is kindled in a nation , or , that the plague hath dispeopled cities , and turned kingdoms into desolate places , we ought to believe , that these judgments are the punishments of men , who place their contentment in their offences ; and who , violating all the laws of nature , do unjustly mingle joy with sin. now because this mischief , as great as it is , ceaseth not to be common ; and that it is very hard to taste any innocent pleasure ; iesus christ adviseth us , to forsake all the pleasure of the world , and henceforth to ground our felicity in heaven : he bids us , by the mouth of his apostle , not to open the doors of our hearts , save to those pure consolations , whereof the holy ghost is the spring-head ; and arguing out of our own interests , he obligeth us to seek only after that joy , which being founded on himself , cannot be molested by the injuries of men , nor the insolence of fortune ; for if any think to place it in our riches , we are bound to fear the loss thereof ; if we lodg it in reputation , we shall apprehend calumny ; and , if like beasts we put it in those infamous delights which slatter the senses , and corrupt the mind , we shall have as many subjects of fear , as we shall see chances that may bereave us of them . therefore , following st. augustines counsel , ( which we cannot suspect , since in the slower of his age , he had tasted the delights of the world ; ) we should take care to lessen all sinful pleasures , till such time as they may wholly end , by our death ; and to increase all innocent pleasure , till such time as they be perfectly consummated in glory . but you will peradventure say , that our senses are not capable of these holy delights ; and that joy , which is but a passion of the soul , cannot raise it self up to such pure contentments ; that it must have some sensible thing to busie it self about ; and that , whilst it is engaged in the body , 't is an unjust thing , to propound to it the felicity of angels : this exception is current , only , among such as think the passions of men to be no nobler than those of beasts : the affinity which they have with reason , makes them capable of all her benefits ; when they are illuminated by her lights , they may be set on fire by her flames : when grace sheddeth her influences into that part of the soul where they reside , they labour after eternity ; and forestalling the advantages of glory , they elevate the body , and communicate unto it spiritual feelings : they make us say with the prophet , my body and my soul rejoyce in the living god ; neglecting perishable delights , they long after such only , as are eternal . the fourth discourse . of the nature , proprieties and effects of grief and sorrow . if nature could not extract good out of evil , and did not her providence turn our miseries into felicities , we might with reason blame her , for having made the most troublesome of our passions , the most common : for , sadness seems to be natural to us , and joy a stranger : all the parts of our body may taste sorrow and pain ; and but very few of them are sensible of pleasure ; pains come in throngs , and assail us by troops ; they agree to afflict us ; and though they be at discord among themselves , they joyn in a confederacy , to conspire our undoing ; but pleasures justle one another , when they meet , and , as if they were jealous of good fortune , the one of them destroys the other ; our body is the stage , whereon they fight ; the miseries thereof arise from their differences ; and man is never more unhappy , than when he is divided by his delights : griefs continue long ; and as if nature took pleasure in prolonging our punishment , she indues us with strength , to undergo them ; and makes us only so far couragious , or so far patient , as may render us , so much the more miserable . pleasures , especially those of the body , endure but for a moment ; their death is never far off ; and when a man will make them of longer durance , by art , they occasion either torment , or loathing . but to make good all these reasons , and to shew that grief is more familiar to man than pleasure , we need only consider the deplorable condition of our life ; where for one vain contentment , we meet with a thousand real sorrows : for these come uncalled , they present themselves of their own proper motion , they are linkt one to another ; and like hydra's heads , they either never die , or after death , spring up again : but pleasures are sought for with pain ; and we are oft-times enforced to pay more for them , than they are worth : sorrows are sometimes entirely pure , and touch us to the quick , as they make us incapable of consolation ; but pleasures are never without some mixture of sorrow : they are always dipt in bitterness , and , as we see no ro●es which are not environed with prickles ; we taste no delights , which are not accompanied with torments ; but that which makes the misery of our condition evidently appear , is , that we are much more sensible of pain than of pleasure ; for a slight malady troubleth all our most solid contentments ; a fever is able to make conquerors forget their victories ; and to blot out of their minds all the pomp of their triumphs . yet is it the truest of all our passions ; and , if we believe aristotle , it makes the greatest alterations in our souls ; the rest subsist only by our imagination ; and were it not for the intelligence we hold with this faculty , they would make no impression upon our senses : desires and hopes are but deceitful good things ; and he very well knew their nature , who termed them , the dreams of waking men : love and hatred are the diversions of idle souls ; fear is but a shadow , and it is hard for the effect to be true , when the cause is imaginary ; boldness and choler form monsters to themselves , that they may defeat them ; and we must not wonder , if they so easily ingage themselves in the combat , since their enemies weakness assures them of the victory ; but grief is a real evil , which sets upon the soul and body both at once , and makes two wounds at one blow . i know there are some sorrows that wound only the mind , and exercise all their might upon the noblest part of man ; but if they be violent , they work upon the body ; and by a secret contagion , the pains of the mistress become the diseases of the slave ; the chains that bind them together , are so streight , that all their good and bad estate is shared between them ; a contented soul cures her body ; and a sick body afflicts its soul ; this noble captive patiently endures all other incommodities which befall her ; and , provided that her prison be exempted from pain , she finds reasons enough to chear up her self with : she despises the loss of riches ; and bounding her desires , she finds contentment in poverty ; she neglects honour , and knowing that it only depends upon opinion , she will not ground her happiness upon so frail a good ; she passeth by pleasures , and the shame which accompanies them , lesseneth the sorrow which their loss brings her ; as she is not tied to these adventious goods , she easily forgoes them ; and when fortune hath robbed her of them , she thinks her self more at liberty , and thinks her self not the poorer ; but when the body is assaulted , and that it suffers either excessive heat , or the injuries of the season , or the rage of sickness , she is constrained to sigh with it ; and the cords which fasten them together , make their miseries common ; she apprehends death , though she be immortal ; she fears wounds , though she be invulnerable ; and she resents all the evils suffer'd by the prison which she gives life to , though she be spiritual . the stoicks philosophy , which valueth not a glorious enterprize , unless it be impossible , would have inderdicted the commerce between the soul and the body ; and in a strange madness , hath endeavour'd to separate two parts , whereof one and the same whole are compounded ; she forbad her disciples the use of tears ; and breaking the holiest of all friendships , she would have the soul to be insensible of the bodies sufferings ; and that whilst the body was burning in the midst of flames , the soul should mount up to heaven , there to contemplate the beauty of virtue , or the wonders of nature . this barbarous philosophy had some admirers , but she never had any true disciples : her counsels made them despair ; all that would follow her maxims suffer'd themselves to be miss-led by vanity , and could not fence themselves against grief . since the soul hath contracted so straight a society with the body , she must suffer with it ; and since she is shed abroad into all the parts thereof , she must complain with the mouth , weep with the eyes , and sigh with the heart-mercy was never forbidden but by tyrants ; and this virtue will be praised , as long as there be any that are miserable ; yet the evils which afflict her are strangers to her ; and those whom she assists , are , for the most part , to her unknown : wherefore then shall we blame the soul , if she have compassion on her own body ? wherefore shall we accuse her of abjectness , if she share in the sorrows that assail it , and which , not being able to hurt her in her own substance , set upon her in her mansion-house , and revenge themselves on her , in that thing which , of all the world she loves best ? for while she is in the body , she seems to renounce her nobility ; and that ceasing to be a pure spirit , she interesses her self in all the delights , and all the vexations of her hoste : his health causeth contentment in her ; and his sickness is grievous to her ; the most worthy part suffers in the less worthy ; and by a troublesom necessity , the soul is unhappy in the miseries of her body . they say , that magick is so powerful , that it hath found out a secret , how to torment men in their absence , and to make them feel in their own persons all the cruelties which she exerciseth upon their images : these miserable men burn with fire , which toucheth nothing but their picture ; they feel blows which they do not receive ; and the distance of place cannot free them from the fury of their enemies : love which is as powerful , and not much less cruel than magick , doth this miracle every day ; when it joyns two souls together , it finds a way to make their sufferings common ; men cannot offend the one , but the other resents it , & each of them suffers as well in the body which it loves , as in that which it inanimates : since love and magick work these wonders , we must not marvel , if nature , having fastned the soul to the body , do make the miseries common ; and if by one only wo , she makes two parties miserable ; the participation of each others good and bad , is a consequence of their marriage ; and the heavens must do a miracle , to give them a dispensation from this necessity . the joy of martyrs was no meer effect of reason ; when they tasted any pleasure amidst their torments , it must needs be grace that sweetned the rigour thereof ; and he that in the fiery furnace changed flames into pleasing gales of wind , must have turned their torments into delights ; or if he did them not this favour , he did them a greater ; and by making the soul not sensible of the bodies sufferings , he taught the whole world , that he was the soveraign lord of nature . but howsoever , all philosophers agree , that the soul cannot be happy in a miserable body ; and that she cannot endue it with life , without sharing in the miseries thereof ; if her noblest part be touched with joy , while the body languisheth with pain ; that which inanimates it , must be sensible thereof ; & to pay interests for the services she gets thence , she must be miserable for company : even the soul of jesus christ , thrice-happy as it was , failed not to be afflicted ; and a miracle was done in the order of glory , that the society might not be broken , which nature hath put between the soul and the body , it is then agreed upon , that these two parts that compose man , cannot be separated in their suffering ; and that the torment of the one , must of necessity be the others punishment : they love too well to forsake one another in their afflictions ; and unless the violence of pain break the chains wherewith they are linked together , their miseries must be common : i should moreover think , that the condition of the soul is more deplorable , than that of the body ; for besides , that to make her subject to sufferings , be to injure her worth , and that it is a piece of injustice to force her to feel evils , from which by nature she is exempted ; she sentenceth her self to new sufferings ; and the love which she beareth to her body , obligeth her to resent with sorrow the pains which it endureth ; she together with it is sensible thereof , seeing that she is the original of sense ; and as if this torment were not sufficient , she draws another upon her self by compassion , and afflicts her self with the thought of all that which really torments it ; she makes much of its maladies after she hath shared in the suffering of them ; she grows sad with the conceit of them ; and of a single grief makes double martyrdom ; true it is , that this faculty hath so much commerce with the senses , as she cannot resent their evils , without communicating her pains unto them ; her trouble disquieteth them : and as the sufferings of the body are cause of the like in the soul , by a law as just as necessary , the pain of the soul produceth the like of the body . this feeling is in my opinion , true sadness , which is nothing else but a dislike which is formed in the inferior part of the soul , by the fight of objects which are displeasing to her . very strange are the effects of so melancholick a passion ; for when she is but in a mean , she makes them eloquent without rhetorick ; she teacheth them figurative speeches , to exaggerate their discontents : and to hear them speak , the greatest pains seem to be less , than what they suffer : but when she is extream , by a clean contrary effect she astonisheth the spirit : she interdicts the use of the senses ; she dries up tears , stifles sighes ; and making men stupid , she affords poets the liberty of feigning , that she changeth them into rocks : when she is of long continuance , she frees us from the earth , and raiseth us up to heaven ; for it is very hard for a man in misery to covet life , when it is full of pain and sorrow ; and when the soul hath great conflicts for a body , which doth continualy exercise her patience . all men are not so poorly spirited , as was that favorite of augustus , who did so much covet life , that torments could not make him forgo the desire thereof ; who gloried in his verses , that he would have loved life amidst tortures , that he would have been a votary for the prolonging of it upon the rack ; and that the cruellest sufferings that might be , would have seemed swift to him ; so as he might therein have found life . i well believe , that excess of pain would have made him be of another mind ; and that he would have confess'd , that to die quickly , is better than to live long in pain ; or had he persisted in his first opinion , we should be bound to confess , that poorly-spirited men are more wilful , than are those that are couragious ; and that the desire of glory makes not so great impression in us , as the desire of life . but to return to my subject , when grief is violent , it loosneth the soul from the body , and causeth the death of the man : for sadness and joy have this of resemblance in their difference , that both of them attempt upon our lives , when they are in extreams : the heart dilates it self by joy ; it opens it self to receive the good which is offer'd , & tastes it with such excess of pleasure , as it faints under the weight thereof , and meets with death in the midst of its happiness : it shuts it self up by sorrow ; claps to the door upon the evil that besiegeth it ; and very improvidently delivers it self into the hands of a domestick enemy , to free it self from one that is a stranger : for its violence causeth its anguish , and the care he takes to defend it self , augments its pain , and hastens its death . oft-times also , its negligence makes it miserable ; it suffers it self to be surpriz'd by sorrow , for not having foreseen it ; and being no longer in a condition to defend it self , when sorrow arriveth , it is forced to give way thereunto . in fine , sadness makes us weep , when it hath seized on our heart , it wageth war with our eyes ; it evaporateth by sighes ; it glides down by tears , and weakens it self in the production thereof ; for a man that weeps , easeth himself , and comforts himself whilst he complains ; he finds somewhat of delight in his lamentations ; and if they be signs of his sufferings , they are likewise the cure thereof : as choler dischargeth it self by railing , sorrow being more innocent , drops away by tears , and abandons the heart , when it gets up into the face . having seen its effects , it remains that we consider what use may be made thereof , and in what conditions it may become innocent or offensive . the fifth discourse . of the bad use of pain and sorrow . those who believe that delight is virtues most dangerous enemy , will never think that sorrow can side with vice , and we shall have much ado to perswade them , that there be some sadnesses which are faulty ; yet we see but few of them that are innocent ; and most of those that draw tears from us , are either unjust or unreasonable ; for man is become so esseminate , that every thing hurts him . sin hath made him so wretched , that he numbers the privation of pleasures amongst his pains ; and thinks he hath just cause to afflict himself , when he possesseth not all that he desires ; the number of his evils is encreased by his abjectedness ; and he that in the first ages knew no other pain , but sickness and death , now vexeth himself for disgrace and poverty : the witness of his conscience is not sufficient , for his virtue ; and if he have not applause on earth , joyned to the approbation of heaven , he imagineth himself to be infamous : the riches of nature do not satisfie his desires ; and though he have all things that are necessary , he thinks himself poor if he have not somewhat that is superfluous . thus every one finds his misfortune , even in his felicity ; and the happiest are so nice to please , as fortune who tires her self out in their service , cannot take from them pretences of complaint : the best successes are accompanied with circumstances which afflict them ; they are displeased with a victory , because the chief of the enemy hath saved himself by flight ; and that together with his honour , he hath not lost both life and liberty : they are not pleased with the taking in of a town , because it hath not drawn along with it the revolt of a whole province ; and they are so ingenious in causing pain unto themselves , as their desires cannot be satisfied , nor can a period be put to their complaints by the greatest prosperity : amongst such as these , methinks sorrow is a slave to pleasure ; and that to revenge her self of her servitude , she makes her mistress sigh , and renders her miserable amidst all her delights : these men deserve no consolation , their sufferings are too unjust to oblige philosophy to find them a remedy ; it is reasonable that their wretchlesness should be their punishment , and that they should languish in misery , since they know not how to live happily . there are others who glory in their misfortunes , and make the sincerest of our passions serve their ambition : they bewail the loss of their friends in whatsoever companies they come ; they will have their grief to be a mark of their love , and that men should believe that they know how to love well , since they know so well how to lament ; they never dry their eyes , but when they are in their closet ; they think their tears should not be well employed , if they wanted witnesses ; and they teach us , that they are not sincere , since they seek out such as may approve of them . sorrow which is lodged in our hearts , accompanieth us in all places , and giveth freedom to her sighes , and comforts her self in her complaints in solitary places , where nothing can divert her : but the sincerity thereof , makes ●t not be the less unjust , since it oft-times produceth effects contrary to our desires , ●nd makes us forget those which it enforceth us to bewail ; for there is nothing which we are sooner tired with , than grief : having nothing lovely in it , it becomes quickly odious , it wearies them that serve it ; and to free themselves from it , they endeavour to quit themselves of the love that did occasion it ; they blot out of their memory the remembrance of their friends , that they may be no longer bound to lament them ; and with an ingratitude which always follows immoderate grief , they renounce friendship to cure themselvs of sorrow . i know very well , we are permitted to bewail the loss of our friends ; & that tears are the prime duties that nature hath obliged us to render them ; but the current thereof must be quickly stopt : and calling in reason to our assistance , we must make their memory delightful to us , if we will have it be immortal . men do not willingly think much upon that which torments them ; and when once they have given over those sad delights which nature hath placed in tears , they look upon them as punishments , and shun all occasions which may make them shed them . but certainly of all discontents which causelesly prejudice our souls , methinks there is none more infamous than that of envy ; for sorrow caused by the privation of pleasures , is not so unjust , but that it may have some pretences to defend it self ; if it exceed the bounds of reason , it finds excuses ; and we see some who find not so much trouble in withstanding sorrow , as in abstaining from delight : they are better fitted for fortitude , than for temperance ; and may be sooner made martyrs , than continent . the death of friends is a loss sufficient to be lamented ; and friendship is a virtue beautiful enough to have the glory thereof sought after , either by counterfeit or real tears . all these sorrows have evil for their object ; and if their excesses be unjust , their causes may admit of excuse ; but envy is a sorrow as unworthy as unjust ; and look upon it on what side you please , it can neither have pretence nor colour : it gives against all the virtues , and maliciously declares war with all those noble habits which make up the purest glory of our souls . i know that all vices are enemies to virtue , and that they are not to be reconciled by morality . nature accords the elements ; and tempering their qualities , employs them in the composure of all her works ; but humane wisdom , with all its cunning , cannot reconcile the differences between vice and virtue , nor lodge them together in the same person ; yet is the hatred of other virtues regulated ; they only undertake every one its contrary virtue ; and when by an unjust victory , they have triumphed over this noble enemy , their fury is appeased , and they leave the man in some sort of quiet . avarice persecutes only liberality ; ambition pursues only modesty ; and falshood , for all its impudence , opposes truth only : but envy , more furious than all these monsters , makes war against all the virtues ; & as if she were a poyson compounded of all the rest , she at the same time sets upon charity , justice , mercy and humility : for if charity make all things common , envy appropriates them ; and takes not so much pleasure in the enjoying of them her self , as in the bereaving others of them : if justice give every one that which appertains to him , envy keeps all for her self , and not willing to acknowledg any other merit than her own , she thinks all rewards are due to her ; if mercy be afflicted at other mens harms , envy rejoyceth at them ; and out of an excess of malice , makes them her felicity ; if humility despise nothing , envy finds fault with all things , and endeavours to raise her reputation upon the ruines of virtue , so that she is an universal evil : and this detestable mischief is composed all at once of avarice , pride , and cruelty ; but though she be animated against all virtues , she keeps her chief endeavors against the noblest , and assails them with most fervor , which have most lustre in them : she is like those troublesome flies which betake themselves to the fairest flowers in the garden ; or is like thunder which chuseth out the greatest trees , and dischargeth its fury upon the fairest mountains : her courage appears only in the worth of the enemy she undertakes ; she will be thought generous , because she is insolent , and she glories in the greatness of her fault . from this lewd quality proceeds another , which is not much less troublesome ; for as she hates virtue , she cannot endure any virtuous person : her hatred perswades her to revenge ; when her calumny cannot prevail over the glory of the inno●ent , she attempts their life ; after having made a tryal by backbiting , she makes murder her main work , and sheds their blood , whose reputation she could not blemish : no parricide was ever committed without her counsel ; and of as many cruelties as are imputed to hatred or choler , the most famous are the works of envy . in the beginning of the world , she armed cains hand against his brother ; she furnished him with weapons , before she had forced iron from out the bowels of the earth . in the age which succeeded next to that of innocence , she taught him to commit the first murder ; and death , which was but the punishment of sin , through her counsels , became a crime : she stirred up the children of iacob against their brother ioseph ; his future glory made them jealous ; and that they might withstand the designes of heaven , they made him a slave , whom heaven had ordained to be a king : she set on saul against david , and in a blind fury perswaded him , that nothing is more pernicious to kings , than the greatness of their subjects ; and that the power of a forreigner is not so dreadful to them , as the worth of a domestick . but to go higher yet , and come even to the rise of all mischief ; it was she that animated the devil against men ; that inspired him with the means how to be their ruine before they were born , and to slay them in the person of their father . if she work thus much evil to her enemies , she is cause of no less to her self ; and she is as well her own punishment , as virtues ; for she sees no prosperity which doth not afflict her : her neighbors good fortune causeth her misery ; she bewails their good success ; and there needs but a happy man , to make her eternally wretched : she confounds the nature of good and evil , to augment her dislikes ; and out of an irregularity , which is just only because it is harmful to her , she rejoyceth at mischief , and afflicts her self at that which is good : she sheds rivers of tears , when others make bonefires ; and in publick calamities , finds occasions for her self to rejoyce , for her self to triumph : she is pleased with her own loss , so it draw along with it that of her enemy ; and it is so natural to her to do unjust things , as she buyes the pleasure of revenge at the cost of her own life ; she is angry with fortune , complains of her own times ; and when she cannot hinder her enemies good success , despair confines her to solitary places ; or else entertaining her self with her own discontents , she suffers the punishment due to all the faults she hath committed . to comfort her self in her misery , she flatters her self with nobleness ; and would perswade the world , that if she blame other mens virtues , it is because she observes some faults therein . to hear her speak , you would think that she hath derived her pedigree from heaven ; and that the earth hath not crowns nor scepters enough to honour her : she believes that all honours are due to her , and that she is robed of all the respects that are not given her . in fine , she is as insolent , as virtue is modest ; and her language is as impudent , as that of her enemy is reserved : nevertheless , there is nothing more poor and mean that her courage ; she is always in the dust ; and if blind fortune sometimes raise her up , she immediately abaseth her self , and humbleth her self , even beneath those things which she cries down : for it is an approved maxim , that whatsoever causeth envy , is above us : by our own judgment , we give the advantage to our equals , when their merit raiseth jealousie in us . a prince becomes a slave to his subjects , when he begins to grow fearful of their prosperity ; he descends from his throne , and falls from his greatness , assoon as ever he wishes for what they possess ; when he conceives a jealousie at their good fortune , he judgeth theirs , in his opinion , to be better than his own : therefore 't is , that that famous man , who made himself illustrious by his misfortunes , and whose innocence was exercised by so many heavy visitations , hath observed , that envy was the passion of abject souls ; and that she consumes only such poor-spirited men , as can undertake nothing of generous : for had they a more noble heart , and had virtue given them a share of that satisfaction that she always bears about her , they would be content with their condition , and would not frame such wishes , as should discover their misery : if they observed any rare perfection in their equals , they would give it such praises , as it deserves ; or in a noble emulation , strive to attain thereunto : but as the vice which tyranniseth over them , creeps upon the ground ; they conceive none but poor desires , nay , when they force themselves to look higher , they do the more abase themselves ; and we find by experience , that their appearing greatness is but an effect of their real misery . to all these mischiefs we may yet add that of poverty , which is not envy 's least punishment ; for she hath this of common with avarice ; that her riches never content her : she hath a thousand eyes to see her neighbours prosperity , but is blind to see her own ; she only considers such goods as may afflict her , and weighs not those which may comfort her ; she thinks she wants whatsoever another doth possess ; and ingenious to her pain , she augments anothers felicity , to add unto her own misery : so as to punish the envious , you need only leave them to their own fury ; without going about to chastise their insolence , it will suffice to leave them to themselves ; and to suffer the devil that possesses them , to take vengeance for their fault . these are the excesses which grief is capable of , when not well guided : let us see now , to what vertues it may be serviceable , when she is obedient to reason ; and that following the motions of grace , she is afflicted for the sins of the wicked , or for the miseries of good men . the sixth discourse . of the good use of grief . vve must not wonder if the stoicks condemn grief , since they approve not of those virtues which it produceth ; and that they will have their wise man to taste so pure a joy , as shall not be mingled with the least dislike : for they raise him above storms , and endevor to perswade us , that he sees all tempests formed under his feet , and is not at all therewith agitated ; they assure us that upon the sacking of a town , or ruine of a state , he is no more moved , than is their iupiter at the dissolution of the world ; and that placing all his happiness in himself , he looks upon all the bad events of fortune with an equal eye : if he shed some tears upon the tomb of his ancestors , or chance to sigh for his perishing countrey , his soul is no whit moved ; and he beholds all those disasters without any disquiet . let this severe philosophy say what it will , i do not believe that her doctrine can destroy nature ; nor that she ever made a wise man of one from whom she takes the feelings of man. wisdom is no enemy to nature ; and heaven had never united the soul to the body , had it had a purpose to hinder their communication : these philosophers when they made their proud boasts , have , in my opinion , imitated those orators , who making hyperboles , lead us to truth , by falshood ; and assure us of that which is impossible , that they may perswade us of that which is difficult : they did ( certainly ) believe , that the mind ought to have some commerce with the body , and that the sufferings of the one ought to cause grief in the other ; but lest the nobler part should become slave to the less noble , they have endeavoured to preserve her liberty by rigor ; and to make her insensible , to the end , that she might always keep up her soveraignty : for who could imagine that men so judicious in all things , should lose their judgment in this ; and that to defend virtue , they should abandon reason ? all the glory of their discourse tended only to maintain the soul in her empire ; and lest she might faint under the weaknesses of the body , they have authorised her power by terms , more eloquent than true : they conceited , that to reduce us to reason , we must be raised a little above it ; and that to afford nothing of superfluous to our senses , we must deny them what is necessary . they believe then , with us , that grief may accord with reason , and that there are occasions , wherein not to be afflicted is to be impious : but i know not , whether or no ; we can perswade them , that repentance and mercy are glorious virtues ; and that after having bewayled our own offences , we are bound to lament our neighbours miseries . these philosophers are austere , only because they are too vertuous ; they condemn not penitency , save only because they love fidelity ; and if they blame repentance , 't is because it presupposeth a fault : they would have us never to forsake vertue , and that we should deal more severely with vitious men , than with those who desert the discipline of war : their zeal deserves some excuse ; but not being accompanied with wisdom , it produceth an effect contrary to their intent ; for it augmenteth the number of the guilty , whilst it thinks to diminish them : it makes the weak wilful ; and taking away the remedy , it changeth their infirmities into incurable diseases . man is not so constant as the angels , and when he loves what is good , he is not so firmly fixed thereunto , but that he may be made to forgo it ; neither is he so opinionated as is the devil ; and when he affects evil , he is not so strongly engaged thereto , but that he may be taken off from it . if this inconstancy be cause of his sin , 't is also the remedy thereof ; and if it assist to make him guilty , it contributes also to the making of him innocent : he is nauseated with sin , he is weary of impiety , and he ows these good effects to the weakness of his nature : had he more strength , he would be more obstinate ; and grace which converts him , would find more resistance , were he more firm in his resolutions : heaven makes this defect serve for our advantage ; and its providence husbandeth our weakness , to work our welfare thereby ; for when it hath touched the hearts of sinners , and that preventing their will by its grace , it makes them detest their wickedness ; they end the work of their conversion , by the ayd of penitence ; and in sorrow seek out means to appease divine justice : they punish their bodies to afflict their souls ; they sentence the slave to bewail the sin of his master , because he is accessary thereunto ; and knowing that all the harm , which either the master or the slave do to themselves , proceeds from the too much love they bear unto themselves ; they oblige them , for their own good , to hate themselves ; they oft-times punish them both with the same punishment , because their offences are reciprocal ; and do justly conjoyn those in the suffering , which were not separated in the fault . thus the whole man satisfieth god ; and the two parts whereof he is composed , do by sorrow find pardon for their sins . i am not ignorant , that libertines laugh at these duties ; and that they place repentance in the number of those remedies which are as shameful as unprofitable ; for , wherefore ( say they ) do you afflict your self for an evil that hath no more a being ? wherefore do you revive it by your sorrow ? wherefore with a greater piece of imprudence would you change what is past , and wish in vain , that what is already done , had not been done ? these bad reasons will not divert sinners from repentance ; and if wicked men have no better weapons wherewithal to fight against piety , they will never have much advantage over her : nature authorizeth daily the tears we shed for misfortunes past ; a sad remembrance draws sighs from us ; and we cannot think upon the evils which we have either escaped or undergone , without some sense , either of delight or sorrow : as the time that is past , makes the more certain part of our life , so doth it likewise awaken the truest passions , and afford us the most sensible motions : time to come is too uncertain to vex ones self much about it ; and the events which it produceth are too hidden to make any great impression upon our desires , time past is the source of our sorrows ; and we have reason to afflict our selves for a thing which we cannot help ; if it did only threaten us , we should endeavour to defend our selves from it ; and if it hung over our heads , we should employ our wisdom to divert it ; but when it hath once happened , we have no more to do , but to be sorry for it ; and of as many passions as may serve to comfort us in present evils , or such as are to come , there is none but this , from whence we can draw consolation in our past afflictions . could we recall our friends from their graves , and revive their ashes by our cares , we would not consume our selves in our bootless sorrows ; but since there is no cure for death , and that physick which can preserve life , cannot restore it when it is lost ; we have so much the more reason to complain , as our loss is more certain ; and our tears appear to be so much the more just , as the evil which we suffer , is the less capable of remedy . thus penitence is not to be blamed , if not being able to remedy a fault already committed , she yield her self up to sorrow ; and if finding no means how to repair her offence , she witness her sensibleness thereof by sighs : she is the better grounded in this belief , for that she knows , tears are not unprofitable for her ; and that mingled with the blood of iesus christ , they may wash away all her offences : upon other occasions , they do no miracles ; if they comfort the living , they do not raise up the dead again ; if they assure the afflicted of our love , they do not free them from their troubles ; by thinking to aid the miserable , they augment their number ; and instead of euring the malady , they serve only to make it the more contagious : but those of repentance drown sins , save sinners , and appease gods just anger ; for he is so good , as he is pacified with a little sorrow : he takes the dislike of of an offence for satisfaction ; and knowing that we cannot alter things that are past , he is contented with our repenting for them : as he reads mens hearts , and understands the tears which flow from a real grief : he never denies them pardon ; and before his throne it is sufficient , for an offender to get absolution , if he confess his wickedness : at the tribunal of judges , men oft-times confound guilt with innocence ; they absolve a man who defends his sin by a falshood ; and let him but deny a murder , of which there is no proof , he forceth the judg to give sentence on his side ; but if he yields under the violence of tortures , or is surprised in his answers , his tears do not blot out his sins , nor will his confession preserve his life . in repentance a man need but acknowledge his fault , and he is sure to obtain pardon for it ; the laws thereof are so mild , as god forgets all the injuries done unto him , provided sinners mingle a little love with their repentance , and that the fear of punishment be not the only motive of their sorrow . our own interests do therefore oblige us to defend a passion which is so advantageous to us ; and since the hope of our salvation is grounded upon a vertue , which ows its birth to sorrow , we ought to uphold her cause , and to employ our best reasons to authorize her , who doth help to justifie us . mercy will find no less credit among men , than repentance ; and as there is none so happy , but he may become miserable , i perswade my self , she will not want advocates : the stoicks calumnies will not be able to banish her from off the earth ; the weaknesses which men impute to her , will not stain her glory : if injustice beat down her altars , piety will erect others to her ; and if her temples of stone and marble be thrown to the ground , men will build up living and reasonable temples to her . they accuse her of being unjust , and that she rather considers the misfortune , than the sin of offenders : they blame her for bestowing tears on persons that deserve them not ; and that she would break open prisons , that she might confusedly let loose from thence , as well the guilty as the innocent : but whatsoever these inhumane philosophers say , 't is the best employment we can make of sorrow ; it is the most sanctified use of grief ; it is that feeling of the soul , which is most universally approved of ; and men must have proceeded from rocks , or lived amongst tygers , if they condemn so reasonable a passion : she takes her birth from misery ; she imitates her mother ; and she is so like unto her , as she her self is another misery : she makes her self master of the heart by the eyes ; and coming forth by the way she entred at , she disperseth her self in tears , and evaporates in sighes : though she be accused of weakness , she stirs our desires ; and interessing us in the afflictions of the miserable , she endues us with strength to assist them : after she hath witnessed her fellow-feeling of them by her sorrow , she gives them testimony of her power by the effects ; and giving out her orders from the throne where she is seated , she engageth the eyes to shed tears for them , the mouth to comfort them , and the hands to relieve them : she descends into dungeons with prisoners ; she mounts up to the scaffold with malefafactors ; she assisteth the afflicted with her counsels ; she distributes her goods amongst the poor ; and not seeking any other motive than misery , it sufficeth her that a man be unfortunate , to take him into her protection . all these high endeavours proceed only from sorrow ; and were not grief mingled with mercy , she would not operate with so much vigor ; for self love hath put us so much out of order , that divine providence hath been fain to make us miserable by pity , so to interess us in the miseries of others ; did not she touch us , we should not seek out a remedy for them ; neither should we ever dream of curing a malady , which were indifferent to us ; but because mercy is a sanctified contagion , which makes us sensible of our neighbours sufferings ; we ayd him to comfort our selves : and we help him at his need , to free our selves from the grief we feel . thus misery teacheth us mercy ; and our own evil teacheth us to cure that of others : who can condemn so just a resentment ? and who dares blame a passion , to which we owe our innocence ? if the miserable are sacred persons , are the merciful prophane ? if we respect them whom fortune hath set upon , shall we censure those that assist them ? if we admire patience , shall we despise compassion ? if misery draw tears from our eyes , shall not mercy draw praises from our mouths ? and shall not we adore a vertue , which iesus christ hath pleased to consecrate in his own person ? before the mystery of the incarnation , he had only that mercy which delivers the unfortunate ; without tasting their misfortunes ; which cures the disease , without taking it upon her ; and which comforts the afflicted , without adding to their number : he saw our miseries , but had no feeling of them ; his goodness making use of his power , succour'd the miserable , and was not afflicted with them : but since he hath vouchsafed to make himself man , he hath mingled his tears with ours ; he hath suffered our sorrows to wound his soul ; and was willing to suffer our miseries , that he might learn mercy . we may then lawfully exercise a vertue which iesus christ hath practised ; and may well become miserable , without any stain to our honour ; since the son of god , in whose person the least shadow of defect cannot be found , would be sensible of his friends afflictions , and shed tears to bemoan them , before he would work miracles to relieve them . all the philosophers do also honour this passion ; and to exalt her merit which the stoicks have in vain laboured to debase , they give her a glorious title , and admit her into the company of the vertues ; they acknowledg , she may be serviceable to reason is all the chances of life ; and that , provided she agree with justice , a man must be 〈◊〉 , not to reverence her , when she helps the poor , and pardons the guilty . from all these discourses , 't is easie to gather , that there is no passion in our soul , which may not profitably be husbanded by reason and by grace : for to sum up , in a few words , all which hath been said in this work ; love may be changed into a holy friendship , and hatred may become a just indignation , do●●●s moderated , are helps to acquite all the virtues , and eschewing is chastities chief defence . hope encourageth 〈◊〉 gallant actions , and despair diverts us from rash enterprizes ; fear is 〈…〉 to wisdom , and audacity to 〈…〉 furious as it is , takes 〈◊〉 with justices , innocent joy is a fore●a 〈◊〉 of felicity ; and grief is a short pain which frees us from eternal●orments ; so as , but welfare depends only upon the use of the passions ; and virtue subsists only by the good employment of our souls motions . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e w.m. sculp : notes for div a -e quamdiu cum affectibus colluctamur , quid magni facimus ? etiamsi superiores sumus , portenta vicimus . sen. quaest. nat. l. . praefat . ethica in universum componit hominem , & suadet marito , quomodo se gerat adversus uxorem ; patri , quomodo educet liberos ; domino , quomodo , servos regat . sen. ep. . natura duce utendum est : hanc ratio observat , hanc con●uli●● : idem est ergo beate vivere , & secundum naturam . sen. de vita beata . cap. . in hoc morum studio multa delectant , pauca vincunt . sen. . benef. cap. . interrogemus singulos , dic epicure , quae res faciat beatum ? respondet , voluptas corporis . dic stoice , respondet , virtus animi , dic christiane , respondet , donum dei. aug. in tract . de sect. philos. c. . sane habuit gratiam adamus , in qua si permanere vellet , nunquam malus esset : et sine qua etiam cu libero arbitrio bonus esse non posset . au. ● . de correp . & grat. c. . omnis infidelium vita peccatum est , & nihil est bonum nisi summo bono : ubi enim deest agnitio aeternae & incommutabilis veritatis , falsa virtus est , etiam in optimis moribus . sentent . august . temperantia est moderatio cupiditatum rationi obediens . cic. l. . de finib . hic prudentia profit , hic robore evidentem quoque metum respue . si minus , viti vitium repelle , spe metum tempera . sen. ep. . notes for div a -e * quatiator necesse est fluctuetorque ●ui suis malis tutus est , qui fortis este nisi irascitur , non potest ; industrius , nisi cupit ; quietus , nisi timet ; in tyrannidi illi vivendum est in alicujus affectus veni●nti servitutem , sen. l. . de ira , c. . b sentiet it aque sapiens suspitiones quasdam , &c umbras affectu 〈◊〉 , i●sis quidem corebit . sen. l. . de ira. c. . c anima secundum operis sui officium diversis nuncupatur nominibus ; dicitur namque anima , dum vegetat ; spiritus , dum contemplatur ; sensus , dum sentit ; ratio , dum discernit ; memoria , dum recordatur ; voluntas , dum consentit : istae non differunt in substantia , quemadmodum in nominibus , quoniam omnia ista una anima est , proprietatates quidem diversae , sed essentia una . aug. lib. de spiritu & a●ima . d voluntas tanti utique conditoris rei cujusque natura est ; aug. l. . de civ . dei. c. . alba lilia iisdem omnibus modis seruntur quibus rosa & hoc ampliu● lachryma sua . plin. c. . l. . hist. nat. ego enim delibe●abam ut servirem domino meo , ego etiam qui vol●bam , ego eram qui nolebam : ego eram nec plene volebam nec p●ene nolebam , ideo contendebam , & dissipabar a me ipso , & ipsa dissipatio me invito quidem fiebat , nec tamen offendebat naturam mentis aliena , sed poena mea . aug. confess . l. . c. . * hine metuunt , cupiunt , gaudentque , dolentque . v●rg . * amor ergo inhians habere quod amatur , cupiditas est ; idem habens , eoque fruens , laetitia est ; fugiens quod ei adversatur , timor est ; idque cum acciderit , sentiens tristitia est . aug. l. . de civ . dei , c. . o amor est delectatio cordis per desiderium currens , & requiescens per gaudium . aug. de substantia dilectionis , c. . ct . * amor caeteros se traducit affectus . bern. * fervor sanguguinis circa cor . aristo● . novissima omnium cupido gloriae exuitur . tacit. in agrie . si quaeris odio misera quem statuas modum imitare amorem seneca in medea . fortis ut mors dilectio , dura sicut infernus aemulatio . caur . cant. absit enim ut illa beatitudo ut possit aut in loco illo non habere quod vellet , aut in suo corpore vel animo sentire quod nollet . august . nec enim corpus ejus tale erat quod dissolvi impossibile videretur , sed gustus arboris vitae corruptionem corporis prohibebat . denique etiam post peccatum potuit indissolubilis manere , si modo permissum esset ei edere de arbore vitae , aug. l. quaest . novi & veteris testam . quaest . . in similitudinem carnis peccati , paulus . ipse dominus in forma servi , vitam agere dignatus humanam adhibuit passiones ubi adhibendas esse judicavit : neque enim in quo verum erat hominis corpus , & verus hominis animus , falsus erat hominis affectus , august . lib. . de civitate dei c. . turbavit semetipsum . ioan. . tristis est anima mea usque ad mortem . homo medium quoddam est inter pecora & angelos , inferior angelis , superior pecoribus , habens cum pecoribus mortalitatem , rationem vero cum angelis . animal rationale , mortale , august lib . de civitate dei. cap. . caro enim concupiscit adversus spiritum , spiritus autem adversus carnem . gal. . quod caro concupiscit adversus spiritum , non est praeceders naturae hominis institu●i , sed consequens paena damnati . august lib. de vera innocentia . cap. . cujus recte vituperatur vitium procul dubio natura laudatur : nam recte vitii vituperatio est , quod illo de honestatur natura laudabilis . august . lib. . de civitate dei. cap. . natura humana etiamsi in illa integritate in qua condita est permaneret , nullo modo seipsam creatote suo non adjuvant servaret . cum ergo sine dei gratia salutem non posset custodire guam accepit , quomodo sine dei gratia posset reparare quam perdidit ? aug. lib. de vera innocentia , c. . ut simus initium aliquod creaturae ejus ▪ iac. . concupiscentia carnis in baptismo dimittitur , non ut non sit , sed ut in peccatum , nonimputetur non autem ei substantialiter manet , sicut aliquod corpus aut spiritus , sed affectio quaedam est malae qualitatis , sicut languor . aug. l. . de nupt. & concupiscent . c. . non enim caro sine anima concupiscit , quamvis caro concupiscere dicatur , quia carnaliter anima concupiscit . aug lib. de perfectione bominis , c. . in disciplina nostra non tam quaeritur utrum pius animus irascatur sed quare irascatur , ●ec utrum sit triftis sed unde sit tristis ; nec utrum timeat , sed quid timeat ; irasci enim peccanti ut corrigatur , contristari pro afflicto● liberetur , ti●ere periclitanti n● pereat , nescio utrum q●●qu●m sana considera ●o●e reprehenda● . aug l. . de civ . dei. c. . cum concupiscentia natus es ut eam vincas , nolo tibi hostes adero , vincere cum quo natus es , ad studium vitae hujus cum illo venisti , congredere cum eo qui tecum processit . aug. in psal. . non concupiscere omnino perfecti est , post concupiscentias suas non ire pugnantis est , luctan is est , laborantis est , ub● fervet pugna , qua●e desperetur victoria , quando erit victoria , quando absorbebitur mors . aug. de verb. apost . serm . . nemo sibi tantum errat , sed aliis erroris causa & author est . de vita beata , c. . nemo tantum praesentibus miser est . sen. epist. . quidquid illis congesseris , non finis cupiditatis erit , sed gradus . senec● daemon●s autem ro●abant eum , dicen●es , si ejicis nos hinc , mitte no● in gre●em porcorum . mat. . si vis vincere , noli de te praesumere , sed illi assigna victoriae gloriam qui tibi donat , ut victoriae referas palmam . aug. serm. . de catechismo . corpus est quod dominio fortuna tradidit , hoc emit , hoc vendit , interior illa pars mancipio dari non potest . sen. benefic , l. . c. . malus etiamsi regnet , servus est , nec unius hominis , fed quod gravius est , tot dominorum , quot vitiorum . aug. l. . de civii dei , c. . antu putas sanum qui a graecia primum cladibus in qua eruditus est , incepit , qui lacedaemoniam servire iubet , athenas tacere . sen epist. . si scorpionis venenum malum esset , prius scorpionem perimeret ; ac contra si ei aliquo modo detrahatur , fine dubitatione interiret , ergo illius corpori malum est amittere quod nostro malum est recipere , & illi bonum est habere id quo nobis bonum est cavere . aug. l. de moribus , c. . d●fines timere si sperare desieris , sen. ep. . cum affectus repercùssit affectum , aut metus aut cupiditas aliquid imperavit non rationis beneficio tunc quievit , sed affectuum infida & mala pace , sen. de ira , l. . c. . affectiones nostrae motus animorum sunt laetitia animi diffusio , tristitia animi contractio , cupiditas animi progres sio : diffunderis enim animo cum laetaris , contraheris animo cum molestaris , progrederis animo cum appetis , fugis animo cum metuis . aug. super ioan . scim . . in optimo quoque antequam erudias , virtutis materia non virtus est , sen. ep. . quoniam virtus est habitus mentis bene composita , componendi , instituendi , atque ordinandi sunt animi affectus ad id quod debent , ut in virtutes proficere possint : cum ergo prudenter , modeste , fortiter , & juste amor & odium instituuntur , in virtutes exurgunt , scilicet , prudentiam , temperantiam , fortitudinem & justitiam , aug. lib. de spiritu & anima , c. . ira necessaria est , nec quidquam sine illa expugnari potest , nisi illa impleat animum , & spiritum attendat . arist. in senec. l. . de ira , c. . utendum autem illa est , non ut duce , sed ut milite . idem ibidem . anima affectus omnium sunt vitiorum & virtutum 〈◊〉 quaedam principia & communis materia , aug l. de s●●ritu & aunn . c. . intervallo opus est ut quis credatur deus , semperque hanc gratiam magnis vi●is posteri reddunt . ego autem seram immortalitatem precor regi , ut vita diuturna sit aeterna majestas : hominem consequitur aliquando , nunquam comittatur divinitas , curt. l. circa medium . hoc est alexandri crimen aeternum , quod nulla virtus , nulla bellorum felicitas redimet . senec. quaest . natur. l. . c. . metuamus ergo ut non metuamus , hoc est prudenter metuamus , ne inamter metuamus , aug. ser. . de martyribus . melior est tristitia iniqua parientis , quam laetitia iniqua facientis . aug. lib. de vera innocentia . ratio terrorem prudentibus excutit : in peritis fit magna ex desperatione securitas . senec. quaest . nat . l. . c. . amor est motus cordis , qui cum se inordinate mov t , id est , ad ea quae non debet , cupiditas dicitur ; cum vero ordinatus est , charitas appellatur . aug. lib. de substantia electionis , c. ● . metuunt enim poenam aeternam , cupiunt vitam aeternam , dolent in re quia adhuc ingemescunt adoptionem filiorum dei , expectantes redemptionem corporis sui ; gaudent in spe , quia mors absorbebitur in victoriam . aug. l. . de civ . dei. c. . metuunt peccare , cupiunt perseverare , dolent in peccatis , gaudent in operibus bon● . idem ibid. hic enim sunt virtute● in actu ibi in affectu ; hic in opere , ibi in mercede ; hic in officio , ibi in fine . aug. epist. nulla vehementior intra cogitatio est , quae nihil moveat in vultu . sen. l. . d● ira. c. . sicut aequor profunda , sic consilium in corde viri : sed homo sapiens exhauriet illud . prov. c. . vino tortus 〈◊〉 ira. horat. haec raram occulti pectoris vocem elicere , correptamque graeco versu admonuit , ideo laedi quia non regnaret , tacit. annal. ut cujusque studium ex aetate flagrabat , aliis scorta praebere , aliis canes atque equos mercari , postremo , neque sumptui , neque modestiae suae parcere , dum illos obnoxios fidosque sibi faceret . salust . in catalin . novit quem moerore conturbet , quem gaudio fallat , quem admiratione seducat : omnium discurit mores , omnium scrutatur affectus , & ibi quaerit causam nocendi , ubi viderit quemquam diligentius occupari . d. leo. serm. alexandrum aiunt xenophonto canente manum ad arma misisse . sen. l. . de ira. c. . doces quomodo inter se acutae & graves voces consonent , quomodo nervorum disparem reddentium sonum fiat concordia ; fac potius quomodo animus secum meus consonet , nec consilia mea discrepent , sen. ep. . inter principem & subditos non est amicitia . arist. . politic. inimici hominis domestici ejus . mat. . necesse est multos timeat , quem multi timent . senec. semper in authores redundat timor , nec quisquam metuitur , ipse securus . sen. . de ira. c. . non eo loco ubi servitutem esse velint , fidem sperandam esse . liv. . pertransit benefaciendo & sanando omnes oppressos à diabolo , quoniam deus erat cum illo . act. c. . titus deliciae generis humani . suet ▪ in tis. divus nerva res olim insociabi●es miscuit , i●perium & libertatem . tacit. ab humero & sursum eminebat super omnem populum . reg. c. . contemptu famae , contemni virtutes . tacit . . annal . caetera principibus statim adesse , unum insatiabiliter parandum , prosperam sui memoriam . tacit. . annal . quid majus est quam in infirmitate hominis , habere securitatem dei ? sen. prosperum ac felix scelus virtus vocatur . sen. tragoed . pompeius occultior , non melior , tacit. ore probo , a●imo inverecundo . salust . qui ubique est , nullibi est . deum esse amorem tu●piter vitio favens finxit libido , quoque liberior foret , titulum , furori , numinis falsi addidit . sen. in hipolyto . odiumque parit , cum jussit amor , veteres cedunt ignibus irae . idem ibid. idem est exitus odii & amoris insani . sen. ▪ benefic . c. . charitas dei diffusa est in cordibus per spiritum sanctum , qui datus est nobis . rom. . amor amicitiae & amor concupiscentiae in quid amicum paro ? ut habeam possim , pro quo mori , ut habeam quem in auxilium sequar , cujus me morti opponam & impendam . ep. . qui amicus esse coepit , quia expedit , placebit ei aliquod pretium contra amicitiam , si ullum in illa placet pretium praeter ipsam . ista quam tu describis , negotiatio est , non amicitia , quae ad commodum accedit , sen. ep. . habet omnis amor vim suam , nec potest vacare amor in anima amantis aug. in psal. . magnum verbum fortis ut mors ; dilectio magnificentius exprimi non potuit fortitudo charitatis ; quis enim morti resistit ● ignibus , undis , ferro , , potestatibus , regibus resistitur , venit una mors , quis ei resistit ? nihil est illa fortius , propterea viribus ejus charitas comparatur . aug. in psal . et quia ipsa charitas occidit quod fuimus , ut simus quod non eramus , facit in nobis quandam mortem dilectio : ipsa morti erant mortui quibus apostolus dicebat , mortui estis , &c. idem ibid. nullo modo sunt onerosi labores amantium sed etiam ipsi delectant sicut venantium , piscantium ; interest ergo quid ametur , nam in eo quod amatur , aut non laborantur , aut labor amatur . aug. extasim facit amor , amatores suo statu dimovet , sui juris esse non finit , sed in ea quae amant penitus transfert . dionis . de divin . no● min. c. . vivo autem jam non ego , vivit vero in me christus . gal. . mortui enim estis , & vi●a vestra est abscondita cum christo in deo col. . quid enim refert natura esse quod potest effici voluntate . d. chrys. de laud. paul. hom. . nihil in rerum natura tam sacrum quod sacrilegium non inveniat . sen. si quis venit ad me , & non odit patrem suum , & matrem , & uxorem , & filios , & fratres , & sorores , adhuc autem & animam suam , non potest meus esse discipulus , luc. . interficiens inimicitias in semetipso . eph. c. . quosdam cum in consummationem diguitatis , per mille indignitates erexissent . misera subiit cogitatio ipsos laboraffe in titulum sepulchri . sen. de brev . vit . c. . miser est omnis animus vinctus amicitia rerum temporalium , & dilaniatur cum eas amittit , & tunc sentit miseriam qua miser est , & non antequam amittit eas . aug. confes. l. . c. . tollat malus divitias , inopes opprimuntur , judices corrumpuntur : tollat bonus , pauperes pascuntur , oppressi liberantur , captivi redimuntur . aug. serm. . de s. cyprian . celeritas intelligendi , & acumen disputandi , donum tuum est ; sed inde non sacrificabam tibi : itaque mihi non ad usum , sed ad perniciem magis valebat ; nam quid mihi proderat bona tes non utenti bene ? aug. l. . confes. . ult . deus nosteris est , quem amat id omne quod amare potest . aug. omnia offa mea dicent , domine , quis fimilis tibi ? psal. . modus amandi deum sine modo . bern. anima licet carcere corporis preffa , cum tamen resipiscit , unum deum nominat . deus dedit , omnium vox est ; ô testimonium animae naturaliter christianae : dicens haec , non respicis capitolium , sed ad coelum , novit enim anima sedem dei vivi . tert. in apol - amicitia plurimas res continet ; quoquo te verteris , praesto est , ullo loco excluditur , nunquam intempestiva , nuquam molesta est . itaque non aqua , non igni , non aere ( ut aiunt ) pluribus locis utimur quam amicitia . cic. in laeli. ejus enim nobis amara mors cujus dulcis erat vita . aug. l. . de civ . dei. c. . ●go se●si anmam meam & animam amici mei , unam fuisse animam in duobus corporibus . et ideo mihi horrori erat vita , quia nolebam dimidius vivere , & ideo forte mori metuebam , ne tutus ille moreretur quem mu●tum amaveram . aug. l. . co● . c. . casuale est omne quod foemina est , ejus societas semper infesta , est , foedere suo magnas molestias praestat , & cui adhaeserit contra fas , insanabilem ingerit plagam : de carbonibus scintillae dissiliunt , de ferro rubigo intritur , morbos aspides sibilent , & mulier fundit concupiscentiae malum . aug. lib. de singularit . cler. aculeus peccati est forma foeminea , & mortis conditio non aliunde surrexit quam de muliebri substantia : separamini deprecor à contagione pestifera . quantumcunque fuerit unusquisque longius ab adversis , rantum non sentit adversa . et minus voluptatibus stimulatur , ubi non est frequentia voluptatum , & minus avaritiae molestias patitur , qui divitias non videt . cyp & aug de singularit . cler. * incipit licitus amor conjugio , sed adhuc carnalis est , quia communis cum pecoribus . secundus est amor filiorum , sed adhuc & ipse carnalis , non enim est laudandus qui amat filios , sed detestandus qui non amat filios suos ; si vero non amaveris tuos , à serpentibus vinceris . aug. l. . hom. . alius amor est propinquorum : jam esse videtur proprius hominis , si non consuetudinis , qui tamen amat propinquos adhuc sanguinem suum amat ; amet alios qui non sunt propinqui suscipiat peregrinum , jam ●ultum dilatatus est amor . tantum autem crescit , ut à conjuge ad filios , à ●●liis ad propinquos , à propinquis ad extraneos , ab extraneis ad inimicos perveniat . idem ibid. viditque deus cuncta quae fecerat , & erant valde bona . gen. . respondent & singula quaque eleamenta clamantia , & ipsis suis operibus suum demonstrantia artificem . aug lib. de symbolo , tract . creaturae dei in odium factae sunt , & in tentationem animabus hominum , & in mulcipulā pedibus insipientium . sap. . aliquando no● mundus dilectatione retraxit à deo ; nunc tantis p●agis plenus est , ut ipse nos jam mundus mittat ad deum . ipsas ejus amaritudines amamus , fugientem sequimur , persequentem diligimus , & labenti inhaeremus , greg. hom. . in evang. nulla pugna est sine malo , cum enim pugnatur , aut bonum pugnat & malum , aut malum & malum : aut si duo bona pugnant inter se , ipsa pugna est magnum malum , aug. l. . contra iulian. c. ● . diligis enim omnia quae sunt , & nihil odisti eorum quae fecisti sap. c. . pulchrior est v●ritas christianorum quam fuit helena graecorum : & pro illa fortius nostri martyres adversus sodomam quam pro illa illi tyrones adversus trojam dimicaveru●t . aug. . hieronym . homines amant veritatem lucentem , oderunt eam redarguentem . aug. lib. confess . c. . puer est ? aetati donetur , nescit an peccet : mulier est ? errat . laesus est ? non est injuria pati quod prior ipse feceris . rex est ? si nocentem punit , cede justitiae ; si innocentem , cede fortunae . bonus vir est qui injuriam fecit ? noli credere . malus est ? noli mirari . dabit poenas alteris quas debet sibi & jam sibi dedit , quia peccavit . sen. l ▪ de ira. c. . inpunita tu credis esse quae invisa sunt ? aut ullum supplicium gravius existimas publico 〈◊〉 sen. l. . b●nefi● . c. . perfecto ●dio oderam illos ; & inimici facti sunt mihi . psal. . perfectum odium est quod nec justitia , nec scientia caret ; at nec propter vitia oderis homines , nec vitia propter homines diligas aug. lib. de vera innocent . qu●m verum est quod regnum coelorum vim patitur , & qui vim faciunt diripiant illud ? quanta enim opus est , ut homo diligat in●micum , & oderit seips●●● utrumque enim jubet , qui ●d regnum 〈◊〉 - rum vocat . aug , l. . de serm. domini in monte c. . qui amat animam suam , perdet eam ; & qui odit animam suam in hoc mundo , in vitam aeternam custodit eam ioan. . magna & mira sententia , quēadmodum sic hominis in animam suam amor ut pereat , odium ne pereat : si male amaveris tunc odisti : si bene oderis , tunc amasti . foelices , qui oderunt custodiendo , ne perdant amando . aug tract . . in ioan. honestum ei vile est , cui corpus nimis charum est . agatur ejus diligentissime cura : ita tamen ut cum exigit ratio , cum dignitas , cum fides , in ignem mittendum sit . sen. ep. . major sum , & ad majora genitus , quam ut mancipium sim corporis mei : quod equidem non aliter aspicio quam vinculum aliquod libertati meae circundatum . nunquam me caro ista compellet ad metum , nunquam ad indignam bono viro simulationem , nunquam in honorem hujus corpusculi mentiar . sen. ep. . cum visum fuerit , distraham cum illo societatem ; & nunc tamen cum haeremus , non erimus aequis partibus : animus ad se omne ejus ducet contemptus corporis sui certa libertas . idem ibidem . philosophi fu erunt epicurei & stoici : illi secundum car nem , isti secun dum animam viventes ; sed nec isti , nec illi secundum de um viventes . contulerunt illi cum apostolo dum erat athenis . dice bat epicureus , mihi frui carne bonum est : di cebat stoicus , mihi frui mea mente , bonum est : dicebat apostolus , mi hi adhaerere deo bonum est errat epicureus , fallitur & stoicus ; beatus enim est cujus nomen domini spes ejus . aug. lib. de verbis apostoli . serm. . quid enim est quod cum labore meminimus , ine labore obliviscimur ; cum labore discimus , sine labore inertes sumus ? nonne hinc apparet in quid , velut pondere suo , proclivis sit vitiosa natura , & quanta ope , ut hinc liberetur , indigeat ● aug. l. de civ . dei. c . odit te deus qualis es ; sed amat te qualem vult te esse et tu debes te odisse qualis es aegrum enim attende : aeger aegrotantem se odit qualis est : inde incipit concordare cum medico , quia & medicus odit eum qualis est . nam ideo vult sanum esse , quia odit eum febricitantem : & est medicus febris persccutor , ut sit hominis liberator . sic peccata tua febres sunt animae tuae , & ideo debes eas cum deo medico odisse . aug. lib. de decem chordis . c. . desideria occidunt pigrum . prov. . inventa est mulier , quae pati maluit exilium , quam desiderium . sen. de consolat . ad helvet . c . desiderium habens dissolvi & esse cum ch●isto . phil. cap. . tradidit illos deus in desideria cordis eorum . rom. . beatitudo desideriorum quies . d. thom. qni optat , honorat . tert. de poenitent . desiderium honor rei desideratae , & dedecus d●sideranti . dixi domino , deus meus es tu , quoniam bonorum meorum non eges . psal. . deus passim in scripturis vocatur sadui . id est . sibi sufficiens . ecce nos reliquimus omnia , & secuti sumus te , quid ergo erit nobis ? matth. . multum deseruit qui voluntatem habendi dereliquit . a sequentibustanta relicta sunt , quanta à non sequentibus desiderari potuerunt . greg. magn. hom . . in evang. infinita à concupiscentia existente , homines infinita desiderant . arist. . polit. c. . cumte habet anima , plenum est desiderium ejus ; & jam nihii assud quod destderetur , exterius restat . du n autem aliquid exterius desiderat , manifestum est quod ie non ●abet interius ; quo habito nihil est quod ultra desideret . si autem creaturam deside at , continuam famem habet ; quia licet quod desiderat de creaturis adipiscatur , vacua tamen remanet , quia nihil est quod eam impleat , nisi tu , ad cujus imaginem est creata . aug. soliloq . c. . bonae animae male precantur , & si vis foelix esse , deum ora , ne quid tibi ex his quae optantur , eveniat . senec. iam non admiror si omnia nos à prima pueritia mala sequntur : inter execrationes parentum crevimus . sen ep. . tantum miscere vitia desideriis noli . sen ep. . ad legem naturae revertamur , divitiae paratae funt : aut gratuitum est quo egemus aut vide , panem & aquam natura desiderat ; nemo ad haec pauper est sen. ep. . luxuria ebore sustineri vult , purpura vestiri , auro tegi , terrā transferre , maria concludere , flumina praecipitare , nemora suspendere . sen. . . delra . c. ult . arist. ethic. c. . ambitiosa non est fames , contenta desinere est , quo desinat non nimis curat . sen. ep. . inter reliqua , hoc nobis natura praestitit , praecipuum , quod necessitati fastidium excussit . idem ibidem . attonitus novitate mali , divesque miserque , effugere optat opes , & quae modo viverat , odit . ovid. metam . . de mida . cui enim assecuto satis fuit , quod optanti nimium videbatur ? sen. ep. . qui desiderium iuum clausit , cum jove de felicitate contendit . sen. non concupisces . exod. . magnus ille est qui fictilibus sic utitur , quēadmodum argento : nec ille minor est qui sic argentutitur , quem admodum fictilibus . infirmi animi est , pati non posse divitias . sen. ep. . idem sentias de voluptatibus & honoribus . alienum est quicquid optando venit . sen. hoc est propositum deo , ostendere haec quae vulgus appetit , quae reformidat , nec bona esse , nec mala : apparebunt autem bona esse , si illa non nisi bonis viris tribuerit , & mali tantum irrogaverit . sen. de provid . c. clamat sol , quid me colis ut deum , quem vides ortu occasuque concludi ? deus nec ortum habet nec occasum ; sed illum deserendo magnum incucurristi casum : cum antem calor & splendor meus tibi differviant , quomodo me pro deo colendum ducis , nisi quia deum verum colere nescis ? aug. . de symbolo . tract . . abyssus abyssum invocat . psal. . deus totus desiderabilis ; homo totus desideria . vas desideriorum ipsa infusione crescit . chrysost. apud deum voces non faciunt verba , fed desideria . greg. magn. desideratus cunctis gentibus . aggaei c. . vir desiderorum . dan c. . homines flagella sua dolent , pecc●ta sua non dolent propter quae flagellantur . greg. magn. justissima scias essa illa fulmina , quae percussi etiam colunt . seuec. consolat ad polyb. omne malum aut timore aut pudore natura perfudit . tert. in apol. sunt virtu●ibus vitia confinia , & perditis quoque ac turpibus recti similitudo est sic mentitur prodigus liberalem : cum plurimum intersit , utrum quis dare sciat , an servare nesciat . sen. ep. . omnia in christianorum pia certamina , sola dura sunt praelia castitatis , ubi quotidiana pugna & tara victoria : gravem castitas fortita est inimicum , cui semper resistitur , & semper timetur . nemo ergo se salsa securitate decipiat , nec d● viribus suis periculose praesumat , nec cum mulieribus habitans , putet continentiae obtinere triumphum . aug. lib. de honest. mulier cap . lugentem timentemque custodire solemus , ne solitudine male utatur : nemo est ex imprudentibus qui relinqui sibi debeat . tunc quicquid aut me●u aut pudore celebat animus expromit : tunc audaciam acuit , libidinem irritat , iracundiam instigat . sen. ep. . omne hac via . procedit officium , sic serimus , sic militamur , sic uxores ducimus , sic liberos colimus ; cum omnium horum incertue sit eventus . sen. benefic . l. . c. . ad ea accedlmus , de quibus bene sperandum esse credimus . qui enim pollicetur serenti proventum , naviganti portum , militanti victoriam , marito pudicam uxorem , patri pios liberos ? ●dem ibid. spes incerti boni nomen est . sen. ep. . quemadmodum eadem catena & custodem & militem copulat , sic ista quae tam dissimilia sunt , pariter incedunt , spem metus sequitur ; nec miror ista sic ire , utrumque ; pendentis animi est , utrumque ; futuri expectatione solliciti ; sen. ep. . et fera & piscis , spe aliquo oblectante decipitur . sen. ep. . memoriae minimum tribuit , quisquis spei plurimum . sen. benef. l. . c. . haec est pars temporis nostri sacra ac dedicata , omnes humanos casus supergresla , extra fortunae regnum subducta ; quem non inopia , non metus , non morborum incursus exagitat . haec nec turbari , nec eripi potest : perpetua ejus & intrepida possessio est . sen. de brevis . ●it . c. . nolite ergo soliciti esse in crastinum . crastinus enim dies solicitus erit sibiipsi ● sufficit diei malitia sua . matth. . quam stultum est aetatem disponere● ne crastino quidem dominamur . o quanta dementia est spes longas inchoantium ! edam , aedificabo , credam , exigam , honores geram , tum demum lassam & plenam senectutem , in otium referam . omnia mihi , crede , etiam felicibus dubia sunt : nihil sibi quisquam de futuro debet promittere . sen. ep. . aurum nomen terrae in igni relinquit , at que exinde de tormentis in ornamenta , de suppliciis in delicias , de ignominiis in honores metalli refuga mutatur . tert. de habitu mulieb . umbra picturae , labor fine fructu . sap. . vidistinequam iutra paucas horas ille ordo quamvis lentus dispositusque transicrit ? hoc . totam vitam occupabit , totum diem occupare non potuit . sen ep. . quid miraris ? quid stupes ? pompa est : ostenduntur istae res , non possidentur , & dum placent transeunt . sen. ibid. quod oculus non vidit , nec auris audivit , nec in cor hominis ascendit , quae praeparavit deus iis qui diligunt illum . cor. . spes est ultimum adversarum terum solatium . sen. . controv . . alia genera mortis spei mixta sunt . definit morbus , incendium extinguitor , ruina quos videbatur oppressura , deposuit ; mare quos hauserit , eadem vi qua sorbebat , ejecit incolumes : gladium miles ab ipsa perituri cervice revocavit . nihil habet quod speret , quem senectus ducit ad mortem . sen. ep. . scit se peregrinam in terris agere , inter extraneous facile inimicos invenire : caeterum genus , sedem , spem , gratiam , dignitatem , in coelis habere . ters in apol. spes non confundit , quia infundit certitudinem ; per haue enim ipse spiritus testimonium perhibet spiritui nostro quod sumus filii dei. bern. in cant. . fortitudinem gentilium mundana cupiditas , fortitudinem christianorum dei charitas facit , quae diffusa est in cordibus nostris , non per voluntatis arbi , rium , sed per spiritum sanctum qui datus est nobis . aug. l. l. oper . imperf . cont . iul. spes patientiae anima . unde b. iacob . illas confundit , dum dicit , patientes estote fratres , usque ad adventum domini : ecce agricola expectat pretiosum fructum terrae &c. iac. cap. . quae quidem patientia spes almixta , aut potius innixa videtur . tolle spem hominibus , nemo victus retentabit arma ; nemo infeliciter expertus negotiationem alios appetet quaestus : nemo naufragus vivet . sen. controv . . finis spei , felicitas aeterna . aug. quam spem sicut anchoram habemus animae tutam ac firmam heb. . in omnibus sumentes scutum fidei , in quo possitis omnia tela nequissimi ignea extinguere . eph p. . non est spes nostra de hoc saecula ; ab amore hujus saeculi vocati sumus , ut aliud saeculum speremus aug. l. . de ve●b . dom. serm. . liquet mihi cum magno spectasse gaudio deos , cum vir ille , acerrimus sui vindex gladium sacro pectori infigit , dum viscera spargit , & animam manu educit sen. de provid . c. . catoui ebrietas objecta est : ac facilius efficiet , quisqus objecerit , hoc crimen hon●slum quam turpem catonem sen. de tranquil . animi . c. . arimus ex ipsa desperatione sumitur : ignavissima animalia , quae natura ad fugam genuit , ubi exitus non paret , tentant fugam corpore imbelli nullus pernicior hostis est quam quem audacem angustia faciunt . majora , aut certe paria , conatur animus magnu ac perdi●us . sen. quaest. ● atur . l. c. . adhuc cum diffidit , & suam nequitiam comparat dei benignitati , finem imponit virtuti dei , dans finem infinito , & perfectionem auferens deo , cui nihil deest , etiam quod cogitari non potest . aug. . de vera & falsa poenitent cap. . propter illos qui desperatione periclitantur , proposuit indulgentiae portum ; propter eos vero qui spe periclitantur , & dilationibus illuduntur , fecit diem mortis incertum . aug. l. . d● verb. dom. serm. . quid sunt benae spei , sunt audaces arist. lib. ethic c. . alius ille vix rerum naturam sufficere , angusta esse classibus maria , militi castra , explicandis equestribus copiis campestria , vix patet coelum ad emittenda omni m●nu tela . sen. laconas tibi oftendo in ipfis thermopylarum angustiis positos , nec victoriam sperantes , nec reditum : ille locus istis se pulchrum suturus est sen. ep. . quam fortiter leonidas milites allocutus est ? sic commilitones prandete , tanquam apud inferos coenaturl . sen. ibid. non est quod me victum , te victorem credas , vicit fortuna tua fortunam meam . sen. de cons. sap c . . qui bene se habent ad divina , audaciores sunt . arist. l. . rhetoric . cap . nec audacem quidem timoris absolvimus , nec prodigum quidem avaritia liberamus sen l. . benefic . c. . audaces temeritate provecti , ante cupiunt adire pericula quam instant ? cum adsunt , ea defugiunt . arist. l. . eth. c. . vides fortitudinis matrem esse prudentiam , nec fortitudinem sed temeritatem esse quemlibet ausum quem non parturivit prudentia . bern. de consider . l. . alexandro erat pro virtute soelix temeritas . sen. benefic l. ▪ c. . — medias prorumpe procellas , tutela secure mei . — lucan . fortitudo est scientia periculorum excipiendorum , repellendorum , & provocandorum . sen. benesic . l. . c. . singula vicere jam multi . ignem mutius , crucem regulus , venenum socrates , exilium camillus , mortem ferri adactam cato : & nos vincamus aliquid . sen. f. p. . catalina praeditus fortitudine videbatur , sed fortitudo non erat ; nam prudens non erat : mala enim pro bonis eligebat ; temperans non erat , corruptelis enim turpissimis foedabatur justus non erat , nam contra patriam conjura●erat ; ideo non furtitudo , sed duritia , cui fortitudinis nomen , ut stultos falleret , imponebat aug. l de sententia iacobi ad hi●rom . magrum est discrim●n inter eum qui v●rtutem magni facit , aut qui vitam parvi aestimat : nam semet in vitae discrimen conjicere , aut in foelicium est aut belluarum . cic. in caton . omnis fortitudo in humilitate sita est , quia fragilis est omnis superbia aug. in ps . re vera fortis pugnat , qul contra se pugnat . aug serm. . de nativit . domini . ne tum fortuna principis potius loquantur quam cum inso tacit. . in histor. primus in orbe deos fecit timor stat. male de nobis actum erat quod multa scelera legem & judicem effugiunt , & scripta supplicia , nisi illa naturalia & gravia de praesentibus soiverent , & in locum poenitentiae timor cederet . sen. ep. . epicuri argumentum , natura nos à scelere abhorrere , quod omnibus malis etiam inter tuta timor est sen. ep. . timor securitatis mater . nemo tam timidus est ut malit semper pendere quam semel cadere . sen. ep. . tela praevisa minus feriunt . sucque simillima coelo . obstupui , steteruntque comae , vox faucibus haesit . vir. — pedibus timor addidit alas . audacem fecerat ips● timor . hic rogo , non furor est , ne moriare , mori ? mart. adjice nunc quod qui timetur timet ; nemo potuit esse terribilis secure . sen. ep. ; multum prodest qui docet quid sit justitia , quid fortitudo , quid mortis contemptus , quid deorum intellectus , quantum bonum sit bona conscientia . ergo si tempus ad studia con●er as non deserueris , nec manus detractaveris . sen. de tranqui● . anim . c. . otium sine literis mois est , & hominis viva sepultura , sen. ep. . nam ' qui re & homines fugit , quem cupiditatum suarum infelicitas relegavit , qui alios feliciores videre non potuit , qui v●lut timidum atque iners animal metu oblituit , ille non sibi vivit , sed ven ▪ tri , somno , libidini . sen. ep. . dicit piger leo est in ieon● in itineribus ; sicut ostium vertitur in cardine suo , ita piger in lectulo suo . prov. . pigrum dejicit timor . pro. . pavor sapientiam omnem mihi expectorat . terent. prudentia praesentia ordinat , futura praevidet , praeterita recordatur . vi●ruv . consiliari quoddam divinum est . arist. si vis omnem solicitudinem exuere , quicquid vereris ne eveniat , eventurum utique propone ; & quodcunque illud malum est , tecum metire . sen. ep. tolle istam pompam sub qua lates , & stultos territas : mors es quam nuper servus meus , quam ancilla contempsit . et qui redire nescit ut periit pudor . sen in agamemn . quam peccare pudet cy'nthia , tuta sat est . propert. itaque quod unum habebant in malis , honum perdunt , peccandi verecundiam : laudant enim ea quibus erubescebant , & vitio gloriantur : ideoque nec resurgere quidam adolescentiae licet , cum honestus turpi desidiae titulus accessit . sen de vita beata . c . ira , sicut & ultio , doloris confessio est . sen. de ira. l. . c. . nulli irascenti sua ira videtur injusta . aug. l. de vera innocent . c. . . iram saepe misericordia retroegit . sen. l. de ira. c. . haec non est ira , feritas est ; nec illi verbera , in ultionem petuntur , sed in voluptatem . sen. l. . de ira. c. . calcar est virtutis , hac erepta , inermis , animus , & ad conatus magnos piger , inersque . ar. in sen. l. . de ira. c. . naturae curis debemus quod hanc furorem contraxerit , actum esset de hominibus si pertinax ira fuisset : adhuc cum brevi duret , quid pejus ? aspice nobilissimarum civitatum fundamenta vix notabilia , has ira dejecit . alpice solitudines per multa millia sine habitatione desertas : has ira exhausit . aspice tot memoriae proditos duces , mali exempla fati , alium ira in c●bili suo confodit , alium inter sacra mensae percussit , alium filii paricidio dare sanguinem jussit . son. lib. . de ira. c. . perseveramus ne videamur coepisse sine causa ; pertinaciores nos facit iniquitas irae , & augemus ; quasi argumentum sit juste irascendi graviter irasci . sen. l . de ira. c. . ira patri luctum , marito divortium attulit , magistratui odium , candidato repulsum . sen. . de ira. cap. nihil est simultatibus gravius : has ira conciliat . nihil est bello funestius : in hoc potentium ira prorumpit . sen. . de ira. c. . nullam transit aetatem , nullum hominum genus excipit , tam inter graios quam barbaros potens : non minus pernitiosa leges metuentibus , quam quibus jura distiguit modus virium . sen. . de ira. c. . caetera viri● singulos homines corrip●●●● hic unus a●●●ctus est qui interdum pu●●lice coucipitu● . sen. . de ira. cap. . non paulatim procedit , sed dum incipit tota est : caetera vitia impellunt animos , ira praecipitat . sen. . de ira . cap. . in armis ira obliviscitur martem esse communem , venitque in alienam potestatem dum non est in sua . sen. . de ira. cap. . ne illud quidem judicandum est , aliquid iram ad animi magnitudinem conferre , non est enim illa magnitudo , tumor est : tantumque abest à magnitudine animi , quantū à fortitudine audacia a fiducia insolentia , à severitate crudelitas . sen. l. . de ira. c. . nulla res magis iracundiam alit quam luxuria . sen. de ira. c. . non est caput nequius super caput colubri , & non est ira supra irā mulieris . eccl. . perierunt omnia , ubi quantum suadet ira , fortuna permittit . sen. . de ira. c. . pepercisse illum judicas quod non tota capita praecidit novo genere poenae delectatus est . sen . de ira. c. . agebat adhuc ira regem praecipitem ; cum partem exercitus amisisset , partem cotredisset ; donec timuit , ne & ipse vocaretur in sortem , tum demum signum receptui dedit . sen. . de ira. c. . ultimae enim patientiae vi sum est , eum ferre , qui jovem , non ferret . sen. de ira. l. . c. ult . non pietas iram movet , sed infirmitas ; sicut pueri , qui tam parentibus amissis flebunt , quam nucibus : irasci pro suis non est pii animi , sed infirmi . sen. . de ira. cap. . in humarum verbum est & quidem pro justo receptum ustio ; & à contumelia non differt nisi ordine ; qui dolorem regerit , tantum excusatiùs peccat . sen. . de ira. cap. . orandum est pro inimicis , ut aut obtineatur ipsorum conversio , aut in nobis divinae bonitatis inveniatur imitatio aug. l. de vera innocent . sanctae partes sunt , si universum venerabile est : ergo & homo homini sacer est , nam hic in majore tibi urbe civis est . sen. . de ira. cap. . in voluptates & vitia descenditur ; in res asperas & duras subeundum est , hic impellamus animos , illic refraenemus . sen. ep. . nihil ex his quae tristes agimus , serium est , nihil magnum : inde vobis ira & insania est , quod exigua magni aestimatis . sen . de ira. c. . quod vinculum amoris esse debebat , seditionis atque odii causa est , idem velle . sen. . de ira. c. . non est magnus animus , quem incurvat injuria : aut potentior te , an t imbecilior jaesit , si imbecillior , parce illi , si potentior , parce tibi . sen. l. . de ira. c. . in fine . dat ioseph sr●tribus munera ▪ quasi vellet solvere beneficium venditionis , proditionis , ejectionis in cisternam : non enim regnasset nisi veniisset . philo iudae . precibusque minas regaliter addit . ovid. . metam . accipietarmaturam zelus illius , induet pro thorace justitiam , & accipiet pro galea judicium certum : sumet scutum inexpugnabile aequitatem , acuet autem duram iram in lanceam , & pugnabit cum illo orbis terrarum contra insensatos . sap. cap. . sicut sremitus leonis , ita & regis ira , & sicutros super herbam , ita & hilaritas ejus . prov. . interim optimum est misericordiae genus , occidere . sen. . de ira. c. . salobrius est irae etiam juste pulsanti non aperire penetrale cordis , quam admittere non facie recessuram , & perventuram de surculo in trabem . aug. ep. ad profutur . plato vetat igne ignem excitare . sen. l. . de ira. c. . volo vos irasci ut non peccetis ; quibus habetis irasci nisi vobis . aug. horn. . ex. ad summa pervenit , qui scit quo gaudeat , & qui foelicitaten● suam in aliena potestate non posuit . sen. ep. . non est oblectamentum super cordis gaudium . eccl. c. . habet praeteriti doloris recordatio delectationem cic. l. . ep. omne opus leve fieri solet , cum ejus pretium cogitatur , & spes proemii solatium fit laboris . hieron . in ep. ipsae voluptates in tormenta vertuntur . sen. ep. . voluptas vergit ad dolorem nisi modum teneat , veri autem boni aviditas tuta est . sen. ep. . in profoso gaudio lachrymae erumpunt . tert. voluptas fragilis est & brevis , cujus subinde necesse est , aut nos poeniteat aut pudeat . sen. benif . l . c. . nunc vero quam longe processerunt mala valetudinis ? has usuras voluptatum pendimus , ultra modum fasque concupitarum innumerabiles esse ● morbos miraris ? coquos numera . sen. ep. . — tunc juvat aut amnis vagi pressisse ●ipas , cespite aut ●udo leves duxisse somnos excussa sylvis poma compescunt famem , et fraga parvis vulsa dumetis cibos faciles ●●●inistrant . sen. in hipol . quaeris quid sit hominis bonum ? animus , & ratio in animo perfecta . rationale enim animal est homo●consummatur itaque ejus bonum , si id adimplevit cui natus est . sen. ep. . quid ex idae platonicis traham , quod cupiditates meas comprimat ? vel ho● ipsum , quod omnia ●sta quae sensibus serv●unt , quae nos accendunt ac irritant , negat plato ex iis esse quae vere sint . igitur ista imaginaria sunt , & ad tempus aliquā faciem ferunt , nihil horu● stabile nec solidum est . son. ep. . apud epicureos ●virtus voluptatum ministra est , illis paret , illis deservit , illas supra se videt . primae autem partes ejus sunt ducere debet , imperare , summo loco stare ; hi vero jubent illam signum petere . sen. benif . . c . qui epicuret●● sequitur bonum , malae rei quaerit authorem , & dum ille renit blando nomine inductus , sequitur voluptatem , non quem andit , sed quam a●ulit , & vitia su a cum coepit putare similia praeceptis , indulget illis nontimide nec obscure . sen de vita beata . ●ap . . qui virtutem suam publicari vult , non virtuti laborat , sed gloriae . non vis esse justus sine gloria ? ac saepe justus esse debebas cum infamia . sen. ep. . male agit qui famae , non conscientiae gratus est . sen. benefic . c. . gloriam qui spreverit verā habebit . livius dec. . lib. . sunt qui scire volunt tantum ut sciant ; & turpis curiositas est . sunt qui scire volunt , ut scientiam suam vendant , & turpis quaestus est . et sunt qui scire volunt ut sciantur ipsi , & turpis vanitas est . et sunt qui scire volunt , ut aedificent , & charitas est . et sunt qui scire volunt ut aedisicentur , & prudentia est . bern. in cant. hom. . infelix homo qui ista scit omnia , te autem nescit ; beatus autem qui te scit , etiamsi illa nesciat ; qui vero te & illa novit , non propter illa beatior , sed propter te solum beatus est . aug . confes. cap. . majore tormento pecunia possidetur quam quaeritur . sen. ep. . laborat invidia , & quidem duplici ; vides autem quam fit miser is cui invidetur , & qui invidet . sen. ep. . plus scire velle quam sit satis , intemperantiae genus est . sen. ep. . volupras natura divinum quiddam est infitum mortalibus . arist. . ethic. cap. . perficit actionem voluptas , & in omni sensu quaedam delectatio versatur . arist. . . ethic. c. . rerum actiones undique absolutas , voluptas efficit , vitam etiam cajus cupiditate incensi sumus omnes . arist. . . ethic. c. . docetur amare meliora per amaritudinem , ne viator tendens in patriam , stabulum a●●et pro do●● aug. hoc me docuisti ut quemadmodum medicamenta , sic alimenta sumpturus accedam . aug. . confes. c. . interrogas quid petam ex virtute ? ipsam : nihil enim est melius , ipsa predium fui est . aun hoc parum magnum est ? quad mihi voluptatem nominas ? hominis bonum quaero , non pecoris . sen. de vita beatae cap. . cum salus sit causa ed●ndi ac bibendi , adjungit se tanquam pedissequa periculosa jucunditas , & plerumque praeire conatur , ut ejus causa siat quod salutis causa me facere vel dico vel volo . aug. . conf. c. . modo gaudium nostrum , fratres mei , in spe sit , ne●ro gaudeat quasi in re praesenti , ne haereat in via : totum gaudium de spe futura sit . aug. tract . in ioan. miscet tribulationes gaudiis terrenis , ut sentientes amaritudinem , discamus aeternam desiderare dulcedinem . aug. in psal. . triumphat victor imperator ; non vicisset nisi pugnasset , & quanto majus est gaudium in triumpho , aug. . . cap. . edendi & bibendi voluptas nulla est . nisi praecedat esuriendi & sitiendi molestia . i de n ibidem . saeculi laetitia est impunita nequitia . aug. nullum quodlibet scelus coram deo tam abominabile sit quam de peccat is gaudere , atque in eis semper jaceae . aug. lib. de salutar . docum , c. . omnibus crimen suum volupt ati est ; laetatur ille adulterio , laetatur ille furto . sen. si gaudes de nummo , times furem ; si autem gaudes de deo , quid times ? ne tibi quisquam auserat deum ? deum tibi nemo ausert , si tu eum non dimiseris . aug. in psal. . vincat gaudium in domino , donec siniatur gaudium in saeculo ; gaudium iu domino semper augeatur , gaudium in faeculo semper minuatur donec siniatur . aug. . . de verb. dom. serm. . homo animal querulum eupido suis incumbens miseriis . apul. voluptas tune cum maxime delectat extinguitur , nec multum loci habet , it aque cito implet , & taedio est , & post primum impetum marcet . sen. de vita beata c . scio rem non esse in nostra potestate , nec ulium affectum servire , maxime vero eum qui ex dolore nascitur . sen. consol. ad helviam . c. . proba istas quae voluptates vocantur , ubi transcenderint modum , poenas esse . sen. ep. . corpus hoe animi pondus ac poena est ▪ premente illo urgetur , in vinculis est . sen. ep. . quid faciet animus ut non doleat cum corpus vulneratur aut uritur , cui tanto implicatur consortio ut pati possit , non dolere non possir . aug. de gratia nov. test. quaest . . o philosophia tyrannica sunt praecepta tua : amare jubes , & fi quis amiserit quod amabat , dolere prohibes . stob. serm. . si egregium est hostem dejicere , non minus tamen laudabile infelicis scire misereri . val. max. lib. . devovet absentes , simulachraque caerea fingit : et miserum tenues in jecur urget acus . ovid. in e●ist . dolores qui dicuntur carnis , animae sunt in carne & ex carne : quid enim caro per feipsam sine anima vel dolet vel concupiseit ? aug. . . de civ . dei. c. . dolet anima cum corpore , cum co●oco dolet ubilaeditur corpus ; dolet fola in corpore cum tristis est ; dol●t extra corpus , ut anima divitis in inferno ; corpus antem nee exanime dolet , nee animatum sine anima do● . aug. . . de civ . dei. cap. . curae leves loquuntur in●entes stupent . sen. ●●aged . 〈…〉 ci 〈…〉 de 〈…〉 e , 〈…〉 icos 〈…〉 res : 〈…〉 uper 〈…〉 ft , 〈…〉 , vel 〈…〉 ●ede●um ●●nce , sustine mater . — est quaeiam flere voluptas : expletur lach●ymis , egeriturque dolor . ovid. . trist. homo adest dolorisuo , nee ●antum quantum sentit , sed quantum constituit , co afficitur sen. consol. ad marc. c. . potest quidem cloquentia tua quae parva funt approbare pro magnis , fed alio ista vires fervet fuas , nunc se tota in solatium tuum confert . noli contra te ingenio tuo uti , noli adesse dolori tuo . sen. ad polyb. c. plerique lachrymas : fundunt ut oftendant , & toties siccos oculos habent ; quoties spectator desuit : adeo penitus hoc se malum fixit , ut in simulationem , etiam simplicissima res dolor veniat . sen. de tranquil , c. . nulla res citius venit in odium , quam dolor . sen. ep. . id agamus , ut jucunda fiat nobis amissorum recordatio . nemo libenter ad id redit , quod non sine tormento cogitaturus est . sen. ep. . virtut is comes invidia est , plerunque bonos sectatur . cic. . ad heren . mala caetera habent terminum : invidia aurem est malum jugiter perseverans , & sine fine peccatum : hinc vultus minax , pallor in facie , stridor in dentibus , manus ad caedem prompta , etiamsi a gladio interim vacua , odio tamen furiatae mentis armata . cypr. ser. de livore . nunquam eminentia invidia carent : assidua est eminentis fortunae comes invidia , altissimisque semper adhaeret , vel. peter cul . lib. . invidia pestiferum malum , hominem in daemonem convertit , per eam mors venit in mundum , propter ipsam abel est interemptus , david caedis periculum subiit , & iudai christum interfecerunt . chrys in hom. invidia vitium diabolicum quo solo diabolus reus est : non enim ei dicitur ut dānetur , adulterium commisisti , furtum ●fecisti , villam alienā rapuisti , sed homini stanti invidisti . aug. l. . de doctrina christi . obirascens . fortunae invidus , & de seculo querens , & in angulos se retrahens , poenae incubat suae . sen. de tranquil . c. . invidia , quae semper sibi est inimica : nam qui invidet sibi quidem ignominiam facit , illi autem qui invidet , gloriam parit , chrys. sup matth. invidia parvulum occidit . iob. c. . sinon invideris , major eris : nam qui invidet , minor est . sen. in proverb . nostra nos sine comparatione delectent : nunquam erit foelix , quem torquebit foelicior . sen. . . de ira c. . — lachrymae volvuntur inanes ? mens immota manet . virg. ae●eid . in hoc omnis hyperbole extenditur , ut ad verum mendacio veniat . nunquam tantum sperat quantum audet ; sed incredib●lia ass●rmat , ut ad credibilia perveni●t . sen ●enes . . . c. . maxima est peccati poena , fecisse : nec quisquam gravius afficitur , quàm qui ad supplicium poenitentiae traditur . sen. . . de ira c. . scit deus noster non sempo● hominem integrum stare , sed frequenter aut peccare corpore , aut vacillare s●rmon● : [ deo poenitentia viam docuit , per quam possit & destructa corrigere , & lapsa reparare . aug. de poenit. non separentur in mercede & in poena , anima & caro , quas opera conjungit . tert. . de resurrect . carn . cap. . nunquam sap●entem facti sui poenitere , nunquam emendare quod fecerit , nec mutare consilium jactant stoici . sen. benef. . . c. . calamitosus est animus suturi anxius , & ante miserias miser qui futuro torquetur . sen. ep. . quid luges quem suscitare non potes ? non lugerem , si suscitare possem . cynic . cum igitur poenitentia provolvit hominem , magis relevat : cum squalidum facie , magis mundatum reddit : cum accusat , excusat : cum condemnat , absolvit . tert. de paenit . c. . misericordia vitium est animorum nimis miseriae faventium . sen. . . de clem. c. . bonum est delere de malis aliorum , & pia est illa tristitia , & , si dici potest , beata miseria . aug. ad sebast. ep. quid est autem misericordia , nisi alienae miseriae quaedam in nostro corde compassio , qua utique si possimus , subvenire compellimur ? aug. . de civ . dei. c. . nihil ad misericordiam sic inclinat , atque proprii periculi cogitatio . aug. ad gal. misericordia virtus tantaest , ut sine illa , caetera etsi esse possint , prodesse tamen non possint : quamvis enim aliquis sit castus & sobrius , si misericors tamen non est , misericordiam non meretur . d. leo. in ser. servit antem iste motus rationi , quando ita praebetur misericordia , ut justitia conservetur : five cum indigenti tribuitur , five cum ignoscitur poenitenti , aug. . de civ . dei. c. . the mysterie of the holy government of our affections contayning their nature, originall, causes, and differences. together with the right ordering, triall, and benefit thereof: as also resoluing diuers cases of conscience, incident hereunto. very necessarie for the triall of sinceritie, and encreasing in the power of godlinesse. the first booke. cooper, thomas, fl. . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) the mysterie of the holy government of our affections contayning their nature, originall, causes, and differences. together with the right ordering, triall, and benefit thereof: as also resoluing diuers cases of conscience, incident hereunto. very necessarie for the triall of sinceritie, and encreasing in the power of godlinesse. the first booke. cooper, thomas, fl. . 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apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images - emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread - emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the mysterie of the holy government of our affections . contayning their nature , originall , causes , and differences . together with the right ordering , triall , and benefit thereof : as also resoluing diuers cases of conscience , incident hereunto . very necessarie for the triall of sinceritie , and encreasing in the power of godlinesse . the first booke . london , printed by bernard alsop , and are to be sold at his house , at s. annes church , neere aldersgate . to the right honorable , worshipfull , and my very bountifull benefactors , the hon : sir thomas smith , most worthie gouernour of the east indian company , together with the graue committees , & the rest of that famous societie : all health and happinesse . right honorable , worshipfull , and dearly beloued in our lord iesus : it hath beene an ancient and laudable custome of the church of god , as to ordaine generally certaine ordinarie loue-feasts and christian meetings , for the more comfortable exercise and maintenance of brotherly loue , which is the bond of perfection : so more especially , when the lord hath enlarged himselfe in any extraordinarie fauour vnto his church , by deliuering the same out of some desperate and inexplicable danger . we haue not onely the expresse commaund of god , to be enlarged in thankfulnesse accordingly , but to expresse our thankefulnesse : as principally by exercising our selues in psalmes and hymnes , and spirituall reioycings ; so also ( to testifie our renued interest in the creatures , which such extremities might haue vtterly depriued vs of ) in this respect also , to solace our selues in a more liberall vse thereof by solemne feastings , and all such outward meanes , as together with inward refreshing of the minde , might also tend aboundantly to the comfort of the body ; as being much weakened and disinabled with the feare and expectation of former dangers . and thus wee may finde , that the church of god hath vpon such occasion accordingly practised . see hest. . nehem. . and thus doe wee at this day solemnize the memoriall of our wonderfull and glorious deliuerance from the kingdome of darkenesse , by the true light of the world , iesus christ : who as at this time shined as it were in the darkenesse and obscuritie of his humane nature , that so hee might bring light out of darkenesse , and by his abasing of himselfe vnto the shape of a seruant , might restore vs to the glorious liberty of the sonnes of god. wherein howsoeuer happily we are not free from some vniust imputation of superstition , by such , who being not able to discerne betweene the right vse , and abuse of things , doe therefore condemne our liberty for the common abuse thereof in these licentious times , by turning the same as an occasion to the flesh : yet neither ought their aspersions any whit to discourage any religious heart from an holy improuing of his liberty to the glory of god , seeing they proceed rather of superstitious singularity then any sound ground of truth : neither may we doubt , but that our reuerend and spirituall behauiour herein , as it shall iustly cleare vs from any imputation of superstition , so it may also free vs from the danger of any such abuse , which the loosenesse of the times is guiltie of . for howsoeuer it may not be denyed , but that such obseruations as were meerely of humane inuention ; or though they were of gods appointment , yet tending to the obscuring and abrogating of the truth of christ , were meerely superstitious , and so to bee renounced of vs , as they were abolished by christ : such as were the ceremonies of moyses , and whatsoeuer else of the like nature : yet whatsoeuer ordinances haue their equitie from the law of god , and practise of the saints , according thereunto , and withall are so farre from opposing the uertue of christ , or christian libertie , as that both in their intent and use they may further to the more comfortable enioying of both : as these haue their sufficient warrant , because they further that blessed communion betweene god and man , and serue also for the maintenance of holy societie betweene man and man ; so may wee lawfully vse our libertie herein , so all things bee done to the glorie of god , and mutuall edification : especially , seeing the lawfull custome of our church and state ought to bind vs wisely heerein , if we will not be contentious , whereof we haue no such custome , neither the churches of god. and therefore , howsoeuer to him that doubteth , this libertie may be sinne ; & that much more , if hee shall proceed to condemne others , wherein himselfe is not resolued ; and that most of all , if hee shall depriue himselfe of the libertie in good things , vpon pretence of some euill that doth hang vpon the same ( as the manner of some is : ) yet should this rather prouoke vs to improue our libertie to the best in all spirituall manner , that so eyther the mouth of iniquitie may be vtterly stopped , or opened graciously to glorifie our god with vs , euen on our behalfe . the meanes and triall hereof , seeing it consists in the holy ordering and gouernment of the affections , as euidencing the inward puritie of the hart ; which being purified by faith , all things become pure thereunto : therefore shall this direction at this time prooue most seasonable , wherein by our libertie in the flesh , we may be so easily prouoked to exceed to the satisfying of the flesh . neither onely shall it serue for the restrayning of intemperancie at this time : but seeing the whole course of our christian life is graciously ledde , and so accordingly followeth the wise temper of our affections , and so is also approued and perfected thereby : therefore also shall this light prooue a profitable guide , to conduct vs throughout all the difficulties and infirmities thereof : as seruing for an armour both to enable vs in the conquest of such enemies , which will bee sure at all times to oppose vs in our heauenly iourney ; as also the better to comfort vs , in regard of such infirmities , and outward faylings , which doe oftentimes mainely challenge the truth of our proceeding . for as , if there be a willing minde , the lord accepts it aboue what we do , or can doe , that so wee may discerne a truth of grace in the imperfection thereof : so seeing the lord will perfect the worke he hath begun in vs. and yet in that manner , that still his power must be seene in our weakenesse , that he may haue the only glory ; therefore as this is for the present our euidence of sinceritie , that we loue & affect what we cannot do , greeuing withall for our fayling heerein ; so by these contrarie affections about the same obiect , wee doe not onely iustifie the spirituall combate , but do daily interesse our selues heereby in the vertue of our christ , by whom we are not only sustained in the combate , aboue any abilitie in our selues , but also by his vertue , we are daily strengthned against all oppositions , that so in time we may be more then conquerors . but of these things more particularly in the treatise ensuing . which as i haue now according to my promise , published for the common good ; so because we liue in a prophane and surfeting age , wherein all is counted too little for the satisfying of the flesh : and euery little too-much , that serues by the restraining thereof to the satisfaction of the mind : therefore are my meditations sorted accordingly ; as in some breuitie and much weakenesse , to stumble the prophane , who stands vpon colour more then cloth , doting rather vpon what may affect and puffe vp the giddy braine , then what may reforme and humble the honest heart : so thereby also to exercise , and stirre vp the dulnesse of the best ; that what seemes not so apparant at the first view , may by more serious meditation and feruent prayer be better conceiued , and more profitably digested . and therefore also haue i beene the briefer in this generall discouery of the gouernment of the affections ; because my purpose is ( god-willing ) to adde shortly hereunto a particular discouery of each seuerall affection , according to their order , nature , and differences ; wherein by the grace of god there may be some profitable supply in speciall , for what soeuer is wanting in the generall direction . meane while , that i might not be wanting to the season , whereby the time may in some measure be redeemed , and the hearts of gods children raysed vp to further hope . i haue thought good first to frame these wals and gates for the citie , that so the inward buildings may be more safely erected and perfected . of all which , as i haue bin bold to make choice of your honours & wor. as patrons ; and gardians , as to whom being already bound by so many former fauours ; i could not choose but renew my bonds , by paying this poor interest , though far i hope from any base usurie : yet binding hereby to a continuall debt of loue , which is then best paid , when stil it is owed . and so i humbly request you to accept therof , not as a discharge of my debt , but only a pledge of the renewing of the bonds of my best affections towards your worships , which seeing they ought not to be measured by any outward expressing thereof , therefore my hope is , that you will accept of my endeauours herein , not according vnto that which i haue , but answerable to my affection therein . comforting my selfe heerein : that seeing god hath giuen you wisedome to discern of things that differ , and our hearts are in the hands of god , that if we preuaile with him , we shall preuaile with men : therefore , as my desire heerein , is to approue my selfe vnto god and the consciences of his people ; so other things shall be so farre supplied , as that still the power of god may be seene in our weakenesse , and the lord may haue the glory of all his mercies . what others ayme at in these endeauours , i matter not ; neither doe i enuie at what they reape : much lesse doth it stumble me , what this way of making our selues knowne to the world , daily heares of , either vaineglory or filthy lucre , or such like : it sufficeth me , that my reward is with god , and that i haue daily experience of the difference betweene his paiment and mans , that so i might trust him better , and man the lesse ; and yet still not to faile any good occasion , whereby i may prouoke men , that they may be like vnto god in a wiser disposall of their affections . this is that i ayme at in this treatise . this i shall heartily labour for in my best deuotions and supplications vnto our god for you , that he would encrease in you al wisedome and spirituall vnderstanding , that you may approue the most excellent , and like wise merchants , still be buying that pretious pearle ; and hauing once obtained it , labour stil to husband it with most aduantage to gods glory and the good of his church , being neuer weary of wel-doing , that so you may reape in due time if you faint not , that so you may fight the good fight of faith and finish your course with ioy , and so lay hold of eternall life . and so i heartily commend you all to the grace of god in christ iesus . resting in him . your hon : and worsh : with all that i am or may be . th. cooper . the contents of this booke . of the n●tion of this terme affection , and the diuers acceptions thereof . chap. . of the generall distribution of affections into their seuerall classes & kinds . ch . . of the causes of affections and perturbations . ch . . rules for the right iudging of affections and their sinceritie . ch . . . concerning their ground . . their obiect . . their ende . general rules for the right ordering and triall of them : especially in regard of such ●entations as doe accompany ●he same . ch . . how we may discerne the ●entation from the affection . ch . . how to order our affections . . in regard of our selues . . towards others . . towards god. of the benefits of this holy ordering and triall of our affections . cases of conscience incident hereunto : whereof , . whither faith be an affection . . concerning the obiect of our affections , whether it be an argument of vnsanctified affections to be more conuersant about earthly , then heauenly things . . how we may place our affections on things which are done . the right ordering of our affections , consists in two things . first , in the right iudgement of them . secondly , in the holy disposing and imploying of them on their seuerall obiects . concerning the right iudgement of affections : heere first consider wee . the government of the affections . chap. i. of the notion of this terme affection , and the diuers senses thereof . this name affection , in our common occasions , vsually importeth these three things . first , either those desires and motions to such seuerall obiects as are offered in the world , whether they be good , or bad , and so it is a terme conuertible with appetite . genes . . . secondly , or else it is vsed in a more restrayned sense , to expresse our desires to good things . or , thirdly it extends it selfe , to expresse those manifold passions of the mind which are the fuell to our desires , & bellowes there unto , which by the stoikes were called perturbations , as conceiuing them not to stand with the tranquilitie of the minde , to interrupt and disgrace the same . by others , are called the passions thereof : as discouering a more violent working of the same , or some great violence offered thereunto . and are vsually called affections , as expressing the seuerall affects and desires of the mind , in the outward man. in which sense the holy ghost calls them members ( mortifie therefore your earthly members : col. . . ) as by a figura●iue speech signifying , that these affections exercise ●hemselues in our earthly ●embers , as vsing them 〈◊〉 the expressing thereof ; 〈◊〉 ioy and sorrow by the countenance ; feare and hope , by the hands and ●eet ; anger by the whole body , &c. and in this ●ense we take them in this treatise , and so doe prosecute them , first generally in this first booke , & the● particularly , according to their seuerall distinctions hereafter . chap. ii. of the generall distributio● of the affections into their seuerall classes . affections are distinguished , in regard o● the obiect , or extent . touching the obiect all affections and perturbations may be reduced to two heads : eyther simple , such as haue no mixture of any other perturbations ; or compound , such as are deriued of other . the simple affections are of two sorts . first , primitiue , which are the ground of all the rest . secondly , deriuatiue , such as are deriued from those primitiues . the primitiue affections are two : namely , loue , whereby wee vehemently affect a thing ; and hate , being a vehement affection of disliking . the simple deriuatiue affections arise from the primitiue : as , from loue , and liking of good , if it be present , proceedeth ioy. if it be to come , hope . from dislike , and hate of euill , if it be present , ariseth griefe , and heauinesse of heart . if it be a future euill , then feare riseth from the mislike of hate . and these i take to be all the simple perturbations . the compound are such as haue part of the simple , by mixture , and that either of the primitiue simple , or the deriuatiue , and of the primitiues , with simples onely , or mixed with deriuatiues . such as are mixed of primitiues onely , are eyther vnequally mixed , of loue , and liking , or of mislike , and hate : or mixed equally of them . of the first sort , taking more part of liking , is the affection of laughter : wherewith , wee with some discontentmēt , take pleasure at that , which is done or said ridiculously : of which sort , are deeds and words vnseemely , or vnmeet , and yet moue no compassion : as when one scaldeth his mouth with an hot pie , &c. wee are discontented with the hurt , yet ioy at the euent vnexpected by the party , and that we haue escaped it : from whence commeth laughter . which , because it exceedeth the mislike of the thing that hurteth , bursteth out into vehemencie on that side , and procureth that merry gesture . if on the other side , the thing be such , as the mislike exceedeth the ioy we haue of our freedome from that euill , then ariseth pitie , and compassion . and these perturbations take their beginnings of the primitiues , vnequally mixed : whereby one of them doth after a sort obscure the other . the other , are such as haue equall mixture , and those are enuie and iealousie . if the thing we loue , be such , as we haue not part of , then springeth an hate or mislike of the party , who inioyeth that we want , and like of , and so breedeth enuy , a griefe for the prosperitie of another , or good successe whatsoeuer , wherein we haue no part . if it be such a benefit as we enioy , and are grieued it should be communicated to others , and whereun we refuse a partner , this is called iealousie , incident to amorettoes , and aspiring natures : and these are compounded of the primitiues alone , like , or mislike , loue , or hate . those which are mixed of primitiues and deriuatiues , are of two sorts , according as the primitiues , that is to say , mixed of loue , or hate . now loue mixed with hope , breedeth trust : with loue and feare , distrust . hate , or mislike , compounded with hope , breedeth anger : whereby we are displeased with that which misliketh vs , and in hope of being satisfied of that which offered the mislike : are driuen to anger , the affection of reuenge . if it bee any thing , wherein wee haue displeased our selues , it is called shame . if it bee compounded with feare , it is called bashfulnesse . if the dislike bee taken from another , the composition is of hate and anger , and thereof springeth malice . these are perturbations , compounded of primitiue passions , with their deriuatiues . of deriuatiues betwixt themselues , arise despaire , and confident assurance . despaire is compounded of heauinesse , griefe , and feare . confidence , of ioy and hope . out of hope , and faith , patience . thus in generall of the distribution of affections , in regard of their seuerall grounds , nature , and comparison betweene themselues . secondly , affections may be deuided , in regard of their extent : as some concerne only this life . as first , all such as concerne euill , as hate , feare , griefe , iealousie , pitie , laughter , enuie , anger , shame , bashfulnesse , malice , despaire , &c. secondly , some such as concerne good : which because it cannot be perfectly attayned in this life , therefore some affections there are , which tend to the obtaining thereof , and perfitting of the same : as faith , hope , patience , and compassion . others concerne both his life and the life to come , as ioy and loue. chap. iii. of the causes of affections and perturbations . concerning the causes of perturbations , there are two contrarie opinions : one of the philosophers , that conceiued all perturbations to arise frō the complexions , or humours , that is , from the bodie and carnall part of man. the other is of diuines , that hold all perturbations , howsoeuer they may be occasioned , from the diuers temperatures of nature , yet to proceede immediately from the disposition of the diuine soule , either qualified with grace , and so expressing the same in the further ayme and imployment of such affections , as tend to good , or else oppressed with corruption , and so discouering it selfe in those affections of malice , enuie , &c. this latter to be true , appeareth first by the operation of the soule in these perturbations , without the vse of senses , as in dreams : secōdly , as also by the cōtrary temper of diseased parties , whē such humours doe most abound , as in the iaundize , though choller abound , yet there ●s least signe vsually of anger : thirdly , & especially seeing these are euils of sinne , therefore seeing the soule is the immediate subiect of sinne , and not the body , the body accidentally sinnes for the soules sake : it must needs follow , that these affections proceede from the soule , and not the bodie , not the humours , &c. and therefore , though the soule seeme to follow the temperature of the body , in regard , that the body being out of temper , the minde also fareth accordingly : yet neither is this generall , but onely in some persons , and vpon some occasions . neither that , that it may only at all be so referred to the body , as that it doth actually worke vpon the soule , making it suffer thereby . but either this falls out , in regard of the neere coniunction of the soule and body , the soule sympathizing herein with the body , as a louing companion : or the iustice of the lord , by this outward chastisement of the body , arrests the soule , to giue vp it account , or affects the same in mercie , to renue repentance : it being a certaine ground , that the soule is the onely ●●d prime mouer of the ●ody , and all the actions ●hereof : so that it were ●onstrous and preposte●ous , that the body should ●oue any such affections 〈◊〉 the soule , contrary to it ●mmortall and impassible ●ature . and therefore howsoe●er the wisedome of flesh was enforced to acknow●edge the immortalitie of ●he soule , both in that the ●nward power thereof , in ●ccusing , and excusing sinne , necessarily reacheth beyond this life : and it ●aturall light soaring a●oue these earthly things , doth argue plainely some further happinesse to belong thereto , then to this life is incident : yea , th●● not satisfaction thereof in any earthly thing whatsoeuer , doth plainely euidence , that there is some further happinesse to content the same : yet seeing this light serueth onely to make inexcusable , as appeareth by the contrary practise of men to their knowledge , therefore hath it beene iustly giuen vp to such dotages , and blockish imaginations : which , though they crosse euen naturall light , yet they may serue to the satisfaction of the flesh , that so enioying herein a shew of happinesse , they might be preuented of the search of ●he true happinesse , which ●oncernes the life to ●ome . and hence arose these ●●range and contrarie o●inions concerning the affections , according to ●hose diuers models and ●deas of happinesse which ●he wise men of the world ●●amed to themselues . for whereas the stoikes placed ●heir happinesse in such a ●ind of tranquilitie , and ●eace of the mind , which ●ight rather be senselesse ●f euill , then sensible of any ●ood , because they had no ●se , nor experience of grace , to the subduing of ●heir affections , and orde●ing them to the true ob●ects and ends : therefore in their carnall wisedome they coniected such a kind of senselesse happinesse , as might be free from all affections : as esteeming them to be no better then perturbations , tending to disturbe the peace of their minds , that so they might put out that light of conscience , expressed in the affections , and accusing them of enill , whereby they were bound to the punishment of another life , and so thereby confirme their imaginarie happinesse in the things of this life . vvherein , though they did not obscurely discouer their notion of the soules immortalitie , in that they laboured hereby to preuent that vse of conscience which conuinced the same , by the sense of future punishment due thereto : so herein also did they plainely proue the wisedome of the flesh to be enmitie against god , & their owne saluation , in that they placed happinesse in such a benummed and senselesse an estate , which of all other was farthest from true happinesse , as hauing no feeling nor comfort thereof , and by it sense lessenes in euill prooued necessarily the high way to most certaine condemnation , as seruing to make vp the measure of sinne . and like vnto these , is the conceit of the libertines , who mis-conceiuing the powe● and application of christ , as if he came to take away onely the sense of sinne , and not the power and guilt of it , doe therefore hereby measure their interest in christ , that they are senselesse in sinne , commit it most greedily without any remorse , and wallow most securely and desperately therein . thus as the stoike and libertine placed their happinesse in meere stupiditie and blockishnesse , so the epicure on the contrary , placing happinesse in the sense , and in such things as might best affect the same , for the enioying of present delight , and car●all appetite , as esteeming it no happinesse , which is ●ot by sense enioyed : ●onceiued therefore so ●nely of the soule , that it ●erued onely as salt , to keepe the body from pu●rifying , and make it sen●ible of delight , and so ●oncluded of the affecti●ns , as to be onely the ef●ects of the complexions ●nd humors of the body , ●eruing onely to expresse ●heir naturall inclinations ●nd operations , to the sa●isfying of the flesh : wherein , as they plainely discouered their estranging from the life of god , through the ignorance that was in them , in their confining their affections to 〈◊〉 carnall and senselesse pa●● of nature : i meane , th● body , separated from th● soule , whereby they v●terly excluded themselue● from all true notion o● the deitie , from all tru● fellowship with him which is onely attayne● by the mind and affect●ons thereof : so in thi● their prostituting of thes● noble affects of the diuin● soule to the guide & lur● of corruptible flesh : eue● wherein they seemed t● bee wise , they becam● fooles , cōfounding themselues in their owne imaginations , and ouerthrowing that sensuall happinesse which they fancied herein . for whereas they placed their chiefe happinesse in the sense & feeling of carnall delights , let vs ●at and drinke , for to mor●ow we shall die ; they did vtterly depriue themselues of that which they most aymed at , namely , ●o enioy the sense & com●ort of these sensuall meanes : in that they deri●ed and placed these affections only from and in ●he complexions and hu●ours , which of themselues are altogether void of sense , and appetite . wherein , as they altoge●her bewrayed their igno●ance of the true happi●esse , and so iustly depri●ed themselues thereof , in that they placed it onely in the enioying of suc● corruptible things , which end with this life : so , howsoeuer their mayne ayme herein was , that by imputing these perturbations to complexions and humours , they might hereby conclude a determining of sinn● with this life , and so a● hope of the determining 〈◊〉 punishment . ( seeing these affections ending heere the other which proceede● therefrom , must necessarily end also : ) or else , seeing these humours are im●patible , senselesse , &c. therefore sinne proceeding hereof , must neede● be a meere priuation , a nullitie , &c. yet as herein they discouered themselues to be without god , and so without hope of the life of glorie : so hereby they made vp more speedily the measure of their sinne , and so were led like fooles vnto the stocks , and oxen to the shambles . wherein , that they might make vp the measure of their damnation . behold herein a further delusion of the sadduces , imagining , that these carnall affections shal accompanie vs to heauen ; that the happinesse thereof consists onely in satisfying our carnall appetites , that so we need not make scruple of them ; nay , that we may giue the bridle most freely vnto them : as beeing the next way to haue an heauen vppon earth , to prepare our selues on earth vnto heauen . thus the wisdome of the flesh , as it is enmitie against god , so it iustly proues i● owne confusion . and therefore it being apparant by that which hath beene said before , that our affections cannot proceed immediately from the complexions , or humours , but from the diuine spirit ; these grounds may be further added , by way of conclusion , for the confirmation hereof . as first , that the affections in wicked men , euen in the best complexions , and temper of the body , euen when they are furthered with all outward contentments , to the satisfying of the flesh , as in the best measure of health and outward prosperitie , are then most vile & outragious . whether wee consider such affections as concerne the acting of sinne ; as appeares in the pursuit of our lust , reuenge , or such like : or take notice of such as concerne the punishment thereof , as feare , horror , and the like . as appeared in belshazz●r , in the midst of his greatest riot , and pompous excesse . which plainely argues , that they follow the temper of the minde , and not the condition of the body . as also , on the other side , the affections of the godly , in the worst constitution , and condition of the body , and outward estate , are yet notwithstanding , by the grace of god ruling in the heart , made more pure and tempera●e , more conformable to the will of god , more fitted to the right end . secondly , vnto which if wee adde , that it is the grace of god only ( whereof the soule is only capable ) that altereth and purgeth our affections of their corrupt and pestilent qualities , and so turneth them to their contrary and proper obiects ; as , slauish feare , into filiall feare , carnall loue , into the loue of god , and goodnesse , &c. by this it necessarily followeth , that our affections proceed immediately from the soule , and haue their residence therein . thirdly , if wee shall consider , that our most principall and noblest affections , of loue and ioy , are not determined and perfited in this life , but doe accompanie vs after death ; as whereby we expresse our enioying of eternall happinesse , euen when the body lyes rotten in the graue : this is a plaine euidence , that they arise out of the soule , as their proper fountaine . chap. iiii. of the wise gouerning and triall of the affections . another speciall helpe to constant obedience . here obserue first these generall rules concerning affections , in regard of iudging thereof . that they are not simply to bee discerned by themselues , as being in themselues , for the most part , not simply good , or euill : but as they depend vpon their true grounds , affect their proper obiects , and ayme at their right ends. and therefore know wee , that the true ground of all holy affections , is sound knowledge of the thing wee affect , and of our estate and right to and in the thing wee doe affect : so that no knowledge , no sound affection , no right therein , no hope for well-ordering of them . secondly , obserue wee , that all holy affections haue generally one maine obiect , namely , our god in christ iesus , and so subordinate , the saluation of the soule . but particularly , each of them hath it seuerall and proper obiect , whereon it is bent , and conuersant therein ; so that here the rules are . that the particular obiects must be subordinate to the generall , and included therein , both for direction and limitation also : all must bee from the lord , in him , and for him , rom. . for the obtayning of saluation . the particular obiects must bee the bounds to each particular affection ; as shall appeare afterward . our hatred must properly be against sinne , not goodnesse ; our loue to good , and not euill , &c. our affections must so bee squared to the obiects , as that it onely leuell therein at that which is proportionable thereunto . that whereas there is in the obiect the person , or thing , wherein the qualitie is , and the qualitie it selfe ; and the person , or thing , is to be diuersly affected , in regard of the different qualitie thereof . therefore the sinceritie of the affection appeares , in ayming at the qualitie , and so , for it , respecting the person , or thing . as to affect a thing for it goodnesse , to hate it , for the euill . and yet so , as whereas the substance is of god , and the qualitie of satan . therefore heere may be a concurrence of contrarie affections in one maine obiect . as that the person of a sinner ( being gods workmanship ) is to be beloued ; though wee hate the sinne of the person : the good of the same person may bee loued , though we hate the contrarie euil in him . and therefore , whereas the ground , next vnto faith , as of our worship of god , and dueties vnto men , is loue ; howsoeuer our affections are different in themselues , yet they must all be deriued from this principall affection of loue : wee must hope , grieue , reioyce , &c. because wee loue ; and loue must be the end and ayme of ●ll : therefore wee are angrie , we feare , we hope , we ioy , that we may still loue , and make better way for the manifestation thereof . and so , as loue is an affection , that is the ground and end of all other affections , and therefore all must be subordinate therunto : so also is there a subordination of other contrarie affections one to another , that they may end in this loue : as hatred is subordinate to loue , griefe to ioy , feare to hope , &c. as being not contraries in diuers subiects , but all the same generall : as no otherwise respecting diuers subordinate obiects , but that they ayme at one principall , as furthering each other in their particular contrarie , and different obiects to that one principall , namely , the glorie of god , and saluation of the soule . hereby shall we know the sinceritie of our affections , if they are proportionable to the obiect , and measure thereof : as , if the sinnes of the times be grieuous , and extraordinarie , so our griefe be sutable : if the mercies of god , and his deliuerances , be wonderfull , so our ioy and thankfulnesse be answerable . and this may serue for the iust conuiction of our times . first , in that though there be some feare of god , yet it is not proportionable to the meanes . wee haue beene better taught , then to feare god so little . wee haue had greater iudgements , then that we should be so secure . secondly , in that wee set not our affections high enough in good things , and yet racke them too farre in euill things . wee feare not god enough , and yet feare the world too much . we loue the world too scantly , and loue our profits too excessiuely : and so there is a iarre in both . our feare in spirituall things , is defectiue ; in worldly things , excessiue . so , in this proportion , if wee loue god without limitation , as the most excellent obiect , and our neighbour as our selues ; this is to proportion the affection to the obiect . our affections are good seruants , but bad masters ; that is , they must not beare rule , but still be in subiection to their seuerall limitations of the word , our callings , the common good : without which , the best affection , euen of zeale and loue , may be euill : not onely ●ill affections , or such as ●re more inclinable there●o ; but euen the best must ●hus be tryed , if they make ●s fitter for gods seruice : ●s anger , if we can fall to ●ray ; zeale , if we can re●it priuate offences , &c. first i say , our affections must be informed and ●imitted by the word : that is , whereas the lord hath giuen vs a sure word , both as a light shining in a darke place , to enlighten the darkenesse of our nature , and so as a guide , to the well-ordering thereof : if our affections now follow , and not runne before our knowledge . we first know what to loue , and then affect the same : and if our affections are proportionable to our knowledge , we affect so farre , as wee are informed and perswaded of the truth ; and according to the particular truth we know , so our particular affection is leuelied at , and confined thereunto . this is a certain euidence of the true light and ordering thereof : hereby wee shall hold out , and continue therein . whereas otherwise , if wee affect what wee know not , this may eyther arise from some tickling delight of the flesh , from vaine-glorie , and such like , or else from some outward ●casion of the world , as ●leasure , profit , &c. or it ●ay bee some illusion of ●atan , to deceiue vs with error , in stead of truth . or at the best , it will ●rooue no better then some sudden flash of the ●ll-lightning spirit , to make vs more inexcusable . our affections , in all these respects , will vanish and decay , according to the fayling of those seuerall occasions . and secondly , if our affections exceed our iudgement , and knowledge of the truth , wee shall not onely be driuen to question the truth of our iudgement : but also by our affections , exceeding our knowledge , wee may eyther bee caused to doe things doubtfully , without found information , and so sinne therein , rom. . or else , by the strength and violence of our affections , wee may bee drawne to doe that which is contrary to our iudgement ; and so therein also offer violence to our consciences . and thirdly , if our affections onely ayme at generalls , and are not confined to their particular obiects ; we conceiue wee loue god , and yet cannot seeke him onely in iesus christ ; and in such ordinances as reueale him vnto vs , cannot rest therein , for the quieting of our consciences , and enabling vs to obedience . our affections are not in faith , and so cannot be acceptable vnto god , because all our affections vnto god must arise from the knowledge and apprehension of his loue vnto vs in iesus christ : wee loue him , because hee loued vs first , . ioh. . . not as if wee could deserue his loue , by louing him first ; or could answere his loue with equall measure : but because hee hath freely , and infinitely loued vs , therefore we labour , in our weake measure , to loue him againe , to approue hereby our thankefulnesse vnto him , and so to giue him the glorie of his free goodnesse . secondly , i say , that our affections must be squared and limitted according to our seuerall callings , in regard of the execution of them . i say , in regard of the execution thereof outwardly , that though euerie christian is equally bound to loue god aboue all , and so to testifie his loue , not onely by affecting his glorie , grieuing at his dishonour , but also by all outward occasions , as may expresse the same : yet seeing the lord hath ordayned seuerall callings in the church and commonwealth , and these both distinct , by their seuerall offices and duties , and so also subordinate to each other , for the maintenance of the common peace and publike good . therefore also , according to these distinct and subordinate callings , there must be a different and subordinate execution of our affections . as , that though all must equally affect the glory of god , according to the inward measure of grace the lord hath vouchsafed , rom. . . yet each must seuerally expresse their affection herein , as their callings doe limit or enlarge the same . as that the magistrate may testifie his zeale to gods glorie , not onely in being angrie at sinne , but in punishing the same ; which a priuate man may not doe : his onely weapons heerein , must be prayers & teares . and so the minister may testifie his zeale to god by his publike calling , in reproouing , conuincing , and censuring publikely : all which , a priuate man may not doe , because god is the god of order , and requires no more at our hands , then he allots vnto vs. . cor. . . thirdly , i say our affections must be sutable to the occasions and condition of the times and church where wee liue , and so to our owne particular occasions . as that wee must weepe with them that weepe , and reioyce with them that reioyce . rom. . . . in generall calamities or sinnes threatning them , we must be mourners , ezech. . ierem. . . howsoeuer the multitude are senselesse , and carelesse , prou. . . in generall blessings , we must reioyce and abound in thankesgiuings to our god , psal. . . psal. . howsoeuer the wicked may gnash their teeth , and pine away , psal. . , . and yet seeing there is an holy order to be obserued in our affections , according to the more excellent obiects : as that our god and his glorie must haue the chiefe place ; the publike good , the next , before our owne priuate : therefore our ●●●ctions must be suited and mixed accordingly . as if it stand with gods glorie , to punish nadab and abihu with fire from heauen , for offering strange fire vnto god ; aaron , their father , must preferre gods glorie before the good of his family , and in silence submit to the will of god. though nehemiah for his owne priuate be in good case ; yet because the house of his god lyes waste : therefore , though he stand before such a monarch , as would not endure any such melancholy passion ; yet his sad countenance must needes bewray his affection to his god , and compassion with his distressed and desolate church . yea , such must be our holy wisedome and temper herein ; as that seeing the publike must be preferred before the priuate : therefore , though our priuate case be safe , and yeeld vs sound matter of reioycing ; yet wee must withall be sorrowfull for the publike : yea , our particular ioy must giue way thereto : and though in priuate it goe ill with vs ; yet wee must reioyce in the publike good , and be comforted in our particular distresse , by the confideration of the publike welfare of the church of god. thus of the obiect of our affections , and rules therein . now , concerning the end of all our holy desires ; this is sutable to the obiect , euen the glorie of god , and saluation of the soule , subordinate thereunto : and so the rules are also accordingly . a second generall rule there is concerning our affections ; that as they must bee informed by knowledge , so they must be bounded thereby : reaching onely so farre vnto their obiects , aa the word alloweth . our desires must bee subordinate to the will of god , all tending to holinesse , and building forward to heauen . and hence ariseth a third rule , that as ou● affections are , so wee shall profit in the word , and holy duties . and therefore wee should labour not so much for knowledge , which may puffe vp , as for good affections , which may so humble vs in our selues , as withall they may quicken to well-doing . and hence ariseth a fourth rule , that as the affection is , so will be the acceptance of our seruice . it is not the thing done , but the chearefull minde that god accepts , . cor. . . . cor. . . and this affordeth also another comfortable rule , that as god accepteth the will for the deed ; so though wee faile in the outward act , yet it is the good affection , that shall stand in stead thereof . it is enough for abraham , to be willing to sacrifice his sonne . this is the triall of his faith ; this is the deliuerance of his sonne , and the confirmation of the couenant , genes . . & . cor. . . and hence also ariseth another sweet and comfortable rule , that whereas our affections , as all other parts , are but in part regenerate ; so that in the best temper and measure of grace , in the well-ordering of any of them , there will be a mixtu●● of that which is 〈◊〉 with that which is ●●●●●tuall : heere therefore wee must be wise , to dis cerne betweene thinges that differ : and so to iudge of the sinceritie of our affections ; not as they are not mingled at all with contrary tincture ( for this it must be , for the euidence and tryall of their sinceritie , in discerning and mastering of them : ) but rather by that which is predominant in this mixture , which preuayles in the end ; first , by drawing vs neerer vnto god in holinesse ; secondly , by most abasing vs in our selues ; thirdly , by enabling vs to more conscionable practice of diuine worship ; fourthly , by making vs more profitable to the saints , for the encrease of christs kingdome . as for example : all our affections must ayme at loue , and be ordered thereby ; that must bee predominant : and so sorrow must be subordinate to ioy , feare to hope , &c. a seuenth rule concerning our affections , is , that wee bee wise to distinguish betweene our affections themselues , and the seuerall tentations that doe accompanie them , and are shrowded vnder them . because , as in the wicked euery affection being wholly impure , is nothing else but a masse of tentations ; all inciting to euill , all hindering from goodnesse : so also in the godly , being but partly regenerate , the purest affections want not their mixture , as of corruption , so of tentation arising thereupon : which vsually is eyther so like the affection it selfe , or so ouer-shadoweth the same , as wee can hardly discerne the tentation , and colour , from the affection and puritie thereof , in the time of tentation . and therefore learne wee thus to distinguish betweene the affection and tentation , accompanying the same . first , as it was in the trauaile of rebecca , that esau came out first , and iacob afterward ; so vsually it falleth out in the trauaile of our affections . the prophane motion will vsually peepe out first : the flesh will first seeke it selfe , that so it may preuent the onset of grace , and quash it in the beginning and first quickening of the affection . and this falleth out either for want of due preparation to the dutie , in curbing the flesh , and tying the asse , when we goe to sacrifice . or though we be neuer so well prepared , satan will now put in , by stirring vp corruption , to dampe the fruit in the first peeping out thereof . and the wise and gracious god , by this impudencie of the flesh , stirres vp the spirit to a more glorious resistance , by an earnest setting of the heart on god , and crauing his assistance , by confounding the flesh , and stripping it of all confidence and partnership in the w●●ke , that so hee may haue all the glorie . and therefore the rules herein are , first , to distrust our affections in the first motions to good ; secondly , to examine and trie them by the word , to refine , and quicken them in the bloud of christ. a second rule , to discerne the tentation from the affection , is the constancie thereof . for if the affection hold one to the obiect ; and is the more inflamed thereon , the more it is opposed : if it recouer it coolings , and faintings , and so encrease and hold out , to the accomplishment of the worke ; this is a signe of the sinceritie thereof . but if it faint and vanish , and yeeld to the opposition , then it is carnall , & swallowed vp of the tentation ; vnlesse it be in time of tentation . a third rule herein is , that if the affection begin in weakenesse , and so encreaseth by practise of holinesse ; then it is spirituall : but if be sudden and hote at the first , and feele no encrease by the ordinances of god , but rather quayleth in the vse of them ; then it is rather the tentation , then the power of the affection . a fourth rule herein is , that if the affection out-last the action : eyther if it be accomplished , yet still we desire to better it ; or if it fayle , yet still it is more kindled to recouer againe ; this is a signe of the inward life thereof . but if it giue ouer with the action , eyther ending in the thing done , or quayling , because of the thing vndone ; this rather is the power of tentation , doting vpon the outward action , then the power of affection , approuing it selfe vnto god , and not measuring it selfe by the successe of the action , eyther way , but by the loue of god discerning inward and generall obedience . a fift rule hitherto is , that if our affection hath a sound ground , and rely on the word ; then are they spirituall : but if eyther ignorantly or superstitiously they are carried to any obiect ; this is rather the power of tentation , then the rectitude of the affection . . and so if our affection carries vs by indirect meanes , here we may suspect the strength of tentation . . especially , if they draw vs to contrary ends , this argueth plainely the power of tentation , and conuinceth manifestly the corruption of the affection . thus may we discerne betweene the tentation , and affection . and these are the rules concerning the right iudgement of our affections . and so of such directions as concerne the right ordering of them . chap. v. how to order affections for our selues . vnto which we may adde these rules , for the more holy ordering , and so benefiting , by them : as also for the tryall of sinceritie therein . whereof some concerne our selues : as that , first , when the case concerneth our selues , we must euer learne to suspect our owne opinion , and affection : as being ouer-weened with eonceit of our selues , and so subiect to much selfe-loue and deceit in our selfeiudgement . secondly , we must labour more for affection , then for knowledge ; because knowledge puffeth vp , and so causes barrennesse ; but affections humble , and prouoke to obedience : by the one , wee may rule others , but by these , rule our selues . thirdly , we must make our affections as little knowne in companie as may be ; so did ioseph : because the discouerie of affection causeth imputation of hypocrisie from others vnto vs , and causeth occasion of offence , by peruerting them to the flesh from vs vnto others . fourthly , we must trie our affections hereby , that if they make vs lesse fit to pray , more vnable to doe the good we should , lesse careful to auoid sinne , then they are euill : but when on the contrary , they can prouoke vs to well doing , preuent sinne ; thē they are quickned frō gods grace . fiftly , if whatsoeuer we haue in the iudgement , we haue also in the affection , endeuouring to practise as we know , and so desiring still to know more that we may practise ; this argues the sinceritie of our affections . thus they are to be ordered : because this implyes the subiection of the will and heart , and so of the whole man , to the obedience of christ iesus . sixtly , hereby also we shal discerne the sinceritie of our affections : if as by nature wee enclined to one vice more then another ; so now wee are more affected to the contrarie vertue . as if by nature we were more disposed to choler and fumes ; so now we are more affected to peaceablenesse and meekenesse . if naturally wee were more enclined to slouth ; so now wee are more actiue and diligent in good things . seuenthly , yea this is a notable tryall hereof , that whereas naturally we were furious , and violent to euill , wee can be now more zealous and feruent in good : whereas before we were more obstinate and desperate in euill , we can be now more constant and resolute for good : whereas before we were more desperate , in vnnecessarie and wilfull troubles , we can be now more couragious and victorious in those that are layd vpon vs , for good things . if the more violent our affections were to euill by nature , the more feruent they shall be in the worke of grace ; this is a certaine token of the true change of them . the reason hereof is , because vsually whom the lord conuerteth from a more desperate estate of sinne : as hereby they are more bound vnto him ; so shal they expresse what he aymeth at herein : namely , to be more iealous of his glory , to labour more abundantly therefore . thus as the apostle paul was more violent in persecuting the saints ; so was hee more zealous for the glory of his god : so did he labour more abundantly then the rest , for the aduancement thereof , . tim. . . thus , because much was forgiuen to that great sinner , therefore much more did shee loue ; the more shee had offended her god before , the more did shee labour to please him afterward , luk. . . eightly , whereas the triall of sinceritie in generall is , that god must be preferred aboue all things , aboue all earthly things whatsoeuer , yea aboue all heauenly things , as they concern vs , or any interest we haue therein : we must respect god simply for himselfe , & for that goodnes that is in him , without any respect of whatsoeuer benefit may redound to vs thereby . therefore by this rule also we may trie the sinceritie of our affections : that as they come more neerly to the nature and absolutenesse of god ; so they are more pure and heauenly : that as god loued vs for his own sake , & not for ours ; so wee can loue him for his owne sake , and not for any benefite redounds vnto vs hereby : nay , rather then we will fayle in our loue vnto him , and his glorie , wee can be contented to renounce all loue vnto our selues ; not onely to suffer whatsoeuer afflictions for his sake , but euen to bee accursed , rather then he should be dis-honoured , rom. . . exod . . so because our sinne it is , which displeaseth god , and it is the punishment that may displease vs : if therefore wee can grieue simply for our sinnes , because our god is grieued with them , and not rather for the punishment wherby we are like to smart : being rather willing , if it could be put to our choise , to vndergoe euen hellish torments , so we might be free from sinne , whereby we may offend our god ; then to enioy heauen , with condition of impuritie : so , that though there were no hell to punish , nor heauen to reward vs ; yet wee could hate sinne , and loue righteousnesse . this is a very gracious euidence of the sinceritie of our affections : hereby wee may know a great measure of gods grace in the mortifying of our affections , and quickening of them to the life of glory . ninthly , concerning our affections to euill : because they are like the waters , that if the floud-gates be open , grow headstrong and vnresistable ; therefore we are to nip them in the blade , nay , if it be possible , stifle them in the wombe , lest they grow so violent , as that they cannot be mastered . but touching good affections , because they are like the morning light , that shineth more and more vnto the perfect day ; therefore they are to bee cherished dayly , and quickened by the word , and prayer : that so they may master not onely our corrupt desires , but also bring in subiection all our gifts of illumination . yea , all other sauing graces may be turned as it were into affections ; that the zeale of gods house may euen eate vs vp : nothing may bee seene , in comparison of our affections ; these may preuayle and raigne ouer all . . as wee must take notice of this , that wee are subiect to one affection more then another . first , in regard of our different condition : as in prosperitie , to pride , anger , vncharitablenesse , &c. and so in aduersitie , to feare , impatiencie , despaire , &c. secondly , and so in regard of our naturall different disposition , by reason of complexion and education , societie , &c. thirdly , as also in regard of our different callings , as to couetousnesse , ambition , deceit , &c. so in regard hereof know we , that it is a good signe of grace to discerne the predominancie of the speciall affection , so that we labour principally against the same , auoyding the occasions lawfully , and strengthening our selues , by the contrarie meanes to subdue and weaken the power thereof . . if we can turne all the graces of god into affections , as to heare with feare and ioy , to pray with feruencie and zeale , to giue almes cheerefully ; so that indeede the whole action is swallowed vp of the affection , and conuerted thereunto . tenthly , whereas euery regenerate man consists of two contrary parts , namely , the new man , which is renewed according to the image of christ ; and the old man , that remainder of corruption which wee haue receiued from adam : the condition of both which is , that they are alwayes striuing against each other ; the spirit lusteth against the flesh ; and , the flesh lusteth against the spirit : so according to this continuall combate , the affections are to be ordered , and tried . as first for the ordering of them : the affections of the vnregenerate part must be alwayes led and ordered by those of the regenerate ; our loue of earthly things , directed by , and subordinate to our loue of the heauenly ; our feare of punishment ordered and subdued to our feare of god and his goodnesse . secondly , for the triall of our affections , here also the rule is , that seeing wee are but in part regenerate ; therefore our affections are then most sutable , when wee can expresse contrarie affections about the same action . as first , that we can reioyce in our god , and his goodnesse , and yet grieue that we are not answerable thereto ; that we cannot comprehend the measure thereof , that we cannot walke worthie the same . secondly , that we can so grieue for sinne , as that wee can also reioyce in this , that wee doe by vnfained sorrow testifie our obedience vnto god , our hatred of sinne , and our endeuour to repentance : that wee can so feare our god , and his goodnesse , as withall we can hope and trust in his mercie , and rely thereupon . the reason hereof is , that as by the one affection we iustifie our regeneration in part ; so by the other contrarie , wee conuince and mortifie the vnregenerate . by both , thus contending with each other in the same action , we approue the truth thereof in the presence of god , and so labour for the acceptance of it aboue the worth thereof , in the merit of christ , and we also maintaine the spirituall combate betweene the flesh and the spirit . . if our affections run more vpon heauenly then earthly things , and wee can begin our desires for earthly things from a spirituall ground , and so can vse them with a spirituall desire , still to thriue in grace , and to a spirituall end , namely , to further vs to heauen ; this is an argument of the circumcising thereof : thus may wee learne to order them aright . . our affections must begin from our selues to others ; and from others , returne vnto our selues againe . . wee must labour to quicken and order our affections , by prayer , singing , and meditation especially . . in most weightiest occasions , we must especially watch ouer our affections , because now satan will by them peruert vs herein . . our affection must be sutable to the qualitie of the obiect , and hence to be rightly iudged . concerning others , our affections are to bee ordered thus towards men. first , according to the diuersitie of gods graces in them , so must wee affect accordingly , and not according to outward endowments of nature , or worldly happinesse . for this is to haue respect of persons ; and so is condemned , iam. , , . act. . , . secondly , according to present necessitie ; so wee must affect those that are in greatest present want , howsoeuer farre inferiour in grace to others , that are not in such extremitie : and out of our tender compassion , minister present reliefe vnto them ; that so it may appeare , wee doe it for gods sake , and not vpon any goodnesse in them : expecting our recompence from the lord ; which we are like to loose from men . thirdly , whereas there are some callings on earth which doe in some sort represent the maiestie and office of god : as the calling of the magistrate , minister , &c. therefore herein also there must be a wise ordering of our affections . as that , howsoeuer , in generall , we must affect where there be best graces ; yet now , if the case stand betweene a magistrate , though wicked , and a priuate christian : wee must more affect the magistrate , because he is the image of gods maiestie , power , &c. and in regard of his place and office , is to execute the will of god , whether for good or euill , and so is an image of gods free and absolute power . i say , in these respects we must more lone , feare , and regard the magistrate , then any priuate christian howsoeuer , superiour in spirituall graces . the reasons are : first , because the outward calling of the magistrate , and such gifts as may concerne the same , is that which the lord in wisdome hath set ouer not onely the persons of priuate men , but euen their best gifts also , either to reward them for the good they doe , or else to punish them for the euill they doe : yea , to correct them also for the good they may doe , because they haue fayled in the measure thereof : so that , wherein we thinke we haue most cause to spurne at gouernment , because happily it layes the burthen vpon the wrong horse , vexing the doues , and acquitting the crowes , as hee sayth . yet herein we haue greatest cause to loue the magistrate : as not onely being herein an image of the diuine prouidence , in bearing with the wicked in great patience , and correcting his children ; but also expressing herein the diuine goodnesse : first , of his generall prouidence to the wicked , in sparing them ; and therein , his speciall prouidence to the godly , in sparing the wicked , for the triall of his children ; and so of his goodnesse herein to his saints , in correcting them here , that they may not be condemned hereafter ; and so of his speciall prouidence to the wicked , in hardning them by his patience to the day of slaughter . the like may bee said concerning the faithfull minister : that whereas hee is the interpreter , one of a thousand , to declare vnto man his righteousnesse , iob. . . yea , is so gracious with god , as both to be the mouth of god vnto the people , the lord reuealing his will for our saluation , by their ministerie ; aa also to bee the mouth of the people vnto god , both to obtaine blessings for them , and also to remooue iudgements from them , exod. . so that if hee doe not pray for them , the lord will not heare their prayers , ierem. . , . if he pray for them , the lord will be gracious , and pardon their offences . and so hee is , as the chariots and horsemen of israel , to preserue the land from desolation , and maintaine the peace thereof . therefore as these are worthie of double honour , . tim. . . so wee must affect them accordingly , as those which watch ouer our soules , and must giue vp their account for vs , that so they may giue it vp with ioy , and not with griefe , heb. . . yea , howsoeuer the person of the minister may be exorbit●●t and scandalous ; yet in regard of his calling , wee are bound to heare him : and if wee affect him not , we cannot profite by him ; ●hee may benefite vs , though himselfe be reproued , . cor. . yea , with the apostle : if christ be preached , whether of enuie , or uaine-glorie , or any such by-respects ; yet wee must reioyce in the truth , and the rather embrace the same , as hauing herein a gracious triall of our sinceriti● : that wee receiue the word , not with respect of persons , for the uessels sake ; but as from the lord , . thess. . . and in obedience to his ordinance . as also , hauing matter to exercise our spirituall wisdome , in discerning things that differ : to seuer the truth of the word from the scandals of the parson ; to trie all things , and hold that which is good , . thess. . yea , herein wee haue singular matter to exercise our loue ; both in praying for his parson , that god may make him more profitable : and so mourning for his defects , as that by our meekenesse and humilitie wee seeke by all holy meanes to winne him to more faithfulnesse , by being faithfull in the obedience of that truth which hee hath deliuered : as knowing , that our sinne is the cause that our pastour is so defectiue . and therefore mourne wee especially for our owne sinnes ; so wee may giue him example to doe the like , or else make him herein inexcusable . which as it reproueth the giddinesse of our people , which heape vp teachers vnto themselues , according to their owne lusts , forsaking and disgracing those whom god hath set ouer them , vpon pretence of their insufficiencie of gifts , or other defects ; so it ought to aduise vs , to be humbled for our owne sinnes , when any such stumbling blockes are offered . assuring our selues , that if wee can truely examine and compare , not out vaine and presumptuous affections after the most eminent gifts , but our measure of profiting answerable to the meanest gifts in truth , wee shall find , if wee deale truely with our owne hearts ( may i not speake of those that presume most in this case ) that wee are generally to learne the very first grounds of religion , heb. . . and so are short of answering the meanest gifts . and so may iustly feare , that whereas we would be generally thought better then wee are , as being ashamed that we haue been so short in answering so long and gracious time of our visitation : therefore god hath giuen vs vp to this presumption , to iudge of our teachers , that wee may iustifie our selues , and so to this wandring and hunting after those , as we take it , of the best gifts ; that so , by following them inordinately , wee may be conceited to be that wee are not , men of greater vnderstanding , of more spirituall experience , as being able to reach and attayne to their measure , and so thereby be further hardened in our owne ignorance and corruptions . thirdly , our affections to others , must be deriued from our affection to our selues : we must begin at home , and so be enlarged abroad ; so loue others , out of loue to our selues ; so to be zealous against others sinnes , as to begin at home , &c. and secondly , our affections to others must returne home againe : if by grieuing for others sinnes , we can doe little good vpon them , let our griefe returne home for our owne sinnes ; yea , let vs be grieued , that they are not grieued . fourthly , our affections to others must be alwayes bounded within the rules of the word , & the glory of god : we must so affect the saluation of others , as may stand with gods glorie , with the good of his church , according to his word . we must so grieue for their sinnes , as that we submit to gods will , and not hinder our callings , . sam. . . we must so pitie them , as not to harden them in sinne , not to pamper them in wantonnesse , &c. secondly , towards god. for the right ordering of our affections toward god , this generall rule must be obserued , that there are some affections which properly and only belong vnto him : as trust and hope ; these are peculiar onely to the lord : so that it is high treason to that supreme maiestie , to transferre them to any other . as for trust : onely in the lord ; not in princes , not any , psal. . , . so for hope : onely in god ; not in man. the meaning is , not that wee must not trust them , that is , yeeld some ciuile credit to them , as to their words , to their actions , &c. in regard of temporall things , nor that wee must not hope well of them in charitie , . cor. . in regard of spirituall , because we know not the contrarie : but wee must not repose any religious confidence in them concerning saluation ; neyther hope in them , as being able to effect the s●me : in which sense wee here speake of these affections . a second rule is , that though some affections respect our selues & others , yet they must be subordinate to our respect of god. our affections to god must be without limitation : wee cannot loue him enough , we cannot feare him too much ; so farre as possibly wee may , our affections must be enlarged proportionably to the obiect ; they must be boundlesse , and endlesse , as the obiect is . but those to our neighbor must be confined within their limits , both subordinate to god ; and secondly , as our callings , and the condition of the party doth require , with reference still to gods glory . chap. vi. of the benefit of the right vse of holy affections . first , hereby wee shall be sure to profit and thriue in all well-doing : for as the thing is affected , so it is encreased and continued . secondly , hereby wee shal discerne vndoubtedly the true worke of grace begun in vs ; for as is the affection , so is the truth of the heart : looke what we loue , what we feare , what we reioyce in , what we are sorrie for ; these will discerne the vprightnesse of the heart . thirdly , hereby also wee shall approoue our selues in the growth of grace : for as our affections are more quickened to holy duties , as we more loue and reioyce in them , as we more feare and hope in the continuance of them , as wee are more grieued in our selues for our fayling , are more zealous against sinne , more angrie against it ; so wee doe thriue in well-doing . and fourthly , so also by our affections wee may discerne our perseuerance , and constancie , in well-doing ; each of them being furtherances thereunto , and assurances thereof . fiftly , our affections rightly ordered , will enable vs to haue more comfortable fellowship with god in prayer , meditation , &c. as quickening our zeale of his glorie , our loue vnto his maiestie ; procuring our more free and bold accesse into his glorious presence , our more entire and cheerefull societie with him , our better contentment in his prouidence ; enabling vs with more patience to wait vpon him , and so to striue more effectually with him , that we may not be sent emptie away . sixtly , these also well ordered , will proue gracious helpes for our more comfortable societie with men , to our mutuall profite and aduantage : as whereby , first , wee are enabled and enlarged to doe them most good . secondly , and so hereby fitted to maintaine the fellowship , as being enabled to ouercome whatsoeuer euills may arise , to the breach thereof , with our patience and meekenesse : and so fitted to further each other to the heauenly communion . seuenthly , especially whereas there are three speciall times , wherein our affections are not onely much distempered , but euen quite peruerted , so farre as wee can perceiue , from their right obiects , and vse ; namely , first , the time of desertion ; when our god with-draweth the light of his countenance from vs. secondly , the time of violent distresse ; by reason of acute diseases : as in feuers , power of melancholy , &c. thirdly , the time of vehement tentation ; by the malice of satan . in all these , as wee must bee wise to iudge of our affections , and our selues by them ; so wee may reape sound comfort thereby , both to preuent distraction and despaire , as also giue hope of recouerie thereout . as first , generally , that our affections must not be measured by any of these extraordinarie conditions ; wee may not bee iudged by the distemper of our affection in them . first , because the distemper is contrarie to the maine bent of our hearts , in our ordinarie course of sanctification : and , secondly , when wee come to our selues againe , and can iudge rightly of things , wee are the first that iudge our selues , and condemne our folly and ignorance in such distem pers : and ps. . . thirdly , our god lookes vpon vs , not as wee are transported with these distempers , but as he hath from euerlasting loued vs in christ , and in his singular wisedome and mercie , hath intended to turne our distem pers , as to the manifestation of our priuie corruption ; as it was in iob , cap. . so to the purging out of more inward and dangerous euils ; of pride , vaineglorie , &c. and so to the aduancing of his free mercie , and goodnesse , not onely in sustayning vs by his mightie power , in these desertions ; but in ouer-comming our distempers , by his wonderfull lenitie and goodnesse : as hee dealt with ionas ; and making way hereby , for the better quieting and settling of our vnruly and carnall heat and affections , for the time to come , by casting vs wholly out of our selues vpon his free mercie in christ iesus , and so renewing vs in him to more constant and sincere obedience . and so not so much respecting the present disorder of the affection , as preparing it hereby to that comfortable issue of conformitie to his will , that so hee may crowne and perfect his owne worke in vs ; meerely , for his owne sake , by his owne mightie arme , that hee may haue the onely glory of all his mercies . particularly , we may obserue a speciall hand of god in each of these occasions : as first , in the case of desertion . and here let the examples of iob and dauid be the instance of our case . it pleased god for a time to withdraw the sense of his mercy from them , and so to exercise them with contrarie buffettings and sense of his displeasure , iob. . . ps. . , . ps. . . hereupon followes a strange distemper of their affections : in stead of ioy , bitter sorrow ; yea , sorrow prouoking to rage , and repining against the prouidence of god : whereby they encreased the burthen , and were readie to sinke vnder the same , by despaire . yet we see how mercifully the lord sustaines them in the midst of these terrors . first , it befalls not them as they foolishly feare , and wish . secondly , they are kept in some measure of sobrietie , to leaue the secret worke to god : yea , in some measure of fatth , as to relye on the power of god : yea , in some measure , nay , in an excellent measure of loue ; though hee forsaketh , yet he is still my god , ps. . and therfore dauid concludeth , will the lord forsake for euer ? not so much doubting , that he will forsake ; as wrestling with god by faith , that hee may not forsake for euer : as gathering from the former times , that he hath beene gracious ; and so concluding , from the faithfulnesse of god , that he will not forsake for euer . yea , victorious iob professeth confidently his loue vnto god , euen in the greatest extremitie , though he kill me , yet i will trust in him , iob. . . and lastly , when the lord hath tryed them in the furnace , and their drosse is purged out , their affections returne to their right kind againe , yea , much more refined ; to the denyall of themselues , and so to their more sober and constant furtherance in the worke of grace , iob. . , , . secondly , concerning the distemper of our affections in acute diseases : wherein if satan hath not vsually an hand , to encrease the fire ; yet the violence of the disease is sufficient to disorder and peruert the iudgement for a time , and so to distract and distemper the affections . yet seeing wee speake and doe that in these extremities , which is contrarie to our former constant course ; and when wee are recouered , wee eyther haue forgotten what wee did , or spake , or else doe condemne our selues for the same : herein is our comfort , that our god will not impute vnto vs what hath fallen out in this case . and so wee may also conclude of the time of tentation , that whatsoeuer distempers fall out in this case , as they are mercifully bounded within the generall condition , that nothing hath befallen vs herein , but what is incident to man ; so their disorder shall not be imputed to vs , but to the malice of satan . and the lord in mercy will giue that issue , as that we shall both beare the burthen without groaning vnder it , and be freed thereof so farre , as shall make for his glorie , and our good . but of this else-where , god willing , more at large . eightly , whereas it is a most desperate policie in poperie , to detayne vnstable and deceiued soules in their damnable errors , and so to draw such like nouices to their lure : that if it please god to affoord light vnto any , whereby they haue some inckling of their deceits , and so haue some inward motion , or affection , to renounce the same , and embrace the truth ; they presently suggest vnto them , that this is a dangerous tentation , and diuellish illusion : that so they might hereby deterre them from embracing the same , and so detayne them in their egyptian bondage . this triall of affections will proue an excellent meanes to resolue them herein . for as by those rules formerly layd downe , to discerne the affection from the tentation , they may easily discerne the truth of affection from the power of delusion : so especially , in that sauing knowledge , is layd downe both to bee the ground and bounds of all holy affections ; hereby they shall be sure to discerne the efficacie of delusion from an vpright affection . and so also , by a wise obseruation of these differences , may the weake christian bee preserued graciously from apostasie ; as hereby knowing what hee holdeth , and so holding that which is good . to conclude , there is not a better euidence of the sinceritie of the heart , then the well-ordering of the affections : because howsoeuer wee may bridle from outward grosse actions , yet our affections will discouer the corruption of our heart , and in●lination thereto . and on the other side , howsoeuer wee may be hindered from the outward action of well-doing , by many occasions , as want of opportunitie , violence of tentation , inabilitie , and the like ; yet our affection thereto , either by grieuing that we cannot doe it , or going so farre as our abilitie will serue , or endeuouring aboue our abilitie , is a gracious euidence of the sinceritie of our hearts . nay , we shall find , that there is not a better spurre to prouoke vs to well-doing ; not any more effectuall bridle to restrayne from sinne , then are our affections . for as if wee doe any good , we must first be affected with the loue of it , before we can attempt the same : or else if wee doe vndertake it vpon by-respects , as to please men , to satisfie carnall ends ; we shall easily giue ouer when these proppes fayle , onely it is the loue of goodnesse , for it selfe , will make vs constant therein : so , on the contrarie , wee shall neuer forsake euill conscionably , vnlesse wee first hate it for it selfe , and loathe as wel the corruption thereof , as feare the danger of the same . if vpon any other respects wee shall leaue sinne , as for feare of punishment , for credite , &c. these respects will proue meanes sometimes euen to returne to such sinnes , or worse ; which haue beene the occasions to lay them aside for a season . and therefore as it is the mercie of our god to shew vs oft times in our affections what we may doe in our actions : so it is also his singular goodnesse , to forewarne vs of many euills which wee may otherwise fall into , euen by the sway of our affections leading thereunto . what should i say ? can we haue a better euidence of the truth of our conuersion , then the alteration of our affections ? can wee now delight in such thinges , which before wee loathed ? and can we grieue especially at that , which heretofore was our principall reioycing ? can we delight in the mortifying of the flesh ? and reioyce that wee can sorrow for sinne ? and can we so reioyce in all spirituall comforts , as that we can also be sorrowfull for our abuse of them ? so that we can be alwayes sorrowing , and alwayes reioycing : reioycing in our god , and his goodnesse ; sorrowing , that wee cannot reioyce as we should ; that we cannot doe the good we would : reioycing in this , that wee haue got the masterie of some sinnes ; and yet sorrowing for our many faylings , and faintings euen in those conquests , & for that body of sin , that hangeth so fast vpon vs ? can we discerne our affections thus turned vpside down ? out ioy into sorrow , our sorrow into ioy , that so our carnall ioy in sinne may bee first swallowed vp of carnall sorrow for the punishment thereof : and our carnall sorrow may be preuented of extreame despaire , by the glad tidings of gods mercie in iesus christ , speaking peace vnto our soules , and breeding spirituall ioy by the euidence of our adoption . and so our ioy in the goodnesse of our god may still worke in vs a spirituall sorrow and repentance of all our secure wayes , that so wee may cleaue vnto our god in new obedience : and so still as wee can now reioyce in the truth of our endeuours ; so wee can also mourne for the imperfection of them ; that so wee may still labour to be found in christ. surely , by these changes and contrarieties of our affections , wee may vndoubtedly conclude a truth of our conuersion , and proceeding therein . a case of conscience , here to bee resolued , whether it be an argument of vnsanctified affections to be more placed on earthly then heauenly things . the resolution hereof consists in a wise distinction of our affections : which may be considered eyther as they are mixt , and so they are at the best ; or , as they are predominant , and so the better part preuayles against the worse . take them as they are mixt : and so because the corrupt part first breakes out , and so is more sensible , and so still accompanies the better part in the processe of the worke , and will haue a fling euen in the issue , to share with god , and rob him of his glory ; and so though happily the intention and purpose bee to the best , and in the issue of it , may prooue best to the confounding of the flesh : yet in regard of the appearance of that of flesh , as being more naturall and sensible to a carnall eye ; it may bee coniectured , that the affection is more vpon that which is carnall , then that which is spirituall . especially if wee consider , that as earthly things haue a present and necessarie vse in all occasions ; so bring they a kinde of warrant with them : as to vse them , so to affect them , that so we may take comfort in them ; and by this comfort be prouoked vnto thankfulnesse . so that thus to affect , is not to affect them as earthly , but as heauenly things ; as turned to the right end , and being good foundations and euidences to a better life . . tim. . . onely the triall is in the setting of the affection , and resting of the same in these earthly things , psal. . . col. . . it is one thing to affect euen the meanest things , as gods blessings , which wee are to receiue cheerefully , and returne thankfully vnto our god. and another thing , to set the affections vpō thē , that is , first , to rest in the thing , not in the giuer thereof . secondly , so to rest in the present , as we place happinesse heerein , and not make it a step to a further happinesse . thirdly , so to giue way vnto these affections , for the possessing of our hearts , as that either we leaue no roome for spirituall obiects , but are wholly taken vp with desire and pursuit of earthly things , or so to diuide our hearts to the entertainment of these diuers obiects , as that either they doe equally share in our desires ; we are indifferent to either , wee can serue god and mammon alike , wee can be as eager , take as great delight in the prosecuting and enioying of these , as the other . or else , as it vsually fails out , that if once wee grow to this equall partition , the handmaid will shortly perke aboue the mistresse , the carnall obiect will preuaile aboue the spirituall , and so wee shall labour more for the meat that perisheth , then for that which endureth for euer . thus to set our affections vpon earthly things , is indeed to giue more roome in our hearts for the world , then god , and so to exclude god , in regard of the world ; and this is carnall and diuellish . but so to affect earthly things , as to make them steps to higher blessings , as to acknowledge our faithfulnesse in the least , because god loues a cheerefull giuer , and husband of his meanest blessings , is indeed in earthly things to affect heauenly : the resolution rests in the meanes , and end of affecting these things ; that if we prosecute our affections by holy meanes , and subordinate still these thinges to better ; wee may affect them lawfully , and thereby affect the better . this is to liue by faith , and not by sense , euen in outward things . this is to reioyce in god , and not in the things themselues . this is to lay vp a good foundation against the day of christ , . tim. . . . especially if wee consider these two things . first , that the lord conueyes vnto vs euen the most spirituall blessings , by outward and carnall meanes ; as the word , by an earthen vessell ; the sacraments , by outward elements . and secondly , that wee receiue such blessings by the ministerie of the flesh ; as by hearing the word , eating the bread , &c. which , as the wisedome of god , no doubt , hath intended , for the humbling of the flesh , that it should not rest in the outward instrument , but in the inward operation of the spirit ; so also hath it his especiall worke for the triall of the spirit , that it leads vs from that which is obuious to sense , to that which is apprehended by faith : that so being in the flesh , yet wee may not liue after it , but rather vse the flesh for the mortifying of the flesh . as that , if wee were not flesh , we should not be thus led along with rudiments and elements , to the capacitie thereof ; and because wee are thus led with elements , therefore the lord hauing now supplyed our infancie and weakenesse , wee should not bee weakelings still , needing milke , &c. but rather grow on to strength , and power of grace , that so wee may digest the strongest meat . the summe of all is : the wicked affect heauenly thinges with an earthly appetite , and so all things are impure vnto them : the godly affect earthly thinges with an heauenly appetite , and so all thinges are pure vnto them . the wicked affect heauenly things for earthly thinges sake , and so all become earthly vnto them : the godly affect earthly things for heauenly things sake , and so all things become heauenly . the godly find a loathsomenesse in affecting earthly things , and so are prouoked to hunger after heauenly ; the wicked find a loathsomenesse in affecting heauenly things , and so rather seeke to quench their thirst in the puddle of earthly pleasure : the godly findea want of heauenly things , and so still affect the best graces ; the wicked are neuer satisfied with earthly things , and so still tyre themselues in pursuit after them . so that it is the predominancie of the affection , that determines the right ordering thereof . whereupon it settles most , wherein it sets vp it rest : how it subordinates the inferiour to the superiour , and aymes at the chiefest end , euen the glorie of god , and saluation of the soule . and secondly , it is the issue of the affection , that approoues the sinceritie thereof . if god giue salomon aboundance of earthly things , and hee giue his heart to seeke out pleasure , and contentment therein : yet , if vpon experience of the vanitie and insufficiencie of these things , to content the minde , hee renounce these carnall delights , yea , euen what is good in them , in regard of the end that doth accompanie the same , and so soare vp higher by this experience , to the highest good ; is not this the right vse of all earthly desires ? is not this to sanctifie euen these desires of earthly thinges , by making them whetstones , to quicken heauenly affections , and so to settle them more firmely vpon durable and proportionable obiects ? finis . to the christian reader . according to my promise , in my last treatise of the gouernment of the thoughts ; i haue now supplyed thee ( deare christian ) with some further directions for the well-ordering and subduing of thy vnruly and rebellious affections : a taske as so much the more difficult , then the former , of ruling the thoughts , by how much carnall reason and fleshly wisedome , beares more sway heerein , and so giues more strength and warrant to the excesses thereof : so in this respect also the more necessarie to be vndertaken , as being that wherein euen the best doe much faile in the wise temper thereof , and yet are very hardly brought to discerne their aberrations therein . for what one the one side through the ignorance of the right obiects whereon our affections are to be placed , and the right measure of proportion to their obiects : and on the other side , by reason of such collusions of carnall wisedome , making good our distempers therein : very lamentable it is to obserue how easily many , other wise good men , haue beene miserably transported into these aberrations either in the excesse or defect . as also how hardly they haue beene reclaimed to the right temper againe : nay , not so much as to discerne wherein they haue fallen . may we not obserue both these true in ionas his case ? how easily fel he through ignorance , and selfe loue into a violent fit of rage , and how hardly was he reduced to see his error heerein . that which he should haue reioyced in , in the truth of iudgement , that the lord had mercie vpon that people , voiced to destruction : wee see proues an occasion , through spirituall pride and selse-loue blinding of him ; that i say , proued a meanes to make him euen burst with anger , not sparing god himselfe in his rage and furie : and with what great patience doth the glorious lord seeke to allay his heat ? how hardly is he brought , so much as to the sight of his distemper , but that he is still ready to iustifie his fumes , though it were to the condemning of god himselfe ? the like we might exemplifie in the other affections . and had wee not then great neede of some light to further vs heerein , both that we may see our owne errors heerein , and also be gratiously enabled to moderate the same . accept then i pray you my endeauour heerein : and in the feare of god make vse of such directions as are afforded hereunto . i doubt not but as thou shalt perceiue a right ayme heerein , so thou wilt not measure the truth of god by my infirmities , but rather take occasion heereby to glorifie god the more , if that his power shall any whit shine throughout such mists of humane corruption . in the conclusion of my last booke howsoeuer i may be censured to giue way to too much passion , yet for mine owne part , i blesse god with my soule , for giuing mee so much patience , as that when i might haue righted my selfe by deeds to the vtter wracke of such who haue sought by slaunders and desperate practises my vtter vndoing . it hath pleased my gratious god so to guide me therein , as only to giue them a generall item of their wicked designes , that so they may be brought to repentance : which as i doe heartily pray for , so my endeauour by gods mercie shall be to watch ouer my affections with more heede and resolution : that so i may keepe my peace more comfortably with my god , howsoeuer i make account still to be more and more encountered by vnreasonable men . and so i desire thee also to walke after the same rule , labouring so farre as possibly thou maiest to be at peace with all men , by possessing thy soule in patience and ouercomming euill with good . and so i commend thee ( heartily ) to the grace of god : wishing thee to expect shortly as heere a generall directson for the affections in generall : so a particular discouery of each affection in their liuely collours , that so thou maiest bee furnished with what may particularly informe thee heerein , and thereby bee enabled to walke peaceably with god and men , to thy comfortable being in this thy pilgrimage , and so to the better preparing of thee to thy countrie which is aboue . to this end , and so i rest thy poore remembrancer at the throne of grace . th. cooper . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a -e affection , what it signifies . meta●●mia subiecti . notes for div a -e the diuision of affections , . in respect of the obiect . . loue. . hate . . ioy. . hope . . griefe . . feare . . laughter . . pitie . . enuie whar . . ielousie . . trust. . distrust . anger . . shame . . bashfulnesse . . malice . . despaire . confidence . . patience . : in respect of the extent . notes for div a -e . of philosophers , which deriue from the humors . diuines , from the soule . from the soule proued . answ. to obiect . how the soule suffers from the body . ground of these false conceits , concerning affections . . stoikes . . epicure , and his confusion . . cor. . sadduces . rom. . . . reasons proouing , that they arise from the mind . dan. . tit. . . notes for div a -e rules for iudging hereof . . their condition . . their true ground prou. . . . touching their obiects . . generall . . particular . with their rules . . rule . . rule . . rule . . rule . . rule . . rule . vse . . . rule . limitation . . by the word . heb. . . . . to the obiects . . to our callings . . the occasions . . leuit. . nehem. . the end. aff●●●ions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ●pirituall thrift . . genes . , . . how to iudge of the sinceritie of affections , in the corruption of them . how to distinguish betweene affections , and their tentations note . rules hereto . the tentation first breakes out and why . . want of preparation . . satans policie . . gods prouiden●e . vse hereof . . rule . constancie in affections . . rule . encrease in power . . rule . out-lasting the action . . rule . sound ground . . rule . direct meanes . . rule . right ends notes for div a -e how to order affections for our selues . in companie . by vse , and practise . by contrary bent. by contrary measure . . cor. . by their sinceritie . concerning euill and good . 〈◊〉 . . . note . rule heerein . in regard of the combate . for ordering . and triall . note . in regard of the obiect . in respect of reflection note . affections vnited to the most excellent obiect . reasons hereof . iam. . . note . matth. . phil. . . iam. . vse . . tim. . . note . note . order of affections towards god. notes for div a -e ch. . ps. . iob. . iob. . . ps. . , , . . cor. . . notes for div a -e note . rom. . . heb. . . tit. . . a table of humane passions with their causes and effects. written by ye reuerend father in god f.n. coeffeteau, bishop of dardania ... translated into english by edw. grimeston sergiant at armes. tableau des passions humaines. english coeffeteau, nicolas, - . approx. kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from -bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase , no. a ) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set ) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, - ; : ) a table of humane passions with their causes and effects. written by ye reuerend father in god f.n. coeffeteau, bishop of dardania ... translated into english by edw. grimeston sergiant at armes. tableau des passions humaines. english coeffeteau, nicolas, - . grimeston, edward. [ ], p. printed by nicholas okes, london : . a translation of: tableau des passions humaines. the title page is engraved. reproduction of the original in the folger shakespeare library. created by converting tcp files to tei p using tcp tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between and available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the , texts created during phase of the project have been released into the public domain as of january . anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. % (or pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf- unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p , characters represented either as utf- unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng emotions -- early works to . - tcp assigned for keying and markup - spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images - mona logarbo sampled and proofread - mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited - pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a table of humane passions . with their causes and effects . written by the reuerend father in god f. n. coeffeteau , bishop of dardania , councellor to the french king in his councels of estate , suffragane and administrator generall of the bishopricke of metz. translated into english by edw : grimeston sergiant at armes . london , printed by nicholas okes. ●●easure . paine hope . feare . to the right honovrable , george , marquesse of buckingham , high admirall of england , &c. most worthy to be most honored lord ; all outward honors and accomplishments of height , already most abundantly & blessedly adorning you ; i thrice humbly submit to your lordship , ( in as much as this little volume may containe ) as ample meanes to all inward addition and illustration : in teaching all manly and lordly gouerment of those invvard passions and perturbations that are euermore excited by outvvard pleasures , and all their storme-rockt soothings of security and licence . for no more doth the sun and wind ; exhale and blovv vppe pasttemper , vapors and tempests ; then the graces , and amplifications of kings ; cause aestures & vprores of affection and passion ▪ yet is there not any more sencible variety of medicine and cure , for all bodily wounds and maladies : then there are intelligible and reasonable repressions and setlings of all the vnquiet , and raging ouerflowes of our spirits and minds . neither is there any so deadly danger layd open in the one , as abides hid in the other . for as that tempest is more dangerous that suffers not a ship to repaire to her hauen , then that which sustaines not shee should sayle at all ▪ so most difficult are the minds stormes , that let a man to containe himselfe ; nor suffer him ▪ to quiet and settle his disturbed reason . and therefore all men floting on the high-going seas of fortune , if destitute of pylots , cables , and anchors ; and moued only with tumultuous and vnbounded errors , in vncertaine and dangerous courses ; may for a time perhaps in safety and pleasure enioy , and extend them : but at length ( as t' were suddainly rauisht by the neckes ) they are driuen helplesly headlong on the more horrible ship-wrackes . since then your lordships disposition to all goodnesse is in nature most sweete , most flexible ; vouchsafe eare a little to artificiall and experimenc't aduices , that may rectifie , accomplish and establish you in all the heights of your honors . wherein my humble and poore endeauors obtaining their desired ends ; i shall holde my selfe happy , and rest in all seruiceable deuotion , your lordships euermore most submissiuely vowed ▪ ed : grimeston . of humane passions . the preface . as prouident nature hath prescribed certaine ends to all the creatures of this vniuerse , whom she hath clothed with certaine qualities and allurements fit to inflame them with their loue ; so there is not any one in this world but doth endeuor by all meanes to attaine vnto those ends which are propounded . as the sunne hauing bin placed in the firmament , to contribute to the birth and preseruation of beasts and plants ; runnes continually from one hemisphere to the other , to poure out the beames of his influence and light ouer all . so after his example , there is not any other cause in all this great world , but is carefull to seeke and pursue her end , according to the motions which nature hath ingrafted . but to make them c●peable , it was necessary that the same nature which hath prescrib'd them their ends , should also giue them as it were two wings to raise them vp : that is to say , it was needefull she should impart vnto them the knowledge , and ingraf● in them the inclination and desire to pursue them . desire alone were not sufficient , for that is fashi●ned in the appetite ; which is a blind power , and requires some light to guide and conduct it in its motions ; euen as they say the whale , which hath a weake and heauy sight , hath need of a guide to conduct it through the waues of the sea , lest that this great and weighty masse which she drawes after her , should strike against some rocke and be crusht in peeces . neither were knowledge alone sufficient , for that it proceedes from a faculty which being borne to giue light , doth necessarily presuppose another power , which doth receiue the beames of her light , and as we may say , suffers it selfe to be guided by that light . as for example , to cause the king ( being incited by the glory of his ancestors , or induced by the greatnesse of his courage ) to vndertake the sacke of constantinople , or to repl●nt the cross● in palestina ; it were not sufficient that he knew where constantinople stood , or in what part of the world palestina were ; but besides all this it were needfull , that with this knowledge the heat and ardor to carry him to so glorious a conquest should breede a desire . as in old time to thrust on alexander to vndertake the voyage of persia , or of the indies , it was not onely requisite this prince should haue some knowledge of that st●tely empire and of those rich prouinces ; but it was also necessary his generosity should beget in him a passion and will to conquer them . so as no man imbraceth any designe whatsoeuer , vntill that knowledge be vnited with desire , and desire ioyned vnto knowledge . in this manner then if things knewe their ends and did not desire them , or if they desired them without the knowledge , they could not be drawne to endeuor to get them : for as much as through the want of those helps , they should be in danger to labor in vaine , and to lose all the paines of their pursuites . so as to effect it they had neede of knowledge and desire . the proofes hereof are seene in all the creatures which make a part of this vniuersall world . for leauing apart the angels of heauen , whose actions show sufficiently that their substance is indued with an vnderstanding full of knowledge , and a will capable to frame diuers desires ; if we will fixe our eyes vpon visible nature , we shall find that there is not any creature , not onely among those that haue life , but euen among those that haue no soules , in the motions and course of whose actions this truth doth not appeare and demonstrate it selfe plainely . it is true , that in things which are insensible and without life , it is not necessary that the knowledge of their ends should remaine in themselues , as the desires and inclinations to attaine vnto them do reside ; but it sufficeth that they bee guided and conducted by a cause conioyned to their actions . and to returne to our last example , as it was necessary ( to draw alexander to vndertake the voyage of asia and the indies ) he should haue knowledge of the prouinces , yet he might borrow this knowledge from those which had seene them , and obserued them ▪ euen as blind men , who led by their guides go where their affaires do call them ; euen so , although that naturall things which of themselues are not indued with any knowledge , besides the inclination which they haue vnto their end , haue yet some need to know it , to the end they may affect it and seeke it ; yet hauing a desire ▪ it imports not whether the knowledge be precisely in themselues , or that some other cause supplies this defect , and insinuates it selfe into this action to guide it . the reason whereof is , that although they be depriued of knowledge , yet it hinders not the force of their motions ; for that they are vnited to that great intelligence which knoweth all things , and cannot erre in her knowledge , but guides all the naturall causes to their ends by her wise prouidence . but these things haue alwayes neede of knowledge and desire , to put them into action , although that in regard of knowledge it is not absolutely necessary it reside in them , but it sufficeth that it be imparted vnto them by the influence and assistance of a more eminent cause . as for those which haue life , it may be plainly obserued in the course of their liues . but we must remember that the soule being the forme of liuing thinges , and naturall formes hauing this in particular , that the more noble containes the perfection of that which is lesse noble , as a quadrangle comprehendes with a certaine eminency , all that enters into the composition of a triangle ; and as the formes of beasts containe the formes of the elements ; it followes that there beeing three degrees of soules ; that is to say , that which giues life , which is the lesse perfect ; that which giues sense ; which is the second ranke , and the reasonable which is the noblest of all ; this reasonable soule which is peculiar onely to man , containes all the powers and perfections of the other , and can effect as much as all the rest together . by reason whereof man hath a vegetatiue soule , which is common with plants ; he hath the sensitiue , which he hath common with bruit heasts ; but he alone is in possession of the reasonable soule , whereby he hath nothing common with the rest of the creatures . after this , either of these soules hath a number of powers befitting the operations which must arise . the powers of the vegetatiue soule are principally those which nourish , which contribute to the growing and increase , and which serue to generation : and those haue other powers for instruments to their actions , as the power to draw , the power to retaine , the power to expell the excrements , the power to disgest the nourishment , and others which philosophers assigne vnto them . moreouer , there is a power which is as it were the queene of all the rest , to whose command and conduct they referre all their actions : and that is the power of the naturall appetite , the which ( as wee haue sayd ) is one of those two things necessary to accomplish the actions of nature . according vnto these lawes we see that the power we call attractiue , drawes the nourishment vnto her , for that the naturall appetite doth presse and command her ; and in like manner the power which they call expulsiue , doth cast forth and expell those things which the same natural appetite doth abhorre ; and so of the other powers which are ordained to diuerse ends . but for that the appetite which is blind and voyde of all knowledge , is not sufficient in vegetatiue things to exercise their action , but withall it is requisite that they be accompanied with knowledge ; it therfore happens that the vegetatiue soule being not so noble that among all her powers , there is not any one indued with knowledge : the vniuersall nature which prouides for all , supplies this defect , and conducts by her light the inclination of vegetatiue substances to their ends , and by the same meanes guides all the other powers which follow her motions in their actions . so as nature knowing the substance fitting and proper for the nourishment , shewes it and instructs the naturall appetite , and ordaines that it shal bee drawne and disgested , and conuerted into nourishment for the preseruation of the vegetable indiuidue ; and the like may bee sayd of the other actions ; wherein doubtlesse liuings things diff●r not much from those that haue no life , and we must not obiect that plants seeme to bee indued with knowledge , for that they can distinguish a iuic● which is proper for them , from that which is pernitious , the which seemes to bee a marke of knowledge ; for although there were pilosophers which did a●tribute vnto plants a feeling of things , which they sayd was lesse pure and lesse actiue then that of creat●●es : yet it is most certaine that the nature of the vegetatiue soule is too earthly , to bee fit for the functions of the sences , which require oth●● organs then those of the plants . and therefore although they draw vnto them good iuice , and reiect the bad , it proceeds not from any knowledge wherewith they are indued , but from their naturall vertues ▪ and properties , guided by that soueraigne intelligence which disperseth her care ouer al the creatures how base and abiect soeuer : and it is also by her motion that the same plants fly their contraries , as the vine shunnes the bay tree ; and that they shew such grace & beauty in their workes , as we see in the spring time ; so as all these things bind vs not to beleeue ▪ that they are indued with knowledge . but let vs returne to our discourse , and ( leauing the vegetatiue soule ) ascend a degree higher , and come to the sensitiue . this as the more noble hath in her selfe the possession of knowledge and hath no need to borrow it , like vnto the vegetatiue soule , 〈◊〉 things without life . moreouer shee hath three kinds of powers , that is to say , the fa●ulty to know , the faculty to desire and the mouing power . b● the mouing power , i vnder●stand that which executes the motion , from one place to another , as it is commanded and ordained by the faculty where the desire is framed , after that it is enlightened and guided by knowledge . the knowing powers are of two sorts , that is to say , the exterior and the interior . the exterior are the fiue sences of nature , as seeing , hearing , smelling , tasting , & touching ; the which as messengers 〈◊〉 to the interior powers indu●d with knowledge , whatsoe●er we can comprehend and desire . these exterior powers 〈◊〉 the sences answers in some ●●rt to the bodies of the vni●erse , whereof they comprehend 〈◊〉 colours , the sounds , the ●melles , the sauors , the cold , ●●e heat , and the other naturall qualities wherewith they are clothed . the interior powers capable of knowledge are three , whereof the first is the common sence , the which is called by that name , for that it is as it were the center , to which doe flow the formes which are sent vnto it from the other sences : so as from the eyes it receiues the formes of colours which they haue seene : from the hearing the formes of sounds which haue toucht the eare ; from smelling the formes of sauors which it hath sented ; from the tongue , the forme of sweetnesse or bitternesse which it hath tasted ; and from the body the formes o● those things which fall vnder the sence of touching . and 〈◊〉 not o●ely receiues ▪ the forme● which the other sences send vn●to it , but it also compares them , discernes them , and iudgeth of them ; the which the particular sences cannot do , for that they are limitted and tyed to their particular obiects , and neuer exceed the bounds thereof . for the eyes are onely imployed to iudge of the difference of colours , as betwixt white and blacke , and neuer seeke to ●eddle with that which concernes the sound , smelling , or the other qualities which haue nothing common with colours . the common sence then is necessary to iudge thus generally of all the obiects of the other sences , that by meanes thereof the creature may distinguish that which is healthfull from that is hurtfull . but to the end the knowledge , which this sence doth gather from the obiects ▪ whose formes are presented vnto it by the exterior sences , be not lost by their absence , it sends all it hath gathered compared and distinguished , to another power meerely knowing , which is called the imaginatiue ; as that wherein are grauen the formes of things which are offred vnto it by the common sence , to the end the knowledge may remaine after they are vanished away . besides this imaginatiue , there is another power proper to preserue things , which is the memory , the which although it bee not directly ordained to iudge but rather to serue as a store-house and treasury to shut vp , and to preserue the formes of things which are imprinted in her ; yet for that she doth continually represent vnto the common sence the formes which are consigned vnto her , she may well bee sayd also to helpe to knowledge . these then are the three interior powers capable of knowledge , to the which although that some adde others , yet i wil hold with their opinion who not willing to multiply the powers without necessity , reiect them as superfluous , seeing the imaginatiue power sufficeth to do all the offices which are attributed vnto them . there are then in the sensitiue soule eight knowing faculties , fiue externall , and three internall as we haue shewed . as for the appetitiue powers where the desires are formed , there are but two , that is to say , the concupiscible or desiring power , and the irascible or angry power : the one of which without the other sufficeth not for the health of the creatures . for if the lyon had no other inclination , nor any other spurre of desire then to runne after meate fit for his nourishment , doubtlesse the least difficulty and obstacle he should incounter , would hinder the pursuite of his prey ; for that hee should be without any desire to surmount this difficulty , and so he should not be able to preserue his life for want of nourishment . in like manner men would bee daunted for the least crosses they should finde in the pursuite of any good thing , or in the auoiding of euill ; and although the danger were not great nor vrgent , yet would they not dare to oppose themselues and incounter it : and so they would yeeld to these difficulties , and not pursue the obiects of their desires , how great soeuer their inclination were to seeke them . wherefore prouident nature to preuent this inconuenience , besides the other powers , hath giuen vnto the sensitiue soule two appetites , that is to say , the concupiscible and the irascible ; whereof this last , when as any difficulty ariseth and opposeth it selfe to the desire of the concupiscible , comes presently to succour it ; and inflaming the blood , excites choler , hope , courage , or some other like passion destinated and ordained to make him surmount the difficulties which crosse the contentment of the soule . for that which concernes the powers of the sensitiue soule , there remaines none but the faculty mouing from one place to another , which is disperst and resides in the sinnewes , muscles and ligaments , and which is dispersed ouer all the members of the creature . this power being commanded by the appetite , doth presently exercise his office , seruing for an instrument to that part of the blood which for the great subtility and purenes thereof hath gotten the name of spirit . to come now to the reasonable soule , it hath two principall powers , the one indued with knowledge , which is the vnderstanding ; and the other capable of desire , which is the will ; the which being blind as all the appetites are naturally , she followeth in the pursuite of her obiects , the light of the vnderstanding , by reason whereof she is termed the intellectuall appetite , but more properly the will. the office of our vnderstanding , particularly of that which we call possible , is to receiue , and in receiuing to know , and in knowing to offer vnto the will those kinds or formes , which are sent vnto it from the imagination . it is true , that being a more noble power then the sensitiue , it cannot receiue those images and formes , so materiall , grosse and sensible , as they are of themselues in their particular being , for that they are not proportionable to the purity and excellency of her condition . by reason whereof the philosophers haue placed in our soules another power wonderfully noble , whose office is to purge and to clothe as it were with a new lustre , all the images or formes which are found in the imagination or fantasie ; and by the meanes of this light , to cause those formes which were materiall , sensible , and singular , to become so purified from these earthly conditions as they seeme vniuersall , and so well proportioned to the purenesse of our vnderstanding , as they easily receiue the impression . thus then the powers of all the three soules concurre in man in regard of the rationall , the which as more noble then the sensitiue or vegetatiue , comprehends all their powers , and withall addes many things to their perfection . in the meane time , wee must consider that man hath no kind of command , neither ouer the powers of the vegetatiue soule , whose actions are meerely naturall ; nor ouer those of the sensitiue soule , which are destinated to knowledge , as the interior and exterior sences ; vnlesse it bee by accident , when as by a resolution of his will ; hee denies these powers the meanes which are necessary to put them in action ; but hee may well haue power ouer those of the sensitiue appetite , which are proper to obey the discourse of reason , and the command of the will , as ouer the irascible and concupiscible . to the end then that amidst the bond of the intellectuall powers with the sensitiue ; and the communication , and correspondency which is betwixt them for the exercise of their functions , we may the better see how the lesse noble , obey and serue the more noble , and execute their offices , wee must heere represent the forme . as soone as the exterior sences , busied about the obiects which are proper for them , haue gathered the formes of things which come from without , they carry them to the common sence , the which receiues them , iudgeth of them , and distinguisheth them ; and then to preserue them in the absence of their obiects , presents them to the imagination , which hauing gathered them together , to the end she may represent them whensoeuer need shall require , she deliuers them to th● custody of the memory ; from whence retiring them when occasion requires , she propounds them vnto the appetite , vnder the apparance of things that are pleasing or troublesom , that is to say , vnder the forme of good and euill ; and at the same instant the same formes enlightned with the light of the vnderstanding , and purged from the sensible and singular conditions , which they retaine in the imagination , and insteed of that which they represented of particular things , representing them generall ; they become capable to be imbraced by the vnderstanding ; the which vnder the apparance of things which are profitable or hurtfull , that is to say , vnder the forme of good and euill , represents them vnto the will : the which ▪ being blind referres it selfe to that which the vnderstanding proposeth vnto it : and then as queene of the powers of the soule she ordaines what they shall imbrace , & what they shal fly as it pleseth her ▪ whereunto the sensitiue appetite yeelding a prompt obedience to execute her command from the which it neuer st●aies , so long as it containes it selfe within the bounds and order prescrib'd by nature , quickneth all the powers and passions ouer which shee commands , and sets to worke those which are necessary to that action , and by their meanes commands the mouing power ; dispersed ouer all the members , to follow or fly , to approch or to recoyle , or to do any other motion which it requireth . and shee obeying suddenly if shee bee not hindred , moues , the whole body with the organs which reside in the parts , and induceth them to fly or imbrace things according to the command which she hath receiued . after this manner man proceeds in his free operations , if he will obserue the order which he ought . the which i say , for that oftentimes ●ee ouerthrows and peruerts this order , either by bad education , or by custome , or the organs being vnsound , or for that his will hath bad inclination ; so as reason cannot enioy her power , & subiect the sensuall appetite vnto her ; but contrariwise hee abandons himselfe in prey vnto this disordered appetite , and suffers himselfe to bee transported by his furious motiōs . so as suddenly when as fantasie offers to the appetite , the formes which shee receiues from the sences , vnder the shew of good or euill ; he without stay to haue them iudged by the discourse of vnderstanding , and chosen by the will , comm●nds of himselfe the mouing power , & makes it to act according to his pleasure . and herein consistes the disorder which the passions cause in the life of man , which diuert him many times from the lawes of reason . but wee haue spoken enough hereof , let vs now enter into the subiect , and beginne by the definition of passions to know their nature and essence . to his long-lou'd and worthy friend , mr. edward grimeston ▪ sergeant at armes ; of his vnwearied and honored labors . svch is the vnequall , and inhumane vice of these vile times , that each man sets his price on others labors ; and the lasiest drone that neuer drop of honey , of his owne brought to the publique hiue , distasts all ours and ( in the worlds wit ) feeds far worthier powers . t is noble to be idle ; base to be of any art , good mind , or industry . another sort of dull opinionists , consume their stupid liues in learned mists ; yet wold be seene ( poore soules ) beyond the sun ; but that like dolon , in the darke they run , other explorers fearing . and these men like cheaters , foyst in false dice to their den , to win mens thoughts of th' onely truly learnd , and feede on that conceit , before t is earnd . to strengthen which , their marke●s are the marts where sounds and names of artsmen , & all arts they stuffe their windy memories withall ; and then when ere their creditors shall call they pay them , with these tokens , all they owe ; then , honest men they are , then all things know . when all employd in priuate conference ; they count all rude that are of open braines feare to be fooles in print , though in their cels ( in learn'd mens vizards ) they are little else . they that for feare of being cald fooles , hide , like hid men more they stir the more are spied , whose learnings are as ignorantly applied , as those illiterate peripaticke soules , that all their liues , do nought but measure poules ; yet neuer know how short or long it i● , more then their liues , or all their idle blisse . in short , all men that least deseruing● haue , men of most merit euer most depraue . how euer ( friend ) t is in vs must assure our outward acts ; and signe their passe secure . nor feare to find your noble paines impeacht , but write as long as foxe , or nowell preacht ▪ for when all wizards haue their bolts let fly , there 's no such proofe of worth , as industry . e merito solers industria reddat honorem . george chapman . a table of the chapters contained in this treaty of humane passions . chap. . what passion is . fol. . chap. . of the number of passions . fol. . chap. . of the quality of passions , and whethey they be good or bad . fol. . of loue , the preface . fol. . chap. . of the beginning of loue. fol. . chap. . wherein the essence of loue consists . fol. . chap. . of the persons to whom loue extends . fol. . chap. . of the effects of loue. fol. . chap. . of iealousie , whether it bee an effect and signe of loue. fol. . chap. . of hatred and enmity . fol. . chap. . of desire and cupidity , and of the flight and horror we haue of things . fol ▪ . chap. . of pleasure and delight . fol. . chap. . of the effects of pleasure . fol. . chap. . of griefe and heauinesse . fol. . chap. . of mercy and indignation . fol. . chap. . of indignation . fol. . chap. . of enuy and emulation . fol. . chap. . of hardinesse and courage . fol. . chap. . of feare or dread . fol. . chap. . of shame . fol. . chap. . of the effects of shame . . chap. . of hope and despaire . fol. . chap. . of choler . fol. . chap. . of those against whom wee are angry . fol. . chap. . of the effects and remedies of choler . fol. . chap. . of mildnesse and gentlenesse . fol. . chap. . of the diuers passions of men according to their ages and conditions . fol. . a table of humaine passions . chapter . wherein is expounded what passion is . seeing there can be no better order obserued , to expresse the nature of things , then to beginne by the definitions , which haue vsually giuen vs a full light of their essence , wee must enter into this treaty of passions , by the definition which philosophers giue . that which is called passion , say they , is no other thing , but a motion of the sensitiue appetite , caused by the apprehensiō or imagination of good or euill , the which is followed with a change or alteration in the body , contrary to the lawes of nature . whereby it appeares , that passions , to speak properly , reside onely in the sensitiue appetite , and that they are not fashioned but in the irrationall part of the soule : so as if we should giue the name of passions to the motions of the vnderstanding , or of the will ; it is by a kind of improper and figuratiue speech , alluding to the passions of the senses , with the which they haue some resemblance . the reason why passions are not found in the rationall part of the soule , is , for that this part doth not imploy any corporeal organs in her actions , and that her office is not to alter or bring any change vnto the body ; the which notwithstanding , is an action which doth accompany the passions inseparably . but seeing they are not to be found in any other part of the soule , but in the sensitiue appetite : there riseth heere a great question , whether this appetite shal be diuided into the irascible & concupiscible or desiring power , as into two different and distinct powers , or whether it makes but one power of both . the common opinion is , that as their obiects are diuers , so they are two distinct powers : whereof the reason is gathered , by that which experience doth shew vs in all other things subiect to corruption ; for we see in other corruptible creatures , that they haue not onely an inclination and power to seek after those things which are fit and conuenient for them , and to flie those which may hurt or anoy them ; but moreouer , they haue another faculty or power , to resist and fight against that which may crosse their actions , or destroy their beeing . as for example , fire is not onely indued with lightnesse , to flie vp high , but it hath also receiued heate from nature , by meanes whereof , it doth resist and fight against any thing that is contrary to his action . in like manner it was necessary for the good of man , that hee should haue two kindes of inclinations , the one to pursue those things which are pleasing & agreeable to the senses , and to auoyde those which may any way anoy him : and this we call the concupiscible or desiring power ; and the other , by meanes whereofhee may incounter and vanquish whatsoeuer opposeth it selfe , crosseth his inclinations , or that tends to the destruction of his being , or the decay of his contentment , which is that wee call the irascible or angry power . this differs from the concupiscible , for that the concupiscible tends to the sensible good , absolútely considered , and without any crosses ; whereas the irascible doth alwayes aime at the good which is inuironed with some difficulty , the which she striues to vanquish to the end shee may take all obstacles from the concupiscible power , which crosse her content , and hinder her from enioying the good which she desires to attaine vnto : so as the irascible is as a sword and target to the concupiscible , for that she combates for her content , and resists any thing that may crosse her . there are many things proue , that they are two different and distinct powers : for as mathematicians hauing noted diuers apparent irregularities in the planets , and obserued , that they seem sometimes to hasten their course , and sometimes to slacke it ; sometimes they stand as it were fixed , and sometimes to returne backe in the zodiaque ; sometimes they seem neare to the earth , & sometimes they appear far off ; they haue held it necessary to multiply their heauens , and to giue them many to auoyd all disorder in these excellent bodyes of the vniuerse . in like manner the diuersity of passions in man , the contrary motions & desires , wherewith his soule is tost , haue let philosophers vnderstand , that there is in him not onely a concupiscible power , but also an irascible : for that many times we haue a desire of that which wee striue against , and resist with vehemency ; and if wee suffer our selues to be vanquished , wee are grieued ; as hee who desiring to see the bodies of such as had beene executed , suppressed this desire , and diuerted his eies from this infamous spectacle , yet suffering himselfe to bee vanquished by his curiosity , and hauing cast his eyes thereon , witnessed his griefe and sorrow which remained , to haue giuen so brutish a contentment to his eyes . whereby it appeares , that desire and anger are two diuerse faculties , seeing that one power is not carried at one instant to contrary desires . and we finde in our selues , that often times wee are inclined to angry passions , & are not much mooued with those of the concupiscible , or to the contrary . in like manner there are creatures which haue desires , but no motions of choler : as for example , sheepe , pigeons , and turtles , make shew to haue impressions of desires , and yet there appeareth in them no signe of anger . so as to obserue their dispositions well , we may call in question that which aristotle saith , that there is no creature but hath some touch of choler : finally wee may obserue , that sometimes the irascible makes vs to pursue things which are absolutely contrary to the concupiscible , as when with the hazzard of life ( which is so deere and precious to all creatures ) we seeke to reuenge our selues of a powerfull enemy which hath wronged vs. for this reuenge which puts our life in danger , cannot proceede from the same power which desires passionately to preserue it : and so the irascible and concupiscible , are two different powers . and there is no part of passion properly taken , but in these two sensitiue faculties , which is one of the things wee gather from the definition wee haue giuen . it appeares also by the same definition , that the passions of our soule should alwayes bee followed with a sensible alteration in the body , by the impression of the sensitiue appetite , touched with the imaginatiō of good or euill , which presents it selfe . and here first we must not wonder if the ●oule doth impart her motions , and causeth such great alteration in the body , seeing that the body doth impart his paines , when as it suffers any violence . for if it be laid on the racke , broken on a wheele , or cast into the fire , the soule grones vnder the burden of his torments : the which happens , for that beeing vnited as forme and matter , and making but one body which growes from their vnion ; of necessity all things must bee common vnto them , except those things which repugne , and cannot agree with their particular natures ; and therfore by a certaine contagion they communicate their passions one vnto another . but in this subiect there is a stronger reason for the which the soule excites these alterations in the body by her passions , that is to say , for that the soule doth not onely reside in the body as the forme , but doth preside there in quality of the moouing cause , by meanes whereof , she doth change and alter it at her will. for as the intellectuall power , which mooues a heauen , applying her vertue to mooue it , makes it to change place , and drawes it from east to west , or from west to east , euen so the soule which hath a moouing power commanding ouer the body , changeth his naturall disposition , and by her agitation puls him from his rest , wherein hee was before shee troubled him ; in this manner . moreouer , wee must not wonder if the sensitiue appetite in particular , make so great an impression in the body . this proceedes from the sympathy which is found in those powers , which are gouerned by the same soule which imployes them : so as the sensitiue appetite , comming to play her part , shee doth stirre vp the mouing faculty of the heart , the which dilates it selfe , or shrinkes vp , according to the nature of the obiects which haue made impression vpon the sensitiue appetite , whence grow al the alterations which are made in the body of man. and here we must remember , that nature hath fashioned the heart in such sort , as it is in perpetual motion , according vnto which it sometimes extendes it selfe , and sometime retires of it selfe , with a certaine measure and proportion ; the which continuing within the bounds which nature hath prescribed it , as conformable vnto the condition of the creature , this motion is wholy naturall : but if it once come to breake this law , and shew it selfe more violent , or more slow , then the nature of the creature requires , the naturall harmony is broken , and there followes a great alteration in the body of the creature . of all the powers of the soule , those of the sensitiue appetite onely cause the alteratiō of this motion , whose actions alone may make it more violent , or more slowe , then the lawes of nature doe allow . and hence it comes , that none but the actions of the sensitiue appetite are made with a visible change of the body , and with a sensible alteration of the naturall constitution . yet as in this change the heart receiues an alteration , so the spirits , the blood , and other humours , are agitated and mooued beyond ordinary , the which doth wholy trouble the naturall constitution of the creature . the which happens after this manner : the obiects of the senses strike first vpon the imagination , and then this power hauing taken knowledge of thē , conceiues them as good or bad , as pleasing or troublesome , and importune : then afterwards propounds them as clothed with those qualities to the creature , which apprehending them vnder this last cōsideration excites the concupiscible , or irascible power of the soule , and induceth them to imbrace or flye them , and by the impression of its motion , agitates the spirits which we cal vitall , the which going from the heart , disperse themselues throughout the whole body , and at the same instant the blood which deriues frō the liuer , participating in this agitatiō , flowes throughout the veynes , and casts it selfe ouer all the other parts of the body : so as the heart and liuer beeing thus troubled in their naturall dispositions , the whole body f●eles it selfe mooued , not onely inwardly , but also outwardly , according to the nature of that passiō which doth trouble it . for in motions of ioy and desire , the heart melts with gladnesse . in those of sorrow and trouble , it shrinks vp and freezeth with griefe . in those of choler and resolution , it is inflamed and all on fire . in those of feare , it growes pale and trembling . a louers words are sweete and pleasing , and those of a cholerick man are sharpe and rough : finally , there riseth no passion in the soule , which leaueth not some visible trace of her agitation , vpon the body of man. lastly , wee may gather from the definition of passion that this alteration which happeneth in the body , is contrary to the lawes of nature , for that ( as we haue said ) it transports the heart beyond the bounds , which nature hath prescribed it , and doth agitate it extraordinarily . hence it growes , that amōg al the motiōs of the sensitiue appetite , those only are prop●●ly called passiōs , which are accompanied with some notable defect . for as we call passions of the body diseases , wounds , paines , inflammations , incisions , and all other violent accidents which happen extraordinarily : so wee properly call passions of the soule , those infirmities wherewith she is afflicted and troubled ; as pittie , feare , bashfulnesse , or shame , loue , hatred , desires , choler , and the rest . for , in this subiect the word passion , is not taken in that sense , whereas wee say that a subiect suffers , when as it receiues some new forme , bee it that at the comming of this forme , it lose any thing of its owne or not , as when the ayre is enlightned with the sunne beams , without losing any thing of her first constitution : nor in that sense , wherein we say , that a subiect suffers , when as it receiues a new quality which doth expell another , whether it bee concurrent to its nature , or contrary vnto it , as when water growes cold , or is made hot . but the word passion is taken here for a change , which is made in man , contrary to his naturall constitution and disposition , from the which hee is as it were wrested by this change . in which sense the phylosophers say , that things suffer , when as they are drawne from their naturall disposition , to a course that is contrary to their nature . in the mean time you must not wonder , if we ground the irregularity of the change , which these passions breed , vpon the disorder which the sensitiue appetite ( stirred vp by the sensible obiects ) casts into the heart , being a thing which wee must constantly beleeue , that this power of the soule , bee it the irascible or cōcupiscible , hath its se at and mansion in the heart : the which cannot be denied in the subiect of feare , for that such as are transported therwith , call back the blood and heate vnto the heart , as to the place where feare doth exercise her tyranny , therewith to defend themselues : considering also that those creatures which haue the greatest and largest hearts , are most fearefull , for that their heate is more dispersed , and consequently lesse able to resist the assaults of feare . some haue not beleeued , that it was so of other passions , but haue appointed thē their seates else-where , and haue maintained , that some did reside in the liuer , others in the spleene , and some in the gall ; & as for anger , they haue lodged it in the gall , whereas choler resides , which doth inflame it . but they haue giuen loue his quarter in the liuer , for that the sāguine cōplexion is inclined to loue : & for ioy , they haue seated it in the spleen , for that melancholy proceeds from the distemperature of this part . but notwithstanding this , it is most certaine , that both the powers of the sensitiue appetite , i mean the irascible , and concupiscible , reside in the heart ; the which beeing the fountaine of life , & of all vital operations , must also bee a lodge & retraite to those appetites which nature hath gigiuē the creature to preserue his life , & to chase away those perils which may threaten it . wherby we see , that the passiōs of desire or anger , are felt presētly in the heart , & trouble the natural cōstitution as soon as they rise ; wherby followeth a strange alteration throughout the whole body , for the springs cānot be troubled but the streams wil feele of it . and therefore the passions being too vehement , and making a violēt impressiō vppō the hart , they cause strāge accidents in man. as for exāple , a furious anger drawing the heate violently from the heart , to those parts which are most remote frō the center of life , and by the same meanes inflaming choler , which by her naturall lightnes mounts vp to the braine , may depriue mā of the vse of reason , & make him furious and mad . in like manner an extraordinary feare , drawing the spirits and heate forcibly to the heart , whereas she meanes to fortifie her selfe against her enemy , may quench the natural heate , and suffocate the man : shame may doe the like , whereof we haue prodigious examples in histories , which testifie , that great personages haue died with shame and griefe , for that they could not find the knot , or expound certaine riddles or difficult questions , which had beene propounded vnto them : yea , they say , that great ornament and gemme of phylosophy aristotle , died with griefe , for that he could not finde the cause of the flowing and ebbing of eurypus . whereby it appeares , that the heart which is thus opprest by passions , when they are violent , is the seate of both the powers of the sensitiue appetite , that is to say , of the irascible , and concupiscible . and whereas they obiect to the contrary , that choller resides in the gall , inferring thereby that the irascible power should reside there also : it is easily answered , for that the choller which remaines in the gall , is not the reason for the which anger is inflamed , but for that it is a hot and dry humor , the which are fit qualities to produce that effect . the like may be sayd of loue , and that the aboundance of bloud doth not make men more inclined to the passions of loue , forthat the concupiscible power resides in the liuer , which is the place where the blood takes his forme ; but for that they which are of a sanguine complexion , haue a hot and moist temperature ▪ which is proper to that passion . and as for ioy wee cannot conclude that it resides in the spleene , for that it being infirme , many are opprest with melancholly ; for the reason why melancholly doth torment them which are troubled with the spleene , is not for that ioy resides there , but for that adust choller preuailing , causeth a troublesome and importune heauines . yet we will not so restraine these two powers , within the bounds and extent of the heart , but wee will confesse , that although they haue their chiefe residence there , yet they disperse themselues through the whole creature ; whereof wee haue good proofe in lizards , which being cut in peeces , feele paine in all the parts where they are offended . for the last of our obseruations vpon the subiect of passions , it remaines to shew , whether of the concupiscible and irascible powers , bee the more noble and excellent : some giue the preheminence to the concupiscible , for that it is destined to serue the soule , and to make it enioy the obiects of her passions . the which made aristotle to say , that beasts put themselues into choller , and fight for their desires . but this reason doth nothing abase the irascible power , but contrariwise it shewes how much it is more excellent then the concupiscible . for as those souldiers are most valiant which maintaine the shocke of a battaile , and defend the weaker ; euen so by consequence , the irascible power must haue more generosity then the concupiscible , seeing she is ordained by nature for her defence . and as the noblest vertues , are formed in the most excellent powers , so we see that force or valour , which resides in the irascible , is a more worthy and more commendable vertue then temperance which hath her seat in the concupiscible . we finde also that it is more shamefull not to bridle the motions of the concupiscible , then those of the irascible , for that these are lesse offensiue to reason . in regard whereof we blame them more which abandon themselues to pleasure and voluptuousnes , then those which are subiect to motions of choller . of the number of passions . chap. . as they that haue treated of the nature of the winds haue written diuersly , some setting foure , others eight , some eleauen , and some two and thirty , to the which they assigne diuers points in the horizon : so the philosophers which discourse of the passiōs of the soule , agree not of the number , some naming more , some lesse . yea there was an ancient affirmed , that as there are many passions , whereof we know the names , so there are an infinite number which we know not . wherefore hee compared man to one of the monsters of antiquity , which they represent vnto vs , composed of the members , and formes of diuers creatures : for that his cupidities and passions are so prodigious , and so many in number , as they are able to amaze any one , that shall iudiciously consider of the multitude and diuersity . first of all , there were some which haue beleeued , that as there were foure chiefe winds which excite diuers stormes , be it at land or sea ; so there are foure principall passions which trouble our soules , and which stir vp diuers tempests by their irregular motions , that is to say pleasure , paine , hope , & feare : and in truth these foure haue as it were the empiry ouer all the rest , which propound themselues as the obiects of their motions ; for whatsoeuer men do , either they feare or desire , or afflict themselues , or are contented ; which be the effects of these passions . others will haue onely two , that is to say , pleasure and paine ; and some assigne but one , and that is loue , to the which they refer all the rest as to their center and roote . others haue multiplied them , and haue made twelue , and some eleauen . amidst this diuersity of opinions , that is the tr●est which is receiued at this day , and imbraced by all those that make an exact profession of philosophy : that is to say , that there are eleauen primitiue and generall passions , whereof all the rest are but as it were budds and branches . these generall passions are , loue , hatred , desire , flight , pleasure , paine , feare , courage , hope , despaire and choller . and thus the philosophers finde out the number . of passions , say they , some regard the good or euill absolutely and simply considered . and these belong to the concupiscible power . others regard the good or euill accompanied with some difficulty , and they appertaine vnto the irascible : those of the concupiscible power , are six in number , whereof three haue for their obiects the good , that is to say , loue , desire , and pleasure ; and the other three haue for their obiect the euil , that is to say , hatred , flight , and paine : for presently that the obiect which hath the forme of good , offers it selfe vnto the concupiscible power , shee presently feeles herselfe surprized , and loue is framed . if this obiect bee present , she receiues pleasure and delight : if it bee absent , she is toucht with a desire to enioy it . and in like manner as soone as the obiect presents it selfe vnto the selfe same power , vnder the shew of euill , it doth presently stirre vp a hatred contrary to loue : and if during this horror it bee absent , then flight or au●rsion , contrary to desire discouers it selfe : but if it bee present , she then conceiues griefe . in this manner we finde out the number of the passions which reside in the concupiscible power : those of the irascible are but fiue , as feare , courage , hope , despaire , and choller : for if the obiect which hath some shew of good , presents it selfe being accompanied with difficultie , and that man conceiues with himselfe that notwithstanding all that , it is in his power to obtaine it , then hope is framed ; but if there bee no likelyhood , despaire pulls him back and diuerts him . and touching that which regards the good wee enioy , there is no passion in the irascible that concernes it , seeing that which is in our power is not accompanied with any difficulty , neither is it needfull the irascible shoulde mooue or worke for this subiect . but if the euill which presents it selfe , be ful of horror and difficulty , it must either be present or absent ; if it be absent , it excites courage or feare ; cour●ge , if wee striue to surmount it ; and feare , if we apprehend it as too doubtfull . if it bee present , it inflames choller which carries vs to reuenge , to repell the iniurie that is done vs. and thus wee finde out the number of the passions of the irascible power , the which with the six of the concupiscible , make eleauen in a●l . but wee must remember , that notwithstanding this determined number , yet wee finde as it were a swarme of others , which notwithstanding take their beginning , and spring from these , as we haue obserued . in this number the philosophers put bitternes , enuy , emulation , shamefastnes , impudency , mercy , humanity , and a thousand others which were too long to relate . but for that there are some , without the knowledge whereof this treaty were imperfect , wee will speake of them according the exigence of the subiect , when occasion shal be offered : here it shall suffice to obserue , that as the generall passions , regard their obiects without any restriction , but that of good or euill , which presents it selfe ; so the more particular passions , contained vnder these generall , regard the same obiects limitted to some speciall condition : as for example , desire taken absolutly is a generall passion , which regards the obiect of good , without any other limitation then vnder the apparance of good : but if wee come to prescribe bounds to this good , and that wee consider it vnder the forme of some particular good , be it of h●nor , of riches , of beauty , or of any other thing ; the desire must also bee limited , and then it shall bee a desire of honor , which is called ambition ; or a desire of riches , which we call couetousnes , or a desire of beauty , the which attributes vnto it selfe , the name of the gender , and is called loue . and the like may bee sayd of the other limitations of this obiect : so as these passion of loue , riches , and honor , are more particular passions then the desire , which is as it were their gender and spring . so griefe taken absolutely is a passion , which regards the obiect of euill in its generall extent , without any other limitation then that of euill . by reason whereof if this obiect come to bee restrained by vs to some speciall condition , as to the misery or prosperity of another man , or to our owne infamy ; then this griefe shall also be limited and restrained , and shall become a griefe for another mans misfortunes , and then it shal bee a compassion ; or it shal bee a griefe for another mans prosperity , and then it sha●bee called an indignation or an enuie and despight : or else it will become a griefe for our owne infamy , and then it is a shame , and so of the rest . these passions may bee infinite vnder the diuers limitations of obiects which are infinite , and therefore they can hardly bee rancked vnder a cert●ine science : neither haue they particular names , but borrow them from the limitation which the obiect giues them ; yet there are some which haue their proper names , as enuy , iealousie , compassion , shame : but the rest many times carry the name of their genders . in the meane time a question is heere propounded , whence it comes that considering the obiect of the concupiscible appetite , which containes the good and euill simply taken , that is to say , without shew of any difficulty added vnto it ; wee haue put ioy as a passion , which ariseth from the presence and enioying of the good , and griefe as a passion which growes from the present euill which cannot be auoided ; and yet considering the obiect of the irascible power , which comprehends the good which cannot be obtained but with difficulty , and the euill which cannot be auoyded but with paine , wee haue not set any passion that riseth from the enioying of that good , or from the presence of that euill which cannot bee eschued . whereunto we answere , that this difficulty were allowable , if these two appetits had their actions separated one from another ; but they are alwayes vnited , and march ioyntly to the pursuit and enioying of good , and to the flight and auoyding of euill . so as the irascible appitite neuer stirres but ioyntly with the concupiscible , for that it is ordained to succor and assist it , whensoeuer there appeares any difficulty in the obiect which he is to pursue or auoyd . in regard whereof , notwithstanding any difficulty that may be incountered in the fight or pursuite of this obiect , yet when it is obtained or auoyded , all the paine or difficulty which did enuiron it , vanisheth away , and is dispersed . it is not therefore necessary to ascribe any other passions , which grow from the enioying or flight of this obiect , then the same which arise from the enioying or flight ; when as there is no apparent difficultie which doth crosse the possession or make the auoyding difficult : and to the end wee may the better know what order these two appetites obserue in the execution of their offices , wee may thus represent their motions , and the order of the passions which are framed in the one , and the other . as soone as any obiect presents it selfe vnto the sensible power , vnder the forme of an apparent good : as for example , the beauty of a faire hellen , whether that the acquisition be accōpanied with any difficulty or not , this beauty doth first of all stirre vp a passion of loue , from the which presently doth grow a desire which makes him seeke to enioy her ; and if in this pursuite there appeare no difficulty , the possession wil be obtained without the assistance of the irascible appetite , whence will arise ioy or pleasure . but if during the heate of desire , there appeares any difficulty to obtaine it , then if the concupiscible appetite were not assisted , it would be danted with the least difficulty that should present it selfe , and would cease to desire the thing , or striue to enioy it : for this reason the irascible to preuent this , causeth hope to arise to succour the concupiscible , which supports desire and makes him striue to attaine vnto it ; and in this case it breedes no other ioy then that which had succeeded if it had bin obtained without any difficulty , considering that the enioying makes him forget all the precedent paines . but from the beginning and breeding of desire , or during the whole continuance thereof , bee it with hope , or without expecttance of the enioying of the obiect , if it appeares to bee a thing absolutely impossible to enioy , then not to suffer desire to consume it selfe in a vaine pursuite , the irascible stirres vp despaire , to the end the concupiscible power may not spend it selfe in a designe which cannot succeed . and in like manner if an obiect presents it selfe vnto the appetiue power , vnder the forme of euill , as for example , a powerfull enemy prepares himselfe to wrong vs , then first of all hatred riseth in vs , and makes vs apprehend the euill which doth threaten vs apparantly , and then inclines vs to seeke the meanes to auoyd it , bee it in putting our selues in defence , or in retiring our selues and seeking some shelter for this storme , or else in auoyding it by some other meanes , the which breeds in vs the passion of flight , by the which wee vnderstand no other thing here ▪ then our striuing to flie the euill . but in case that in this seeking of meanes to auoyde it there appeare not any difficulty , then the irascible power doth not trouble it selfe to assist the concupiscible . and for that to escape a danger and to auoyd a mischiefe is a kind of good , this happening it begets ioy . as on the other side if we fall into a misfortune which threatens vs , although there appeare not any difficulty in the auoyding , it will cause griefe . but if whilst i seeke meanes to auoyd the storme which threatens me , i finde that i cannot doe it without paine and difficulty ; then for that the least obstacles amaze and hinder the concupiscible power which neuer striues to surmount them , the irascible excites courage which goes to succour it , and supports the motion of this passion , which wee terme flight or auersion from the thing , vntill the euill bee wholy auoyded and dispersed ; and then ariseth the same ioy which had happened if it had not incountered any of these difficulties . and if amidst this resistance and striuing of courage , the euill doth notwithstanding ariue , then griefe is framed after the same manner as if this accident had happened without any incounter or difficulty . but if whilest wee seeke the meanes to auoyde the euill , wee discouer much difficulty to preserue our selues , and that there approcheth an eminent danger to our persons , then the irascible doth succour vs with feare , which makes man discreet and aduised , to the end that his too great hardines may not precipitate him into the danger which hee would auoyd . besides al this , when as the obiect which presents it selfe vnder the forme of good , seemes at the same instant impossible to be attained vnto , then not onely hope dies , but euen desire is banisht , so as the first passion which then springs vp in vs is despaire , which the irascible stirres vp , to the end there should grow no vaine desire , for that naturally no man desires things which are impossible , and vaine and vnprofitable actions are enemies to nature . as for the contrariety which may bee found betwixt some of these passions , we must vnderstand that this contrariety may be considered after two manners , that is to say , either by reason of the diuers motions of the appetite which is inflamed ; as for example , wee say that hope and despaire are contrary passions , not in respect of their obiects , seeing they both regard the apparant good , vnder the condition of difficult obtaining , but by reason of the diuers motions they excite by their nature in the appetite , for that hope striues to seeke and enioy the obiect , and despaire to flie from it and auoid it . whence it growes that if we compare hope and cour●ge , we shall find them contrary passions , not in regard of the motion of the app●tite , seeing that both agitate and stirre vp the spirit , and serue it as a spurre to make it more ready in the pursuit of th●ir obiect , but in respect of the obiect , for that hope lookes to the apparent good , and courage to the euill . in like manner fe are and despaire are contraries , by reason of their obiects , and not in regard of their motions , for that both serue rather to retire and stay the striuing of the appetite , then to excite and stirre it vp . next , desire and flight are contrary passions , by both reasons together , considering that the one hath the good for obiect , and the other the euill . and moreouer desire stirres vp the appetite to seeke the obiect , whereas flight makes it retire to auoyd it . we may make the same comparisons of the rest of the passions . but this will appeare more plainely when wee shall treat of them in particular . of the quality of passions , whether they be good or bad . chap. . amongst the questions which haue beene seriously disputed in the schooles of ancien● philosophers , there is not any one hath bene more famous ▪ nor whose subiect hath been● argued with greater contention , then that which concernes the quality of the passions of the soule , that is to say , whether they be good or bad , and if they bee compatible with any eminent vertu● , or can subsist with it . the stoicks seuere phil●soph●rs ▪ & dissenting from the common opinions of the world , haue maintained , that a soul● in which vertue hath taken deepe roote , and which enioyes all the ornaments of true wisedome , should haue gotten such a power ouer all her motions , as it should neuer be transported with any perturbations . the reason which moued them to this opinion , was , for that they held it an vnworthy thing for a wise and vertuous man to see himselfe subiect to the infirmities of the soule , which is the name they giue to passions . but the peripatitians haue held the contrary opinion , and did beleeue that it could not bee denied , but that the greatest spirits , and most accomplished in vertue and wisedome , had sometimes a feeling of these passions , the heate whereof wisemen knew how to bridle and restraine . and they ground their reason , for that they rise not in vs ▪ by our election , but are as it were siences of nature , which spring out of themselues . this controuersie hath seemed to many great personages to be more verbal then materiall . but whatsoeuer it bee , it is certaine that the wisest cannot exempt themselues from the motions of naturall passions , and yet their vertue is nothing diminished or made lesse perfect . we must then remēber that these kinds of passions may be considered in two manners , first in their particular extent , that is to say , as motions of the sensitiue appetite , which of it selfe is not indowed with any reason , and which is common to vs with beasts ; and in this consideration they are neither commendable , nor blame worthy , seeing that the weight and merit of that which parts from our soule , depends of reason : secondly , they may be considered in as much as reason may subiect them to her command and prescribe them a law. and in this consideration they may bee good or bad , according to the quality of the will that gouernes them . so wee see both good and bad , feare , desire , and reioyce alike . but the wicked haue bad feares , wicked desires , & bad ioyes , whereas the good haue none but good feares , good desires , and good ioyes , for that the branches do alwaies participate of the nature of the roote . for although the sensitiue appetite of her owne quality be destitute of liberty , yet by reason of the strict vnion that it hath with the intellectuall and reasonable , it doth participate as it were with a beame , and some kind of borrowed liberty , in regard whereof some haue maintained that it is capable of vertues , as of temperance and fortitude , which reside in this part of the soule . if the stoicks had well obserued this consideration , they should haue seene that a wise man by the guide of reason may so moderate his passions , as they may be commendable and worthy the profession hee makes of vertue . the which is nothing doubted of by christian philosophers , seeing that he who was neuer subiect to sinne , and whose soule was aduanced to the height of graces and vertues , had passions and humane affections , the which could neuer command ouer reason , or transport it , but receiue a law from it . but on the other side wee want no reasons to conuince and ouerthrow the opinions of the stoickes . for first of all , vertue ( how eminent soeuer ) neuer ruines that which is wholy conformable to reason . but what is more reasonable then to see a man moued with pitty and compassion of his like , of his friends , or of his kinsman ? what inhumanity were it for a mother to see her child in the throat of wild beastes , or exposed to shipwracke , or broken vpon a wheele , or torne in peeces by tortures , or only sicke of some violent infirmity , and not to haue her soule sensible of griefe ? would wee that a vertuous man should not bee touched with indignation to see crimes honored , and the wicked aduanced to the height of dignities ? shall we condemne the spurres of an honest emulation , wherewith he is toucht that reades the glorious exploits and vertuous actions of great person●ges which ●aue gon before him ? will you haue him that owes his life , and honor , and whatsoeuer ●ee enioyeth , to his friend , insensible of the offices of his friendshp ? would they that the ●eares of an honest wife should haue no power , o●er an husband that were ready to abandon her ? all these motions being so iust were it not a great cruelty to seeke to suppr●sse them , as it were in despight of nature ? but who knowes not that these passions●re ●re exercises of vertue ? to apprehend euill , to feare punishments , to attend recompences with ioy , to long after promises , are they not so many incour●gements to piety , temperance , and other vertuous actions ? who is it then that will blame so commendable a thing ? nay , is it not to quench the fruits of vertue ; and to deny it the content which is due vnto it , in cutting off thus generally all passions ? for who knoweth not , that shee doth vsually plant in the soules of men an ardent loue of the goodly fruits which she produceth ▪ what iust man but feeles ▪ certa●ne pleasure ●nd sweet●nes in the effects of iustice ? what sober man but receiues content in the actions of sobriety ? what valiant man but suffers himselfe to bee transported with the loue of braue exploits , and a desire to seeke glorious death in combats ? and who will beleeue that euer vertue ( like vnto polipus which eates his owne armes ) will euer ruine her proper obiects ? who doth not know but the passions of our soules are the obiects of many excellent vertues , which doe moderate them , and reduce them vnto reason when they seeke to flie out ? fortitude is nothing but a mediocrity betwixt feare & hardines : that is to say , it is nothing but a vertue by meanes wher●of we do moderate our exceeding feare , and our immoderate boldnesse . take then feare and hardines from fortitude , and it is no more a vertue . and by the same reason you ouerthrow all courage and magnanimity , whereof the one makes vs to vndertake the most terrible and difficult things with resolution , and the other giues vs a lustre in our greatest actions . you shall in like manner ouerthrow all patience , and perseuerance , whereof the one makes vs constantly and willingly to endure all the miseries of this life ; and the other confirmes vs against all the crosses of this world , so as wee remaine inseparably 〈◊〉 to that which wee hold conformable to reason ; for all these vertues haue for their obiect the passions of the irascible appetite . temperance is no other thing , but a mediocrity which wee keepe in the pleasures of tast and feeling , and in the griefes and sorrowes which befall vs. that is to say , it is a vertue by meanes whereof wee gouerne our pleasures and paines . if then you take all pleasure and paine from temperance , you giue it the name of vertue in vaine . and withall you put modesty and honesty out of the number of the vertues , whereof the one makes vs apprehend infamies and reproches ; that is to say , induceth vs to flie whatsoeuer hath any shew of dissolution . and the other filling our soules with goodly things done with a certaine grace , makes vs to flie whatsoeuer is filthy and worthy of reproch . you shall also put out of the same number of vertues , abstinency , sobriety , chastity , and pudicity , whereof the two first moderate the delights of the mouth , and the other the pleasures of generation : for that all these ver●ues haue for their obiect the passions of the concupiscible appetite . after all this the sensitiue appetite is a present of nature , which god ( who is the author ) hath freely bestowed vpon vs ; but vertue neuer destroyes nature , but addes vnto it the perfection which it wants . it must then suffer the sensitiue appetite to act according to his inclination , yet moderating his motions and restrayning them vnder the lawes of reason . and without doubt it seemes the stoicks haue not obserued in man any other composition then that of the body and the soule , and that they were ignorant of the diuersity of the intellectuall and sensitiue powers of reason , and of sensuality . for otherwise they would neuer haue suffered the sensitiue appetite to haue bene idle in man , as it must of necessity remaine , if it bee once freed from all motions of passions . and as for those wonderfull praises they giue to a wise man , whom they imagine to bee freed from passions , they are like vnto the stately titles which are giuen to great shipps , and to all that rich equipage , and furniture wherewith it is adorned , and yet it is subiect to the fury of stormes , and suffers shipwracke as well as the smallest vessells . wee haue alwayes seene those which haue made profession of this sect , grow pale and wanne , aswell as other men in dangers at sea or land ; they are alwayes seene subiect to the common desires of men , and they haue in that regard more vanity then constancy . so as they haue bene forced to excuse these first motions , and to confesse that it was not in the power of man to suppresse them , but they would sometimes breake forth . what remaines then but to confesse that reason must gouerne them , and reduce them to a mediocrity which is found in vertue ? for as health doth not consist in the ruine of contrary qualities which are found in man , but in the temperature which a good constitution giues them : and as to make a perfect musique , wee must not take away the diuersity of tunes , but reduce them to a good accord to make the harmony perfect ; so the striuings of vertue consistes not wholy to roote all naturall passions out of the soule , but to moderate and gouerne them by the rule of reason . it is true , there are some passions full of offence , and which wee detest to heare named , as impudency , enuy , hatred ; and these wee make no question but they ought to bee supprest . but there are others whose very names are pleasing , as pitty , modesty , honest loue , and the like ; and these need not any thing , but to receiue a tincture from reason and vertue , to make them altogether commendable . but to prescribe vs a man that is not moued with any passion , were to depriue him of all humanity , and to make him a stone or a god . they that make profession of this proud and arrogant philosophie , cannot but laugh when as they reade in the writings of poets , that there hath bene men of that constitution , and as we may say , of that temper , that no swords , lanc●s , or other armes , could pierce them or wound their bodies . and they that haue had most credit among them , haue derided those philosophers which beleeued that there were certaine ilands and countries in the world , as delos and egypt , which had neuer felt the violence of earthquakes , and which had continued for euer immoueable , amidst the motions of all the other parts of the world . and these people paint vs out a wise man so perfect , so eminent , and so fortified with vertue , as all the stormes of fortune , yea the most violent , shipwrackes tortures , and infamies cannot make any impression in his soule ; so as he continues immoueable in the midst of flames , wheeles , gibbets and all the fearefull horrors of death and shame . what is hee that will not laugh at this strange vanity ? but the stoickes say , that it is a thing vnworthy of a wiseman adorned with perfect vertue , to see himselfe transported with passions , which are the diseases of the soule . whereunto we answere , that passions considered as they submit themselues vnto the lawes of reason , are no infirmities of the soule , but in that sence they are the instruments and obiects of vertue , and as it were liuely sparkes which inflame desires in our soules ; and as aristotle speakes , they are the armes of reason . it is true that ( as one saith ) the flowers of egypt being continually charged and watered with the vapor of nilus ( which are grosse and earthly ) ye●●d not such pleasant smelles as they would do without this obstacle : euen so soules troubled with passions , cannot produce the vertuous actions which they would do without this agitation : for that the motions and impressions which they make in our soules are like vnto the force of a violent torrent , which teares vp stones , ouerthrowes plants , and drawes after it whatsoeuer opposeth it selfe against his violence ; for that they quench the reason , depriue vs of iudgement , smother the vnderstanding , and suffer not any image of vertue in a soule that is transported . but this happens to those which abandon themselues wholy to passion ; and not vnto these who like vnto wise pilots prepare against a storme , and when it comes endeauour to auoid it , not loosing his iudgement in an accident which terrifies others . wee tame elephants , tigers , lyons , panthers , and other sauage beasts , and are not moued : and will they not allow vs a power to suppresse the brutishnesse of the sensitiue appetite , and to moderate the passions when as they aduance themselues against reason , without great perturbation ? finally , when as these motions of passions preuent the reason and anticipate all the resolutions of man , wee cannot hold them bad , seeing they are meere motions of nature without any shew of liberty . and it is most certaine that not onely an ordinary wisedome is subiect thereunto , but euen the most excellent soules , ( i speake not of those which haue speciall guifts from god ) yea those that are indued with heroicall vertues , feele agitation ; seeing that vertue how eminent soeuer , cannot so subiect the sensitiue appetite , ( ouer which she doth not command as a slaue , but as a cittizen ) but it will anticipate the empire of reason . and this the stoickes are forced to confesse , seeing they affirme that it is not in the power of a wise man to free himselfe from perturbation , when as some fearefull formes presents themselues suddenly to his eyes , so as whatsoeuer he doth in those accidents , hee will grow pale , he will be amazed , and his heart will shrinke vp . yet , say they , all this will happen without consenting to these motions , for that it is in his power not to consent . they adde , that there is this difference betwixt a wiseman and one that is distracted : for that an vnreasonable man yeilds to passions and obayes them wholy ; whereas the wiseman although he suffers the motions , yet hee resists them still , and generously preserues in his soule the lawes and loue of vertue ; heerein truely they approach neere to the doctrine which we teach . but we must still remember that the office of reason is not to pull out of the soule of man , all the rootes of passions , neither were it expedient or necessary she should do it : but her duty is to prescribe them their bounds , and to reduce them to a mediocrity as vertue requires . as for example , let vs presuppose a brother which hath lost his brother whom hee loued passionately , and they coniure him not to lament for this losse , not to afflict himselfe , nor to shew any signe of mourning to preserue the reputation of a wiseman and absolutely vertuous . is it not rather a meere stupidity then a true constancy ? they that make these discourses shew that either they haue no naturall disposition , or else they neuer fell into these calamities : otherwise so sensible a griefe wold haue pulled out of their spirits this arrogant philosophie ; and had forced them to confesse that humanity cannot suffer them to remaine insensible at such cruell accidents . in the meane time as these passions preuenting reason , cannot be held good nor bad , so when as they suffer themselues to be moderated and gouerned by reason , they get vs great commendations ; whereas when they flie out and exceed the bounds of vertue , they procure vs nothing but blame and infamy . to conclude , passions are in the soule , as the sinnews in the body ; for as by meanes of sinnewes we extend ●r bend the members ▪ so by the operations of passions , wee carry our selues to good or euill , and if wee will imploy them to good , they are as it were spurres and obiects : but if wee turne them to euill , our sensuality makes vse of them ; like vnto him that keepes a slaue , who makes vse of his chaine to draw him where he pleaseth . so as the triumph of vertue consists not in pulling away or rooting out the passions , as monsters ; but in ruling and reforming them like vnto insolent and disobedient children ▪ for they grow in vs and are as the fruits & buds of our sensuality , which haue onely need to be made subiect vnto reason . finally , they that haue any other opinion must remember , that wee cannot wholy pull away the defects which proceed from nature : and that may by our industry correct and moderate that which is borne with vs , but not vanquish it and suppresse it wholy ; wherefore wisedom may not promise vnto it selfe any thing in this subiect , seeing she hath no power . the passions are absolute and depend not on the empire of vertue . they present themselues vncalled . of loue. the preface . an ancient sayd , that to expell youth out of our townes , were to cut off the spring time of the yeare . but we may maintaine with no lesse truth , that to banish loue from a ciuill life , and the conuersation of men , were not only to depriue the yeare of her goodliest season , but also as it were to pull the sunne out of the firmament , and to fill the whole world with horror and confusion . for what is there in this life , bee it amidst honors and glory , in riches and treasures , yea in delights and pleasures , that can giue a full and sound content vnto man , without the communication of the sweetenes thereof to friends ? wherefore an excellent philosopher said , that if any one were raised aboue the heauens , from whence he might behold all the wonders of nature and of the world , and see with amazement the reuolutions , periods , order , diuersity , & beauty of the planets and stars , and had no friend to whom hee might impart this admiration ; all these things in steed of fulnesse of ioy , would become displeasing and importune to his thoughts . for as colours which are the most exquisite ornaments of nature , how liuely and glistring so euer they be , wil notwiths●āding be darkned & giue no pleasure to our eies , if they were not enlightned , and as it were inspired by the light which discouers vnto vs the singularities , and perfections : so what wealth or honor soeuer we enioy in this life , we cannot tast the sweetnes therof but in representing vnto our selues the contentment which comes to thē we loue , and whom we thinke haue an equal passion on our behalfe . epaminondas gloried to haue won battels , his father & mother being yet liuing ; as if the ioy that those persons conceiued which were so neere to him , had made his victories more stately , & increased the glory & pompe of his triumphs . in like manner there is no man liuing , which in the cours of his prosperities doth not feel as it were an increase of happinesse , when as he imagines that his friends are spectators & partakers of his felicity . and moreouer what can be sweeter to our thoughts then the image of a true & constant loue , which we are assured our frend doth beare vs ? what happinesse to haue a friend to whom we may safely open our hart , and trust him with our most important secrets , without apprehēsion of his cōscience , or any doubt of his fidelity ? what content to haue a friend whose discourse sweetens our cares ? whose counsells disperse our feares ? whose conuersation charmes our griefs ? whose circūspection assures our fortunes , & whose only pr●sence fils vs with ioy and content ? seeing then loue is a passion which doth produce such sweete and ple●sing contents in the society of men , we will endeauour to shew what his beginning is , wherein his essence consists , to what persons it extends , and what the effects bee . of the beginning of loue. chap. . as it is the custome of men to refer the noblest effects to the most excellent causes ; many considering the dignity of loue , haue imagined that this passion came from a particular impression , which god makes in our soules , inspiring into them with the nature , the affections which transport them , and which makes them seeke the obiects which are pleasing vnto them . the which they striue to proue by the example of the naturall inclinations which he hath giuen to other creatures . wee see , say they , that god as the author of nature , hath ingrafted into light things an inclination to rise vpward , to seeke the place of their rest , by reason whereof the fire doth alway send his flame towards heauen . and in like manner hee hath imprinted in heauy things a naturall inclination which makes them tend to the center : so as stones , marbles , and such like , do alwayes bend downeward , & do not hang in the aire , but with violence and contrary to their inclination . in the same manner , say they , god hath ingrafted in man a certain inclination to those things which haue some beames of beauty or bounty , so as when these obiects come to incounter his eyes or minde , he is rauished , and then presently there is framed in his heart an ardent desire to seeke and pursue them . they confirme this opinion by the diuerse inclinations which shine in the life of men from their birth . for wee see some loue painting naturally , others take delight in geometry , some are passionatly affected to the liberall arts , others imbrace the mechanicks ; some loue hunting , others burne with a desire of play ; some are borne to war ; & others are inclined to mildnes and peace ; some haue no contentment but in solitarinesse ; and others cannot liue without the mannaging of affaires . and whence , say they , proceed these so different inclinations , but from the author of nature ? the which they confirme againe by the example of things which happen often in the loue which men beare one vnto another ; for that it will sometimes fall out , that by a certaine simpathy of mindes , wee shall loue at the first incounter a man whom we haue neuer before seene nor knowne . so as it seemes , this affection doth not then disclose it selfe in our soules , taking forme so suddenly and sweetly , but it is rather quickned and awaked by the presence of the obiect , which makes vs to see that which we loue instantly without delay , for that wee knew him not , finding him so conformable to our humors and inclination . the which hath made some presuppose , that the beames of their eyes , which loue incountering with the beames which proceed from the obiect which inflames them , makes so sweete a mixture , as their vnion is as it were the fulnesse of al the delights which may be tasted in this life : and contrariwise at the first incounter wee shall haue a distast of some other person whom we had neuer seene before : doth not this proue ( say they ) that it is nature which frames in vs this passion ? and so they conclude , that it cannot proceed but from the author of nature : others prefer the cause of loue to the planets , starres , and constellations , and presuppose that the reason why achilles loued patroclus , alexander hephestion , and the queene of the amazons , alexander ; and to come to moderne examples , that charles the ninth loued the marshall of rais , that henry the third loued the dukes of ioyeuse , and espernon , and monsier de termes ; that henry the fourth loued the duke of suilly ; and that the king now gloriously reigning loues the duke of luines and his brethren ; are all effects of the aspects of the planets , which incountered at the natiuities of these princes and noblemen . others seeke the cause in the parents , as if they which bring vs into the world , with our being did transfer and infuse into vs their passions . others refer it to the good or bad education we receiue , according to which wee frame our desires and affections . the platonicians imagine that wee must seeke it in the degrees of the harmony which is found in soules ; which they beleeue are compounded as of a consort and proportion of numbers , the which incountering equally in two persons , incites them to loue one another . but this is very mystical , and requires a spirit accustomed to the imaginations of plato . to come then to the point , it is certaine that god hath infused into our soules the seedes of loue , seeing that he hath giuen vs the powers which are capable . it is also certaine that the influence of the planets may cōtribute to this passion ; for that it resides in the concupiscible appetite , the which is a sensitiue power , and depends of the body , ouer whose motions the planets haue a kind of power . it is also visible , that nurture & education , & sometimes the inclinations which our parents haue ingrafted in vs , may haue a share in the motions of our affections . but to speake according to the rules of philosophy , wee must say precisely and absolutely , that the bounty of things , whether they bee found in them , or that wee imagine them to be , is the spring , beginning , and mouing cause of the loue wee beare them . for god the author of nature , who hath created all things in number , weight , & measure , hath also imparted to all creatures , inclinations and motions necessary to attaine vnto their ends . so hee hath infused into his vnderstanding an inclination which makes him passionately to seeke the truth , and to imbrace it when hee hath found it . and in like manner hee hath ingrafted in the wil a desire and loue of good , which is the only obiect which may moue it and enflame it to pursue it . and as colours are the obiect of the sight , which drawe it by a certaine attraction , which growes from a naturall simpathy which is betwixt them , like vnto that which is betwixt our vnderstanding and truth , betwixt the eye and colours ; and betwixt the hearing and sounds . hence it growes that there is so strict a cōnexion betwixt the will and the good , as the will cannot loue any thing which hath not a shew of good . so as if it bee at any time deceiued , and imbraceth the euill , it is vnder a veile and shew of good , which is imployed to abuse it ; and the like may bee sayd of the sensitiue appetite , which in its motions follows the same instincts that the will doth . but when as wee say , that the good is the obiect of our will and loue , vnder this good wee comprehend that which is faire , for that goodly things haue an equall power with those things that bee good , to inflame our wills : as also beauty and bounty in effect are all one , and differ not but only in our imagination . the which the platonicians demonstrate by excellent reasons , calling loue simply a desire of beauty . yea to shew that beauty is louely of it selfe , as well as bounty , they adde that beauty which shines in the body , is as it were a beame or image of the infinite beauty which is in god ; wherefore we admire it and loue it passionatly , when it presents it selfe vnto our eyes ; and then , say they , the beauty of the body is also an image of the beauty of the mind : for that the internall perfections ingender the externall , as the lustre of pretious stones & pearles growes from the perfect mixture of the foure elemēts which are found in their constitution , as flowers and leaues of trees borrow their beauty from the roote ; and as in beasts the good interior constitution is the cause of the beauty which appeares in the countenance . so then wee conceiue that the external beauty of the body proceeds from the internall bounty of the mind , so as bounty seemes to bee the roote of beauty , and beauty the flower of that bounty which shines in creatures . and therefore hee that containes himselfe within his bounds and in the innocency of loue , seeing the beauty of the body , imagines ( as it is true ) that this pleasing obiect is a beame of the infinit and immense beauty , whereof the essence of god is as it were the center , from whence shee deriues and takes her beginning : and consequently , that it is as it were a sience of the interior beauty which shines in the soule , from whence the body hath taken life . thus the platonicians proue that beauty as well as bounty makes an impression in our wills , and proportionably inflames our desires , & begets affections and passions , which makes vs to seeke it . but leauing all other reasons to proue this assertion , wee will content our selues with the saying of aristotle ; that to demaund why wee loue beautifull things , were a question fit for a blind man , for that the eyes feele and know how powerfull the charmes are to make an impression in the soule . by this which wee haue spoken it is easie to bee gathered , that loue hath for obiect and mouing cause the bounty and beauty of things , which by the sweetnes of the beames they cast forth , make so powerfull an impression in our soules , as they remaine as it were rauished or rather charmed with so pleasant a lustre ; so as to ascend vnto the spring & fountaine , we must eleuate our selues to that great and immortal essence , which is as it were a notion of all the graces , of all the beauties and of all the bounties which are infused into al the creatures . we must , i say , raise vp our selues to that infinite and most happy essence , which is as it were the center , from whence all the perfections which represent themselues so goodly vnto our eyes , and so pleasing vnto our sense , borrow their lustre and take their beginning . and in this manner wee shall tie our affections to an obiect worthy of the generosity of their motions , which should alwayes imitate the nature of fire , which remaines vnwillingly in the earth , and striues continually to mount towards heauen . finally , wee must remember that loue is deuided into fiue branches , and that there are fiue kinds which differ much one from another : for there is a loue of naturall things , there is a loue of creatures ; there is a loue of men ; there is a loue of angells ; and there is a loue of god. the loue of naturall things is nothing else but the inclination which things destitute of knowledge haue to vnite themselues vnto their ends , and to attaine the perfections of their nature ; to which sence an ancient sayd , that the loue of the bodies was nothing else but the weight wherewith they are ballanced , bee it that the weight keepes them downe , or that the lightnes raiseth them vp on high : for god hath ingrafted these inclinations into all naturall things , to the end they may attaine to their perfections , and preserue them when they haue once gotten them . the loue of creatures is nothing else but a vehement impression made in their sences , surprized with things which they conceiue to be pleasing . this passion is many times blind , importune , obstinate , and insolent , and is common to men , & brute beastes , which suffers themselues to bee transported with the motions of a dishonest pleasure . humaine loue is a passion which should follow the motions of reason , and which being guided by the light of the soule shold only imbrace the true good , to make it perfect : for containing himselfe within these bounds , it should no more be a violent & furious passion , which filles the world daily with so many miseries by her exorbitant and strang disorders . the loue of angells flies yet higher , for that those happy spirits enlightned with a more excellent light , and illuminated with a more pure & perfect splendour , loue the soueraigne good more ardently then all the creatures , and by a reflux of this great loue take an incredible care of the affaires of men ; and being neuer wearied in the seruice they do them by the cōmandement of god , assist them , & procure their safety , with constancy , and ioy full of amazement and wonder . the loue of god enters not into comparison with any other , for that as there is no proportion betwixt things finite , and infinite , his motions being infinite , they appeare with another lustre , and shew themselues with a greater endeauor towards that he loues , then the creatures can doe . from this spring flow the admirable beauties which shine in the heauens , in the starres , planets , elements , in bodies both simple and compound , and in great , meane , and small things ; all which do feele the effects of his bounty , and the perfect assistance of his prouidence . from this spring proceedes the care which hee hath of men , the graces which he imparts vnto them , the good desires wherewith hee doth inspire them , and the meanes which hee offers them to raise them vp to the height of his glory , and to make them enioy the felicity of angells . but we will not treate of this kind of loue , whereof wee had rather feele the flames then describe the perfection . neither will wee discourse of that of angells , which wee may better admire then set forth : wee will not in like sort busie our selfe with that of naturall things or of creatures , which is too base for our subiect , but wee will represent the loue which is a humaine passion , whereof morall philosophy teacheth vs to discourse , and whose essence we meane now to set downe . wherein the essence of loue doth consist . chap. . as in other subiects we dovsually ascend vnto the knowledge of the cause by the search of the effects , so in this matter to attaine vnto an exact knowledge of the nature of loue , we must first vnderstand what it is to loue , to the end the branch may discouer the nature of the roote . loue then is no other thing , but , to will good to some one , not for our owne priuate interest , but for the loue of himselfe ; procuring with all our power what we thinke may bee profitable for him , or may giue him content . whereby it appeares , there are foure things to be considered in loue. the first is , that wee be carefull of his good whom we loue ; the which growes , for that loue vnites the wills perfectly , and makes vs esteeme the good which befalls him we loue , as our owne particular : wherefore the ancients sayd , that loue was one soule in two bodies . the which it seems that alexander would giue darius mother to vnderstand , when he sayd that hephestion was another alexāder : for he vsed this speech in regard of the great affection hee bare him , the which was such as he held him another himself , so as he would haue him a partaker of all his honors & glory . after this manner then wee should desire to our friends the same honors , the same glory , and all other felicities which we wish for our own proper contentment . and when they succeed , wee must reioyce as if wee our selues enioyed them , seeing that all things are common among friends . but secondly we must wish al this good to those we loue for their ownesakes , and not for any priuate interest of our owne , or for any profite wee expect to reape by them ; for the epicures opinion ( who wil haue men loue for profit , or pleasure ) is infamous , and makes loue either mercenary or of small continuance . wee must then remember that there are three kinds of friendship ; that is to say , honest , profitable , and pleasing . betwixt the which there is this difference , that the two last kinds are no true affections ; but rather shadowes of loue ; whereas the first , that is to say , honest friendship , which hath vertue for her obiect , is solid and true , and moreouer it is constant and of long continuance ; whereas the profitable and the pleasing last little , and are dissolued vpon the first alteration which happens in the subiect whereunto they are tied . as for example , they that loue only for profit , continue no longer in this affection , then they whom they loue , may be beneficiall vnto them ; the which ceasing , they renounce the duties of friendship which they had formerly shewed ; for that the cause ceasing , the effect of necessity must cease . hence it growes that the friendships of court are so inconstant and variable , for that courtiers commonly ●●e their affections to those which are in fauour , & haue some kind of credit , to the end it may bee an entry , for them to offices in the estate . but if there happen any alteration in their fortune by a disgrace with the prince , and that they see them vnable , and incapable to assist them , they presently abandon them , and make no more account of them then of an image ouerthrowne ; yea they would haue men thinke that they neuer obserued them . so in tiberius time , seianus possessing his maister absolutely , & receiuing the fauor of this prince with full sailes , so as all the honors , all the dignities , and all the offices of the estate , depended of the inclination he had to those that courted him ; all the world adored him , the people and senate erected statues vnto him , hee was publiquely praised , his house was neuer empty , all the orders went to consult with him as with an oracle , or rather as the soule of the empire . but as soone as his fauour began to shake , presently hee saw the affections of such as had so shamefully flattered him , decay and die ; and when it was wholly falne , there followed so prodigio●s a change in the affections of the court and people , as after they had vnworthily massacred him , they drew his body through the streete into the riuer of tiber , his statues were beaten downe , all his kinsfolkes persecuted , his memory detested , and the name of seianus was held in execration to all the world . but this is the ordinary course in court , whereas fortune is alwayes adored . as the affections which depend vpon profite decay as soone as the profite ceaseth , in like manner that friendship which is supported only by pleasure , continues no longer then the subiect of pleasure indureth . for they that loue in consideration of beauty , when as age or infirmities makes it to wither and decay , their affection is gone , and they esteeme no more that which they had formerly honored . so as there is no true nor solid friendship but that which is grounded vpon vertue and honesty . the rest hauing inconstant and wandring obiects , are also inconstant and mutable , and the interest and pleasures ceasing , they die : whereas honest loue propounding vnto it selfe a constant and durable obiect , knowes no change . they that loue in this sort wish all good to him they loue , for his owne sake , and not for their priuate interest . the third thing wee must consider in loue is , that wee are bound to imploy all our meanes to procure good to them wee loue . for as the sunne should not deserue the name of sunne if it gaue not light to the whole world , so wee cannot esteeme him a true friend which doth not imploy himselfe with all his power and meanes to bind him whom he makes profession to loue . and this admits no limitation nor bounds , for there is not any thing which loue will not make him do that loues perfectly , euen to contemne his owne life for the safety of him hee loues . it is true , that a perfect friend should wish that he to whom he hath ingaged his affection , should haue all things happy and prosperous in the course of his life , that hee be neuer shaken with any storme , and that hee neuer feele any crosses of fortune ; but as the condition of man is fraile and exposed to a thousand calamities , if it chance that hee fall into any infirmity , he must participate of his paine . if a tempest carries him through the waues of the sea , hee must hoist saile to follow him ; yea if the billowes ouerset his ship , he must seeke him in this shipwracke . if tyrants seaze vpon him , if they cast him into prison & loade him with chaines , hee must offer his owne body to free his bonds ; and if they send him to execution , he must present his head to redeeme his friends . if hee see him assaulted by his enemies , who seeke to murther him , he must present himselfe to beare their blowes . and if he see him in the throat of lions , exposed to the rage of wild beasts , hee must hazard himselfe to free him from danger ; and if he die , he must in like manner abhorre life . hee that loues perfectly , sayd plato by the mouth of phedro , will rather abandon himselfe to death , then expose that he loues to dangers . and there is no man so faint hearted , whom loue doth not fill with courage and inflame with a force , to make him in this subiect equall to the most generous soules . for that which homer saith , that the worthies are inspired with a diuine force and furie , is more truely verified in those that loue , whō loue hath often inspired with a diuine fury , which hath made them to contemne death , to preserue the life of those they haue loued . the last thing that is to be considered in loue , is that we wish vnto our friends ; the things which we thinke truely are good for them , that is to say , that we desire for them the things that are iust , and that are adorned with all the circumstances of vertue . in regard whereof hee spake wisely , which answered his friend , who would haue him forsweare himselfe , that hee was a friend euen vnto the altars , hauing no intent to serue his friend against his conscience . in this case then loue admits bounds & limitations , and it were to abuse the name , to bind him that loues , to commit vniust things in fauour of them to whom he wisheth well . so when as charles of burbon ( to reuēge his priuate discōtent ) abandoned france and his king , and imbraced the party of spaine & the emperour , the princes & noblemen his friends , ( whereof he had many in court ) did not hold themselues bound to follow him , and to make themselues confederates of his despight and rebellion . so as these words which are at this day in the mouth of many , that they are ready to turne turkes for their friends , yea and to follow them into hell , is the speech rather of a fury , then the discourse of men transported with true loue : for loue must cōtaine it selfe within the bounds of iustice , honesty , and vertue , and not make vs do any thing which may breed vs shame . and moreouer , they that make these impious protestations , haue them more in their mouthes then in their harts ; and i know not how they can make them without blushing . by al this which we haue sayd , it is easie to gather wherein the essence of loue doth properly consist , the which we may define in this manner . loue is a wellwishing , which we testifie with all our power to those , to whom we haue an inclination , procuring them for their owne sakes , all the good we think may giue them content . according to which hee is a friend that loues , and is reciprocally beloued ; for loue being as it were a torch which lightens another , friends must beleeue that affections are reciprocall , and that as they loue , so they are beloued ; wherein they must not shew themselues vnpleasing or importune , to sound the hearts one of another , which will bewray a diffidence and distruct : but content themselues with the true signes of loue , which their friends shew them . these signes of true loue are reduced to three principall heads . the first is , that friends reioyce & grieue for the same things : wherfore homer describing agamemnōs affliction , when as he was forced to sacrifice his daughter iyhigenia , he represents al his friends accompanying him to this sacrifice , with mournefull countenances & full of sorrow ; and at rome , when as any one was accused and brought in question for his life , al his friends changed their robes with him , to shew that they did participate with his affliction . the reason is , for that sorrow and ioy are the markes of our affections , and of that wee haue in the soule , which reioyceth or afflicts it selfe , as the obiects which present themselues are pleasing or distastfull . and for this reason , sorrow and ioy discouer the inclination we haue to any one . the second is , that friends share equally betwixt them the good and euill . they say that there are images of wax , vpon the which inchanters deliuer such powerfull spells , as being made to represent any person , as soone as they are wronged , the body of him for whom they were fashioned , feeles paine . in this sort there is such a bond of affection betwixt friends as the harme which happens to the one , afflicts the other , and fills him with bitternesse , so as many times we haue seene true friends die with sorrow , for the losse of their friend . yea , prophane histories are full of persons which haue slaine themselues , for that they would not suruiue them whom they haue loued dearely . in like manner the prosperity of friends passeth from one to another , so as the tryumphs of alexander are the cōtentments of ephestion , and the glory of ephestion is the ioy of alexander . the third is , that they which loue should haue the same friends , and the same enemies . they say the adamant or loadstone doth not only make an impression vpon iron which it drawes , but doth also impart his vertue by his touching ; so as the iron which it hath toucht , drawes other iron vnto it , and makes as it were a continued chaine . in the same manner , a friend brings his friends to him he loues , and he reciprocally imparts vnto him his friends ; whereof there is framed a common bond , which makes them ready to succor one another , as if they were members of one body . to what persons loue extends . chap. . although that loue hath for his generall obiect the bounty and beauty which shines in those things which present them selues vnto our eyes and soules ; yet there are diuerse particular considerations , and diuerse beames , which excite this passion and fashion it in the hearts of men . aristotle numbers fifteene causes , the which are also diuided into other branches , whereof we will treate as briefely as wee may , taking only that which shall belong vnto our subiect . first , sayth he , men loue them which do them good , or whom they thinke haue a will to do it , or to their friends . in truth there is nothing that more bindes the hearts of men , and induceth them more to loue then benefits . for euen bruite beasts feele the good which they receiue from men , and there is no creature so wild , whom good vsage doth not make gentle and tame . they that gouerne lyons feare not their rage , but play about them without any apprehension of their fury , for that this generous creature knowes him that hath a care to feede him . by continuall feeding they bring elephants to do what seruice they desire . and wee must not obiect against it , that it hath beene a common complaint in the mouth of men in all ages , that most of the benefits that are bestowed in the world are lost , for that they fall vpon vngratefull soules , who do not acknowledge themselues in any sort bound . for ( as an ancient hath obserued ) this proceedes not from the nature of the benefits , which contrariwise haue a particular vertue to draw the affection and to charme the will : but most commonly the fault proceeds from our selues , for that wee either erre in our election , doing good to vnworthy persons : or we distribute it ill , if we take away the grace . for wee must not think that our benefites bind a friend , if we suffer our selues to be too much courted , if we make him to languish in the pursuite , or if we do it with a kind of vnwillingnesse ; for by these meanes wee take away all the merrit and bond of the benefit , for that no man will thinke himselfe beholding for that which hee hath purchased so dearely : wherefore an ancient called benefits of that nature , a loafe filled with stones , which no man can vse . men therefore thinke themselues bound to those from whom they receiue benefits , whether they be great and worthy to bee acknowledged , in regard of their greae shew and magnificence ; or that they which are the authors , bestow them freely without importunity , and with a singular demonstration of loue ; or that such as giue , haue made a sit choice of time to bind them , assisting them when as they or their friends had extreame neede , and when as they thinke that for their owne sakes they haue bound them by these benefits . they also loue the friends of their friends , and such as haue any conformity with them in the subiect of their affection , and that loue those whom they loue , and who also make profession to be enemies to their enemy . the reason is , that reputing their friends good as their owne , they beleeue , that the good which is done vnto their friends extends vnto them●selues , and that they do participate wholy thereof . in regard whereof they loue the spring and fountaine . and contrariwise they beleeue , that the auersion and distast they haue of their enemies is a token of the loue they beare them . they also loue those that succour them with their meanes , or bind them with the hazard of their liues . for first of all , men loue bountifull friends passionatly , imagining that they are borne for the good of mankind . as for the second , men loue great courages , imagining that they are supporters of their liues ; & that they will neuer suffer wrong to bee done vnto the weake and feeble . they also loue such as they hold to bee iust , and resemble not the harpeys or rauening birds , which liue of spoyle , but content themselues with their owne fortunes , committing no outrage , nor offering violence to any . and in this rancke they put labourers and handicrafts men , to whom all the world seemes to beare an affection , in regard of the innocency of their profession . they also put in the same rancke , temperate persons , in whom they see some great modesty to shine , which shew that their soules are not inclined to any kind of iniustice . they againe esteeme those that leade a peaceable life , which haue no curiosity , and which pry not into the liues of other men , but content themselues to order , & gouerne those that are submitted to their care and charge , presupposing that such as containe themselues within these bounds , thinke not of any iniustice or wickednesse . men also loue famous persons , who by their vertue haue attained to an eminent glory , and an extraordinary reputation , bee it generally in the world , or only among good men , or among such as they haue in admiration , or by whom they themselues are admired ; and they especially make great shew of their affection , when as they presume , that these persons in all their dignity and greatnes disdaine them not , but are wel pleased with the testimonies of their passion ; so wee haue seene people runne by whole troupes from all the corners of the world , to see conquerours & such as did triumph ; men of holy life , and persons indued with rare knowledge or wisedome , aboue the common sort of men . the reason is , for that vertue , generosity , sanctity , and eminent knowledge , are not only louely things of themselues , and which haue powerfull allurements to cause them to bee affected and admired in the subiects where they reside , but also men beleeue there is a kind of glory to bee admitted into the fauour of such illustrious persons , whose glory seemes to communicate with those that haue the honor to come neere them . but men loue particularly these famous and vertuous persons , when as they discouer , that they disdaine not the affection and loue of those , which make shew to honor them with passions ; for it is a testimony of their moderatiō & of the bounty of their nature , not to be puft vp with the glorious aduantages which they haue gottē aboue the ordinary sort of men . they also loue such as are of a sweete conuersation , and that haue a milde and pleasing humor , that is to say , they loue those that are not fantasticall , and of a troublesome and importune behauiour . they also loue such as reproue them not odiously of their faults , they loue those whom they see enemies of contention , and which make shew , that they haue not a desire to bee superior in al disputes which rise in companies ; but accōmodate themselues wisely and moderately to that which is contested . the reason is , for that these wayward spirits , they that are licentious in their answeres , and such as will alwayes in their arguments haue the vpper hand , seeme to bee borne to contradict and controule the opinions of the whole world : the which is a signe of the alienation of wills , and dissenting from others ; which makes them to be hated : whereas contrariwise they loue such as haue none of these bad humours , and which accomodate themselues in company , without making any shew to bee selfe conceited . moreouer men haue as it were a naturall inclination to loue those which haue a quicknes and grace in their incounters , or to iest pleasantly , but withall can indure to heare a witty returne : hence it comes that in court , buffoones and ieasters , which haue biting and satiricall spirits , are so much esteemed ; and yet many times these people , bite priuate persons too sensibly and indiscreetly , and draw vpon them the iust wrath of those whom they haue licentiously offended . in the meane time the reasons why they loue such as are sudden in their incounters and sharpe in their ieasts , is , for that it seemes this quicknesse , & wittinesse to incounter , proceeds from the subtilty and force of their spirits . and then we are inclined to heare men euil spoken of ; wherefore we loue them that do it with a good grace . and for that we loue particularly such as take liberty to iest at others , & are content to be iested withall ; that proceedes , for that wee beleeue that such as will indure that which they themselues practise to others , haue no bad intent nor any bitternes in their hearts , but are carried to these incounters , more through a quicknesse of wit , then by any spleene . moreouer they loue such , as seeme to make great esteeme of the good partes and qualities which they beleeue they enioy . wherefore wee suffer our selues to be surprized by flatterers , who insinuate into our fauours , couer our defects , & seeme to admire our actions . this misery happēs particularly to such as distrust themselues , and who feare to want those vertues which they desire to attaine vnto . for this distrust b●ing dispersed by the praises which they giue them , they thinke themselues bound to such as bring this support vnto their weaknes . they also loue those persons which affect neatnesse in all things , who take delight to carry a pleasing countenance , and to attire themselues properly : for that this neatnesse and hansomenesse is as it were a signe of the desire they haue to insinuate themselues into the hearts , and to gaine the affections of men , who f●r this cause think thēselues boūd to loue them : they in like manner loue them , that lay not their faults before them to shame them , nor reproche them with the benefits wherwith they haue bound them . the reason is , for that both the one and the other redounds to our disgrace ; and it seemes , that such as enter into these reproaches , will make vs contemptible , either by discouering our defects , or in accusing vs of ingratitude . they also loue such as remember not iniuries past , which are not obstinately bent to reuenge , and who are alwaies ready to pardon such as haue offended them . wherefore the romaines did wōderfully admire the first of the caesars , for that he forgat nothing but iniuries , the remembrance whereof he held vnworthy the greatnesse of his courage . wherefore when as this prince had erected againe the statues of pompey , cicero ( that great ornament of the romaine eloquence ) pronounced to his commendatiō , that in erecting the statues of pompey , he had assured his owne , as hauing wonne the loue of the whole world , by this act o● humanity , which hee shewed to his enemy opprest with misery . the reason of this loue which men beare to those which forget iniuries in this manner , is , for that they presume when they haue offended them , they will shew themselues in like manner to them , as they haue done to others . they also loue such as are not il tongued or detractors , which obserue not their imperfections , nor those of their friends , but only regard their vertues , either to admire them , or to frame themselues after their example . for that these things are the offices of good men , and of persons indued with singular integrity , and great probity . moreouer , they loue such as resist them not when they are in choler , or that importune them not in the middest of their most serious imployments : for that they which take pleasure in these oppositions and importunities , seeme to loue contention , and to be enemies to all society . they also loue those that admire them , which haue an opinion that they are vertuous , and make shew that they take delight in their conuersation , and are officious vnto them : but principally , when they make shew of this affection and liking in those things wherein they would haue their industry admired . as for example , a man that loues philosophy , takes delight to heare his profession praised : he that takes delight in armes , hath a singulat content to heare his exercise commended : wherefore both the one and the other loue those tha● giue glorious testimony of that which concernes their profession . aboue all , they haue an inclination to loue their like , being a thing which nature teacheth vs dayly , that resemblance ingenders loue , not onely among men , but also among other creatures : for euery creature loues his like : tygers & panthers troop together with beasts of their owne kind : and birds of one fether fly willingly together ; such power hath resemblāce to vnite affectiōs : the which we must beleue is more powerful in man , who can haue no sweeter conuersatiō thē with his like . the reasō why euery man loues his like , is , for that mā louing passionatly aboue other things , loues consequently any thing that hath any corresponcy with him ; so as respecting him whom he loues as another himselfe , hee cannot but bee inflamed with this consideration . the platonicians had another reason , the which in my opinion concurres with this . loue , say they , makes an impression in the soule of him that loues , of the image and forme of the thing beloued . but man loueth not onely his being , and his true and reall forme , but also his imaginary forme ; as appeares by pictures , and looking-glasses , in which we behold with content our portraicts & formes . wherefore there is a certaine passion for the thing beloued , in whose soule he doth contemplate his forme which loue hath ingrauen . after this manner , resemblance breedeth loue , and vnites the affections of men . the truth hereof appeares , for that men do commonly loue those , that are allyed vnto them in neernesse of blood , so as kinsmen doe commonly loue one another : or by some conformity of humours and complexions , which maketh melancholy men loue the company of their like , and iouiall spirits delight in the company of them that are pleasant : or by some commerce of profession , which maketh philosophers to loue philosophers ; and painters delight in painters : or some equality of age , which makes young men delight in the company of youth , and olde men to conuerse with them that are graue : or some coherence of manners , which makes good men loue the vertuous , and the wicked seeke after such as are wickedly affected . but notwithstanding that which we haue said , that cōmonly men of one profession loue one another , must bee vnderstood according to the true nature of things , for by occasion and accident , this cōformity of professions may ingender hatred and enuy , that is to say , when as they of one trade and profession , liuing of their art and labour , hinder one another : as for example , when as a tradsman hauing gotten some reputation , doth hinder the profit of his companions , then iealousie riseth amongst them , according to the saying of an ancient , the potter enuies the potter . the philosophers giue an excellent reason hereof : he that loues , say they , loues himselfe more deerely then all other things besides : for that he is vnited to himselfe by essence and nature , whereas hee is not conioyned to him that he loues , but by some accidentall and externall forme . and therefore if this conformity crosseth his priuate good , and be preiudiciall vnto him , hee findes himselfe more strictly tied vnto himselfe , then to his like : wherefore seeing his losse concurring with his passion , he whom hee loued , being an obstacle to his desire , he growes odious vnto him , as opposite to his good . men doe also loue those that aspire to the same honors and dignities , at the least when they may attaine vnto them , and enioy them together , without any obstacle or wrong one vnto another . for competency causing an hinderance , as it did in the pursuit of the consulate at rome , it happeneth ( as wee haue said of men of the same profession ) that it excites enuy and hatred : wherefore in the loue of women they can endure no corriuals , for that with honesty they cannot be enioyed by two . they also loue those with whom they haue any familiarity , which is not scrupulous , hauing free liberty without apprehension of disdaine , to doe and say things in their presence which they would not act or speake before the world . as for example , they affect those before whom they may freely discourse of their loues , of their pursuites , and of their other passions . but wee must remēber that there are some things which are dishonest of themselues , the which a good man may neither do , or speak before the world , or before his friends . but there are others which are shameful only in the opiniō of the world , and not according to the truth of things : and these a good man , vsing an honest familiarity with his friends , may doe and speake in their presence , although he would not doe it in publike before the world : like vnto king agesilaus , being in priuate with his children , playd with them with a fatherly liberty , but beeing surprized by one , who knew not how farre the loue of a father might extend , he was discontented . men also testifie , that they loue those before whom they are ashamed to doe or say those things which are of themselues shamefull or dishonest ; wherein wee may say , that the persians gaue good testimony of their loue to their wiues , when as they caused them to retire from their banquets , being vnwilling that their eies shold be spectators of their excesse , & admitting none but their concubines . for this respect and reuerence which they gaue them , was a signe of true loue , for that wee are ashamed to commit any vnworthy act before them wee affect . they also willingly imbrace such as they haue seene faithfull , and constant in their affections , and who loue equally both present & absent . for which consideration they desire to insinuate themselues into their friendship which testifie their loue vnto the dead , who adorne their tombes , erect statues , and make other monuments for them , to preserue their memory among men . they also affect such as abandon not their friends in the crosses and iniuries of fortune , whereof wee haue a worthy example in the subiect of damon and pithias , whereof the one beeing condemned to die , by the tyrant dionisius , and desiring some respite , to goe and settle the affaires of his house , his companion yeelded himselfe a pledge for his returne , with this condition , that if hee returned not backe within the prefixed time , hee should vndergo the rigour of the same sentence : but the condemned man presenting himselfe at the day appointed , the tyrant was so rapt with admiration , to see the faith which he had vnto his friend , in a matter of that importance , and of so great danger , that in stead of putting him to death , he coniured these two perfect friends , to accept of him as a third man in their friendship . behold how the most sauage and vntamed spirits are forced to loue those , that shew an vnuiolable constancy in their affectiōs . men doe also loue such as they see full of freedome , and without dissimulation towards them . in which ranke they nūber such as make no scruple to discouer their errors vnto them , and who entertaine them freely with their priuate passions : for , as wee haue shewed before , we blush not to say or doe in priuate with our friends , that which we would not doe publickely before the world . wherefore , as he that is ashamed to doe any thing before another , shewes that hee loues him not perfectly ; so he that hath not this apprehension , giues a manifest testimony that he hath a full confidence in his friendship : wherefore , wee loue such as make shewe to rely vpon vs , euen discouering their imperfections vnto vs. againe , they affect those whose authority is not fearefull vnto them , & whose power they thinke they shall haue no cause to apprehend : for no man euer loued him whom he feared seruilely ; and herein tyrants abuse themselues , thinking to se●le their authority by the terror of armes , and the terror of punishment : yea , they haue alwayes detested the furious words of him that said , i care not to be hated , so i may bee feared . it were good among bruit beasts , but men must be managed and gouerned by mildenesse . and they willingly embrace such as they may trust ; and whose power is not fearefull vnto them . behold the persons to whom the loue of men doth commonly extend . in the meane time the true means to purchase loue , is to bind those whose friendship we affect , by all sorts of benefites and good offices . and to this end they must do good before it be demanded or that they bee forced to discouer their wants vnto vs : for that were to put them on the racke , to make them confesse our magnificence & bounty . moreouer he must be carefull neuer to reproach the fauours which hee hath done them , nor proclaime them to others , with a vanity which seems to turne to their contempt . he that obserues this mean in the benefits and fauours which hee bestowes , seemes to haue propounded vnto himselfe , the onely good of him whom he hath bound , without any other particular interest : in regard whereof he is also bound to acknowledge and loue his freedome , and bounty . of the effects of loue. chap. . as the ancient romanes obseruing of the one side , the conquests , victories , triumphes , and glory , which caesar by his valour had purchased to their empire ; and on the other side weighing the ruines , miseries , massacres , and slaughters , which he had caused in their estate , they were wont to say , that it was difficult to iudge whether his birth had bene more fortunate or fatall to their common wealth . euen so it is hard to say , whether that loue causeth more good or euill in the world . it is true , when as this passion containes it selfe within the bounds of honesty , it is a liuely spring and fountaine of all good things in the life of men . it is also true , that the author of nature hath ingrafted in vs the first motions and beames ; and it is true , that it is borne with vs , that it increaseth with vs , & that it doth alwayes accompany vs , so as it cannot subsist without vs , nor we loue without it . it is an immutable law , which men haue not ●●●nd out , lawgiuers haue not prescribed ; neither doth it depend vpon the examples or customes of nations , but was grauen , as we may say , by the hands of nature in our soules . but when like a wild and vntamed beast it exceedes the bounds of reason , there is no misery which it brings not into the world , nor any disorder which it causeth not in our liues . it is as it were a fatall source , from whence flow all kinds of horror , vncleanenes , adulteries , incests , sacriledges , quarrells , warres , treasons , murders , parricides , cruelties , and violences ; besides the particular torments it giues vnto the soules of such as giue themselues to be surprized , filling them with enuies , iealousies , cares , melancholies , terrors , yea and madnesse ; drawing them many times to despaire , and to do things whereat heauen and earth blush and are ashamed : wherein it is the more to bee feared , for that as the first heauen by his motion doth violently draw whatsoeuer is beneath it , so loue prescribes a law to our other desires , & to all our other passions ; so as we may tearme it the key and beginning of our tho●ghts , of our words , of our actions , and of whatsoeuer wee do in this life : so it makes the first impression in our soules , where it excites the desire of that which we resolue to pursue ; & then it fortifies this desire by hope , which inflames vs to the pursuite of that we desire ; and if there appeare any obstacle , it imbraceth choller , and hath no rest vntill it hath vanquished and surmounted all lets , wherein she settles her cōtentment & rest . and as the thunder breakes whatsoeuer resists it , so this furious passion , being once inflamed , striues to ouerthrow whatsoeuer opposes it selfe against her rage and violence . yet as the winds fill the sailes of pyrats shippes , but are not the cause of the murthers and thefts which they commit at sea ; but all these miseries proceed from the bad inclination and couetousnesse of these infamous pyrats : so although that loue bee an assistant in many villanies which men commit , yet it proceedes not from the malice of this passion , which contrariwise is framed to bring all good to the society of men ; but it growes from the liberty and excesse of men , who peruert the vse of all things , and conuert the causes of their felicity , into instruments of their misery . let vs then see what bee the proper effects of loue , not staying at those which rise from the meere malice of men . we will reduce them to three or foure heads , the explanation whereof will giue sufficient light to the rest of the subiect . the first effect they attribute to loue , is , that it hath an vniting vertue , by meanes whereof it causeth him that loueth to aspire to vnite himselfe to the thing beloued : whereunto we may refer the fable of androgenes , where of plato doth so much triumph ; but we must swallow so many fopperies , before wee shall come to the mysteries of this fiction , as it were better to passe it ouer in silence , then to spend time to explicate it . so it is that prophane and vnchast loue seekes the vnion of bodies , which is found euen among brute beasts , and for this reason may be called brutish , if it bee not sought with an honest intent by a lawfull marriage . but chast and honest loue seekes the vnion of affections and wills , and exceeds not that which is decent and vertuous . they which loue , sayd aristophanes , would passionately desire to be trāsformed , & chāged one into another , & of two bodies to become one . but for that this transformation cannot be without the destruction of their being , they striue to recompence this defect , by a ciuil and honest vnion , which tēds not to the ruine of their nature , but contents their affections ; that is to say , they conuerse continually together , entertaine their passions , and are as little absent as may bee one from another : moreouer they haue the same thoughts , the same desires , the same affections , the same wils , the same delights , & the same distastes , & seeme to be but one soule in two bodies . so as that which is pleasing to him that loueth , is in like manner to the party beloued , what he affects the other imbraceth ; and what hee reiects the other flies , and doth abhorre . so as their willes being thus strictly vnited , all their actions and carriages conspire to the same end , and propound vnto themselues the same obiect . for when as we haue graft the sience of one tree vpō another stocke , the fruits which grow follow the nature of the graft , and sauor nothing of the stocke : so the will of the louer , being transported into that of the party beloued , takes the tincture , and doth not any thing but what is conformeable to his desires and intentions . but whence comes the power which this passion hath , thus to vnite the subiects where it worketh ? this cannot well bee explicated without the aide of philosophy . first of all , loue , say the philosophers , is a desire to enioy the good wee propound vnto our selues , as proper for our content , and capable to make vs in some sort better by the fruition . but this enioying & participation cannot bee effected but by vniting the obiect to our affection , which is the same good we propound vnto our selues ; wherefore it is of the essence of loue that it produceth this vnion . hence it proceeds , that the presence of the party beloued is so deare and pretious vnto vs , and that we feele our selues filled with content , when as we may enioy him to entertaine our thoughts , to taste the sweetnesse of his company , and to discouer our passions : whereas his absence and separation giues vs a thousand torments , and afflicts vs with a thousand sorrowes and discontents , which wee would redeeme with our liues . wherefore when as death doth take violently from vs those whom wee loue dearely , and by this meanes hath condemned vs as it were to a perpetuall absence , we striue to ease our griefe , and sweeten our losse , by transporting our selues often to the places where we were accustomed to see thē , representing vnto our selues their portracts and images , reading ouer their letters , & stil handling al the gages and monuments they left vs of their affection . sometimes the same gages and the same momuments of their affection displease vs , and wee do so abhorre them , as wee cannot indure to see them , nor handle them , but this growes from the griefe of their absence , for that we then represent them as infallible signes of our losse , which they figure vnto vs as irreparable ; by reason whereof their pictures fill vs with bitternes . but on the other side when as the same things seeme vnto vs to supply the presence , wee loue them dearely , and cannot bee weary to entertaine our selues with those thoughts . and if amidst all this we can inuent any thing that may serue to preserue the memory more liuely in our soules , wee imbrace the inuention , and are wonderfully pleased with this art . wherein doubtlesse artimesia queene of caria , shewed an act of wonderfull passion towards her husband mausolus . for death hauing taken him away , this desolate princesse not knowing how to pull the thornes of her sorrow out ofher soule , she caused his body to be reduced to ashes , and mingled them in her drinke , meaning to make her body a liuing tombe , whereas the reliques of her deare husband might rest , from whom shee could not endure to liue separated . the most subtile philosophers giue a second reason of this vnion which ariseth frō loue. loue ( say they ) hath her feate in the will ( they doe not consider it as a passion onely , which riseth in the sences , but also as a quality which in the end becomes spirituall ; ) but there is this difference betwixt the vnderstanding and will : the vnderstanding goes not out of it selfe to ioyne with his obiect , but rather he drawes the obiect vnto him , whereof the image is framed to produce his action , like vnto a seale which prints its forme in the waxe . but the will being toucht with the loue of her obiect , suffers it selfe to bee drawne to his image ; and going out of it selfe , vnites it selfe vnto him to take his forme ; like vnto the waxe which receiues impressions of the seale . so as by this reason , loue is thoght to cause the vnion of him that loueth with the party beloued ; for that his will rauished by his loue , hath no other passion but to see her self vnited vnto her . but these meditations are too nice for our subiect . the second effect they attribute to loue , and which is as it were , a branch and bud of the first , is , that it causeth the soule of him that loues , to bee more where it loues , then where it liues , and that reciprocally the soule of the party beloued , is more with the louer then with his owne body . the reason is ; for that the soules of such as loue , are perpetually attentiue to cōtemplate the image of that they loue , and haue no other thoght nor greater pleasure , then that they receiue by this sweete entertainment : by reason whereof the soule making shew of a more exact presence , where it doth most frequently worke , it followes thereby that it is more with the party beloued , then in its owne body . but let vs heare the opinion of the platonicians vpon this point : the soule , say they , which is toucht to the quicke with loue , dying in i●s owne body , findes life in that it loues . and when this loue is reciprocall , it dies but once , wheras it reuiues twice . for he that loues dyes truly , when as loue makes him neglect and forget the causes of his life , to thinke wholly vppon the party beloued ; but hee recouers his life doubly when as he sees himselfe imbraced and entertained by the party beloued ; and that he finds in his armes his deer image ; which hee preserues more carefully then his own life . who will not then , say they , hold this death happy , which is recompenced by two such sweete liues ? but this discourse of the platonicians presupposeth an equall correspōdency in loue , without the which they maintaine that this passion is full of despaire , & leaues nothing in our soules but importune and troublesome thornes . wherfore the ancients said , that to make loue grow , shee had neede of a brother . but wee haue treated sufficiently of this subiect . they attribute other effects to loue , that is to say , languishings , extasies , and amazements ; but that loue must bee very violent which doth produce them . and moreouer wee may consider these extasies , and rauish●ments which may happen in a violent loue , after two sorts . first , we may obserue them as a true alienation of the sences , which ariseth , for that the spirit and will of him that loueth , being wholy imployed in the contemplation and enioying of the thing beloued , suffereth himselfe to bee so transported with this content , as the soule remaines as it were quencht and without motion . the which may also proceed from a more powerfull cause , that is to say , either from god or from euill spirits , which somtimes stirre vp these rauishments and extraordinary extasies . secondly we may consider these extasies & rauishments , as a kind of madnes , which transports them that loue , and makes them to commit many follies ; wherefore an ancient sayd , that iupiter himselfe could not be wise and loue at one instant . these extasies and rauishments produce sometimes prodigious effects in their soules that are afflicted with this passion . for that his soule that loues intirely , is perpetually imploy●ed in the contemplation of the party beloued , and hath no other thoughts but of his merit , the heate abandoning the parts , and retiring into the braine , leaues the whole body in great distemperature , which corrupting and consuming the whole bloud , makes the face grow pale & wanne , causeth the trembling of the heart , breeds strange convulsions , and retires the spirits in such sort , as he seemes rather an image of death , then a liuing creature . these accidents are followed with passionate and heart-breaking sighes ; as it appeared in young antiochus at the sight of stratonice : or when as they only make mention of her , as if the spirit were eased and free from a heauy burthen , and receiued content by this thought or presence . teares in like manner fly to succor this afflicted soule , for that the heate which is mounted vp to the braine , causeth the humor to dissolue and discharge it selfe by the eyes . but this poore soule thus agitated , hath no certaine consistence , but floting betwixt hope and feare , she sometimes giues signes of ioy , sometimes markes of sorrow ; she is sometime frozen and congealed , sometimes all on fire : she goes , she comes , without any stay or rest , and doth many things which shew that shee is as it were incensed . for she proclames the merit and glory of that she loues , and giues extraordinary commendations , which are the signes of her rauishment . suddenly changing her humor , shee makes her griefe and discontent ascend vp into heauen , shee accuseth the innocent starres , she complaines of destiny and fortune , and blames that which she loues ; and suddenly returning to herselfe , shee condemnes herselfe of wrong . then she powres forth her spleene against such as she thinks haue crost her rest and hindred her content , so as she suffers cruel tormēts in this agitatiō . many times euen in the heat of his passion , the party toucht with loue can indure no lōger discourse ; his words are short & scarce intelligible , for that the soule being thus tied to the obiect which it loues , it cannot giue it self the leasure to speake of any other thing . and that which is full of admiratiō , this passion doth so chāge & trāsform men , as it makes the wisest to commit great follies ; it humbles the grauest to seruices vnworthy of their rancke , it makes the most glorious to become humble and meeke , the couetous to be profuse and prodigall , and cowards to shew themselues hardy and valiant . but for that some of these effects exceed the ordinary of a morall passion , we will leaue them to discourse particularly of iealousie , vpon which subiects there are great controuersies and disputes , that is to say , whether it bee one of the effects of loue , as the vulgar sort imagine ; or whether it be rather the poyson of loue , as others presuppose ; but we will referre the discourse to the following chapter . of iealousie , whether it be an effect and signe of loue. chap. . the vulgar sort thinke , that as the sun runnes not his course without light , so loue cannot bee without iealousie ; and they adde , that as lightning is an infallible signe of thunder , which breakes forth , so iealousie is a certaine signe of loue , which desires to shew it selfe powerfully . but they that haue a more exact and particular knowledge of humane passions , maintaine , that as the sunne beeing come to the south ( which is the point of the perfection of his light ) casts no shadow , but spreads his beames all pure vpon the earth ; so a true and perfect loue is not subiect to the inclinations of iealousie . and they say moreouer , that this vniust passion is no more a signe of loue , then stormes and tempests are shewes of faire weather ; this opinion is more probable : for to begin with the proofs , how can iealousie subsist and remaine with loue , vnlesse we will ouerthrow the lawes of nature , which suffer not two contraries to subsist in one subiect ? is there any thing more contrary to loue then iealousie ? can the world see a greater antipathy , then that which is obserued in these two qualities , whereof the one doth participate with the condition of monsters , and the other is the very idea of perfection ? loue vnites the wils , and makes that the desires of them that loue , striue to take , as it were , the same tincture , to the end they may resemble one another . and contrariwise , what doth so much distract the wills , and diuide the hearts , as iealousie ? loue binds vs to interpret fauourably of all the actions of the party beloued , and to take in good part that which we ought to beleeue she hath done with reason : whereas iealousie makes bad interpretations , not onely of her actions , but euen of her very thoughts ? is there any innocency that can bee sheltred from the outrages of this inhumane fury ? if the party beloued hath any ioy , it then presupposeth a riuall ; if she be pensiue , they are suspitions of contempt : if shee speakes to another , it is infidelity ; if she haue wit , they apprehend practises ; if shee be aduised , they imagine subtilties ; if she be plaine , they call it simplicity ; if shee bee well spoken , it is affectednesse ; if she be courteous , it is with a designe . so as iealousie is like vnto those counterfeit glasses , which neuer represent the true proportion of the face : and what more sinister iudgements could the most cruell enemy in the world giue of the party beloued ? but not content thus to blemish the particular perfections of that shee seemes to loue , she seekes to depriue it of the sweetest content in this life , which is by communicatiō with men of honor and merit , who doe not visite her but for the esteeme they make of her vertues : so as many times to please an importune , who is himselfe a great burthen to them that suffer him , shee must forbeare all good company . what iustice can force a soule well bred , to indure this brutish rigot ? loue is a liuely fountaine of ioy and contentment , which banisheth all cares and melancholy ; but iealousie , what is it else but a nursery of grief● and waywardnesse , whereas wee see thornes of despaire and rage , to grow vp among the sweetest and most pleasing flowers that nature can produce ? how then can any man beleeue that these two contrary passions can subsist in one subiect ? if they oppose heereunto experience , and the testimony of many persons worthy of credite , which protest that they haue loued sincerely , and yet were neuer without iealousie ; and will thereby inferre , that at the least , iealousie is a signe of loue ; which is the second thing we must incounter , to satisfie that which hath bene formerly propounded : it sufficeth to answer , that although for respect we yeelde to those personages what they publish of their passions : yet as one swallow makes no spring , so that which happens to particulars , cannot prescribe a law to the generall . but to containe our selues within the bounds of our first proposition , we say , that these persons are much deceiued in this subiect : and their error growes , for that they cannot giue proper names to things , for that of a respectiue feare competible with loue , whereof it is full , they make an vniust iealousie , with the which loue can no more subsist , then water with fire . they that loue intirely , are in truth , full of respect to the party beloued ; honor her with all the passions of their soules , fight for her honor , and hold it a punishment to offend her . but these are not the effects of iealousie , which contrariwise violates the honour which is due to the party beloued , and by a prodigious manner to blind the world , will haue her fauour by wronging her , treading her merits vnder foote . we must then put a difference betwixt a respectiue feare , which always doth accompany those that loue perfectly , and iealousie which is neuer found but with an imperfect passion , which cannot iudge of the perfections of the party beloued . they which know that these things are diuerse , and as remote one from another , as the earth is from heauen , wil easily passe on this side , and yeelde , that iealousie is neither competible with loue , nor is any signe thereof . yet if wee shall yeelde any thing to the opinion of the vulgar , we may freely confesse , that iealousie , in truth is a signe of loue , but as the feuer is an argument of life . it is vnquestionable , that a feuer is a signe of life , seeing the dead are not susceptible of this bad quality . but as a feuer shewing that there are some reliques of life in the patient that is tormented , accompanies him to his graue ; so iealousie is i know not what signe of loue , seeing they which loue not , cannot haue any iealousie . but it is certaine , that if wee expell it not , it will in the end ruine loue , like vnto a thicke smoake which smothers the brightest flame . this is all we can yeelde vnto the vulgar , so as according to this opinion which we haue held the most probable , iealousie is to loue as thicke mists are to flowers , haile to haruest , stormes to fruites , and poison to our liues . of hatred or enmity . chap. . as the lawes of loue and hatred are directly contrary ; by that which wee haue spoken of loue , it will be easie to iudge , wherein hatred consists , and how farre her effects extends . hatred then is an auersion and horror which man hath of all that seemes contrary to his good , or preiudiciall to his contentment : or else hatred is an horror which the appetite hath of that which seemes pernicious vnto it , so as the sheepe hate the wolfe , as the enemy and persecuter of his life . but wee must heere obserue , that as all that is befitting nature is put in the rancke of good , so on the other side , whatsoeuer is opposite vnto it , must be placed in the rancke of euill . wherfore as the good is the obiect of loue , so the euill is the obiect of hatred . to vnderstand this , we must remember , that whether it be in the minde or in the body , there is a befitting estate , and as it were a naturall harmony , which makes vs to abhorre that which may dissolue this consort . this harmony considered in the body , is no other thing then the good constitution , by meanes whereof , we enioy a perfect health ; the which being impayred , our nature receiues pain , as when we indure great hunger and thirst , or when as wee receiue any hurt or wound . as for the soule , this same harmony may bee considered : first in the senses , as well externall as internall , & cōsist in the proportiō they haue with their obiects ; which is such , as they hate whatsoeuer puls them away , or which diuerts them by any kinde of violence . as for example , the eyes hate darkenesse and obscurity , and our imagination is terrified and troubled by the fearefull apprehensions of dreames , which it frameth during our rest . this same harmony considered in reason , either it regards the simple knowledge of the truth , which our vnderstanding conceiues with pleasure ; or the vse and execution of things which depend on wisedome , which wee doe with content . in regard of the first , our spirit is enemy to lying , although at some times it takes delight in the art wherewith they colour a thing to giue it some shewe of truth : so as the wisest are delighted in the reading and report of fables , when as the intention hath any grace . and as for the second , there is such diuersity of iudgements in humaine actions which are as it were the element of prudence , as it is a thing in a manner ▪ incredible : for hardly shall you see two persons which haue the same feeling and apprehension of affaires , in regard whereof this life is full of hatred and factions which grow from these diuerse opinions . as for that which concernes the will , her harmony consists in the proportion & loue which she beares to the good , which makes her detest and abhorre whatsoeuer presents it selfe vnto her , vnder the shew of euill , as pernicious and hurtfull to her content and rest . and therefore the harmony of the sensitiue appetite consisting in the familiarity and concurrence it hath with the good of the sences , it doth abhorre and beares an irreconciliable hatred , to whatsoeuer shall offend them ; hence it comes that wee so much abhorre whippes , tortures , punishmēts , hunger , thirst , wounds , & such like which tend to the destruction of our being . this passion was ingraft in vs by nature , to the end that at the first approach , at the first taste and imagination of euill , wee may retire our selues and flie it , lest wee runne into ruine . this kind of hatred then is proper to the concupiscible which is offended at diuerse things , yea at small things , and many times at those which haue no subiect of offence , for you shall see some which cannot suffer the presence of certaine creatures , & others cannot endure the sight of certaine fruites , though otherwise they be exceeding pleasant . finally there is no creature so fantasticke in his appetite , nor so sudden in the motions of hatred and distastes of things which present themselues vnto his senses , as man , who not able to endure any thing , makes himselfe insupportable in a like manner to all creatures : but principally to his like . but to giue more light to this discourse , we wil obserue that there are diuerse sorts of hatred and enmities , which may bee referred to foure chiefe heads : for there is a natural hatred , and a brutish hatred , a melancholy hatred , and a humaine hatred . the naturall hatred takes her beginning from a certaine antipathy , and contrariety of nature which is found in creatures , the which as it were abhorre one another , and cannot frequent or conuerse together , although the subiect of this hatred appeare not , and that shewes it selfe more in the effect then in the cause ; whereof wee haue prodigious examples in nature , in plants , in beasts , and in men . brutish hatred is rather a rage then a passion , for that it seekes a furious destruction of that it hates , and to see the last relliques consumed ; so as it is more fitting for rauening wolues , or for monsters then for men . such is the hatred of those who not satisfied to haue slaine their enemies , make their bodies to feele their fury , practizing a thousand cruelties vpon their carcasses , and making them to suffer after death , all the indignities their rage can deuise . this detestable hatred sometimes passeth to such a furious transport , and so full of excesse , as they eate the flesh of their enemies , & haue a brutish delight in the fume of their members being cast into the fire : this onely befits canniballs and those monsters which haue layd aside all humanity . melancholly hatred growes from the great aboundance of adust choller , the which doth so torment and agitate those miserable wretches which are afflicted therewith , as they abhorre all the honest pleasures of life , fly the light of men , and wish euill vnto themselues , so as they cannot indure to bee seene , neither will they speake to any man , but seeke desarts & solitary places , where they confine themselues , and consume themselues with the discontent and hatred they beare to mankind : like vnto that cursed athenian , who had conceiued such a mortal hatred against all men , as he imagined it was not in his power to binde his fellow cittizens vnto him more strictly , but in planting of trees which might serue them as gibbets to hang themselues . some among the idolaters would haue tied this aspersiō & infamy to the profession of religious men amōg christians , comparing these holy soules , to birds which fly the light , and neuer shew themselues but in the darknes . but these reproaches are the fruites of impiety , which is not capable nor can comprehend the motions , nor force of the inspirations of the spirit of god , who drawing his elect from the vanities and pleasures of the wo●ld , leade● them into these holy solitudes , where being far from the conuersation of men , they approach neere the comp●ny of angells ; or rather vnite themselues to him who is the sole ioy and soueraigne good of angels . if they which haue thus soug●● to blemish and defame this holy profession , which beginnes his paradise on earth , would haue taken the paines to search into and sound the condition , the manners , and the life , of those which renounce the world , & the pleasure thereof ; they shold haue found , that the sun in the whole world doth not behold soules more contented then those , in whom there appeares no signe of sadnesse , nor any shew of melancholy : but a perpetuall ioy which no troubles interrupt , nor any discontents do crosse . but this belongs not to our subiect . it rests that wee speake of that hatred which plants her rootes simply in the harts of men . this is an infirmity of the soule as wee haue described it , which hath humaine causes , and to the which also they bring humaine remedies to seeke to cure it , of the which we now treat . in the meane time there is great difference betwixt choller , hatred , and enuy . and first of all there is this difference betwixt choller , and hatred , that choller growes from iniuries which we haue receiued , and which offend vs in our owne particular ; whereas hatred may spring from things which concerne not vs in particular ; but which touch the publique . as for example , we may hate and detest those which kindle a fire of discord in the remotest parts of the estate . we may hate such as commit villanies a hundred leagues from vs ; but to inflame our choller , the iniury must touch vs and offend vs , either in our owne person , or in that of our friends . and choller doth alwayes presuppose particular men ; but hatred may extend it selfe to all mankind , there being no man but doth detest and generally abhorre all theeues , al murtherers , and all slanderers ▪ moreouer choller may bee cured with time , for that it is a short fury which may bee pacified with patience . but hatred is in a manner incureable , and growes more bitter with time and remedies . wherefore the poets describe etrocles : and pollinices , continuing the effects of their hatred euen in their tombes : for when as their sister antigona had cast their bodies into the fire , to performe their ordinary obsequies , they could not remain together , but the flame diuiding it selfe cast their bodies one from another ; whereupon miserable antigona cried out , that their hatred suruiued their death . moreouer , he that is transported with choller , not only desires to be reuenged of the party that hath wronged him in making him to feele the effects of his wrath ▪ but withall will haue him know that hee is the author of this reuenge , and of the paine hee feeles . but he that is possest with hatred , desires onely to see his enemy ruined , and doth not care to haue him know that hee is the author thereof , so as he may behold his destruction . besides , choller is accompanied with paine , by reason of her vehemency : but hatred is without paine , neuer filling her subiect with this extreame ard or , but suffers him coldly to attend the ruine of his enemy . finally , choller hath bounds , for if hee that is incensed against any one , sees any great calamity befall him , which exceedes the limits of a common reuenge , he hath pitty , and doth wish that his misery had not mounted to that height . but the man that is full of hatred , neuer sees his bad inclinations satisfied ; and how great soeuer the calamity be which befalles his enemy , hee hath no feeling nor pitty : the reasō of this differēce is , for that he which is in choller , desires only that the party against whō he is incēsed shold know , that it is in his power to reuenge the wrong he hath done him . but he that meerly hates , seeks absolutely the ruine of his enemy , and is not satisfied vntil he see him vtterly lost : let vs now obserue wherin hatred differs frō enuy. the diuersity appeares first , in that hatred hath for obiect the euill which wee conceiue of the party whom wee hate , presupposing him to be wicked , either in our owne respects , or generally toward all men . for we finde it dayly by experience , that men are disposed to hate those , from whom they thinke they haue receiued some iniury , or whō they know are accustomed to outrage all the world : whereas enuy hath for obiect the felicities and prosperities of another : the which is most apparent , for that wee neuer enuy the miserable . and hatred also extends euen to bruit beasts , for as we haue said before , there are some which naturally hate certaine creatures ; yea , we haue seene a great prince who could not endure the singing nor sight of a cocke . but enuy powres forth his poyson only among men : for wee doe not enuy birds for their goodly fethers , nor lyons for the greatnesse of their courage ; nor stags for their swiftnesse ; ●or elephants for their greatnesse and force : but we onely enuy the glory of our like . moreouer , enuy is alwayes vniust ; for what shew of reason can be found in a passion which doth afflict vs for the prosperities of another man , as if hee did vs some iniury in being happy ? but there may be hatred full of iustice as those which make vs abhorre the publike plague , and troublers of the peace of the state , the enemies of the countrey , men desperately wicked and vicious , and the enemies of god and religion : yea , this hatred of the wicked is a signe of a good soule , as the enuy wee beare to them that are fortunate , discouers a wicked dispositiō : wherfore we dissē●ble not the hatred we beare to such as wee know are wicked , whereas wee disguise all we can the enuy we conceiue against them that are happy . againe , enuy kindling in our hearts by the great prosperity of another , when as they decline , and that we see them ouerthrowne by some notable accident of misfortune , it relents , and is by little and little quenched : yea , it is most certaine , that enuious men are glad to haue some cause of pitty ; whereas hatred and enmities neuer ceas●e for all the calamities which befall their enemies ; but when they are once framed and fixed to any one , they neuer abandon him neither in good nor bad fortune . moreouer , hatreds and enmities are sometimes cured and quenched , by letting the party ( that is tormented with this passiō ) know , that he to whō he wisheth euill , hath not done him any wrong , or that he hath changed his inclinatiō , & is become a good & vertuous mā ; & moreouer , that he hath done him some kind of pleasure , in occasions which haue bin offered to oblige him . but althogh you perswade a man , that hee hath not receiued any wrong from him that is happy and fortunate , yet it doth not quench his enuy ; and in stead of suppressing it with this consideration , that he is a good man and that hee hath indeauoured to doe him fauours , yet he will shew it the more , and let the world see , that he can neither indure his prosperity nor his benefits ; for that the one proceeds from the good fortune which doth accompany him , and the other is an effect of his vertue , which are two recommendable things , & cōsequently subiect to enuy . lastly , these two passions differ , in regard of the diuerse ends which they propound vnto themselues : for enuy hath that in particular , that shee doth not alwayes cause vs to wish great miseries to those we enuy : for wee see it dayly by experience , that there are some which enuy their own kinsmē or friends , yet they would be loth to see any great misery befall them , or an affliction which might tend to their ruine ; contenting themselues to crosse their prosperities , and to hinder the lustre and glory of their fortunes . but hatred passeth further , still watching for an occasion to ruine his enemy , and is neuer satisfied with his miseries vntill they haue brought him to the period of his downefall : so as shee induceth vs to procure irremediable mischiefs , and extreame calamities to those whom shee pursues with obstinacy . wee must now seeke the source and fountaine of hatred , and shew what the causes be that frames it . as she consists in the auersion of things which are contrary to our senses , it may spring from three causes principally ; that is to say , from choler , from reproches , or slanders , and from the crosses or discommodities which wee receiue . as for the first , an ancient had reason to say , that hatred is an inueterate or rooted choler ; not that time doth change one of these passions into another : for the philosophers will neuer confesse , that one kinde may passe into the nature of another but for that choler hauing exasperated our courage , if wee entertaine long the forme of an offence which doth gall vs , in the end wee lay aside choler , and beginne to hate him against whom our wrath was kindled : so as choler is not of the essence of hatred , but many times the cause . as for the second , it is certain , that nothing doth more excite our hatred then slanders & reproches , the which may euen trouble the wisest and most vertuous ; for wee haue seene great personages , who had , as it were , renounced all feeling of the other passions , yeelde o the griefe of detraction , and haue suffered themselues to haue beene so caried away with griefe of minde , as they haue fallen into a generall disdaine of all the world , and to abhorre all mankind , by reason of the fury of such as had defamed them . so as slander is like to a huge waue which wrests the helme out of the marriners hand : for that she troubles the most vertuous , and makes thē to giue way to the griefs of hatred . besides , if they which slander vs , giue vs other crosses , and are the cause of some notable preiudice ; as if they accuse vs before the magistrate , if they bring vs in questiō of our liues , if they cause vs to lose our goods , if they persecute our kinsmen , if they torment our friends ; all these causes together frame a deepe hatred in our soules , the which retaine for euer the forme of these bloody iniuries , vnlesse they make some great and solemne satisfaction . finally , the reasons why choler , detraction , and crosses , or discommodities , ingender hatred , is , for that all these things tending to the destruction of the being , or honour of men , they are so many subiects and spurres of hatred against those that procure them those displeasures . yet hatred is not framed in our hearts by these causes onely , but there are other particular motiues from whence it may proceed , as when we see our selues deceiued in our trust , and of the good opinion we had of men to whom we were tied by affection . wherefore an ancient had reason to say , that hatred is commonly framed in our soules , by our bad elections , for that wee loue before we know , and before wee haue tried the merit and fidelity of those to whom we will trust so rich a treasure as friendship . we are too easily perswaded that they are vertuous , and worthy of all fauour and confidence , and in the meane time wee finde them treacherous and vnworthy : so as wee fall into such a disdaine , and do so abhorre them , as we cannot inindure to heare them spoken of . finally , to draw to a head the causes of this passion ; wee hate vgly and deformed things , as the monsters and scorners of nature and arte , and those which are filthy , troublesome , and importune : for that wee esteeme them as enemies to our senses and content . as for those which are subiect to the motions of this passion , wee obserue , that faint and base mindes , are sooner mooued then generous spirits : the reason is , for that cowards feare euery thing , so as their hatred is inflamed against all such as they thinke may hurt them , bee it in their person , in their goods or in regard of their friends . hence it growes , that great men which haue no courage are commonly cruell , as we haue monstrous examples in nero , caligula , and other effeminate princes , whose rage no murthers could satisfie . and for the same reason they that haue offended a great personage , who hath meanes to reuenge himselfe , hate him irreconciliably ; which makes them to desire his death , to see themselues freed from feare . whence groweth that famous saying , he that offends neuer pardons . the proud and enuious are also subiect to the motions of hatred . the first , for that they thinke they are not honored as they should be ; and the last , for that all the prosperities of their equalls offend them . they that loue themselues too much , are wonderfull apt to the same motions , for that they take euery thing as an iniury , and are so nice as they cannot endure any man. but as loue springs from a feeling of good , and hatred from an apprehension of euill , it happens that for that the good things we enioy in this life are neuer pure , nor much durable , they make no great impression , neither do they leaue any great remembrance nor loue of them in our soules : but contrariwise euill things being very sensible & long , take deepe rooting in our hearts , where by reason of our corruption , they are are as it were in their proper element , so as we do more easily preserue the seeds of hatred then of loue : wherefore an a●●ient sayd , that he whic● 〈◊〉 with griefe , remembers it ; but hee that enioyes pleasure , forgets . finally if wee would make good vse of our hatred , wee must imploy it against vice , and against those obiects , the loue and pursuite whereof may pollute our hearts , and blemish the image of god which shines in our soules . this hatred must take her course from causes contrary to those , which we haue formerly said , are proper to induce loue. as for example , to roote out of the soule a dishonest loue , we must leaue to thinke of it , and diuert our minds and sences from the continuall contemplation of the image which beginnes to make vs to feele her power , lest that the beames of so pernitious an obiect , kindle and nourish in our hearts bad desires : and moreouer , to fortifie our hatred , we must iudiciously weigh the defects which may incounter in the subiect which we loue. and of this sort , from the most perfect creature in the world , being subiect to great imperfection , we may easily if wee will , finde occasion to separate our selues . wee must in like manner represent the miseries which do commonly accompany the pursuites of loue ; we must also set before our eyes the shipwracke of so many famous pe●sonages , which haue lost themselues vpon this shelfe : we must represent the infidelities , cares , crosses , paine , and torments , which this wretched passion doth cause . and aboue all , a christian should apprehend the wrath of god , and the horror of his iudgements which hee powres out vpon vncleaenenesse . but this belongs to another discourse . of desire or cupidity : and of the flight and horror we haue of things . chap. . as natvrall things being farre from their center , haue no rest vntill they attaine vnto it ; so man hauing a particular inclination to good , as soone as he propounds vnto himselfe the obiect , and ties it to his imagination ; if the enioying bee denied him , he feeles himselfe surprized with a certaine vehemency , which makes him to seeke it passionately . and if it bee a good of the mind , his will is inflamed ; and if this good concernes the contentment of the body , his sences receiue the impression and long to enioy it . according to this last motion , philosophers affirme that there is passion in man which they call cupidity or desire , which concerneth those things which we possesse not , and which we thinke are fit and proper to giue vs content this cupidity or desire is no other thing , but a passion wee haue to attaine vnto a good which we enioy not , & which we imagine is fitting for vs. it differs from loue and pleasure , for that loue is the first inclination , the first taste , or ( as we may say ) the first sweetnesse we feele of good things , or of those which are goodly or faire : which rauish our sences , and breed in vs this desire and longing to enioy them ; after which , hope doth arise , the which succeding , the effect filles vs with ioy , and contentment , which is properly the pleasure wee conceiue when the thing hath succeeded . or to deliuer it more plainely , desire , differs from loue , and pleasure , for that loue is the first motion , and the first passion we haue of any good thing , without respect whether it be present or absent ; desire is a passion for a good that is absent , and pleasure a contentment wee haue to enioy when wee haue gotten it . whereby it followes , that desire as we say , is a particular passion , for that it regards a sensible good , vnder a sensitiue consideration , that is to say , vnder this consideration that it is absent , and that in this absence it drawes vnto it the affection of man to pursue it . for the sensible good which is the obiect of the sensuall appetite , moues otherwise when it is present , then when it is absent . for when it is present , the appetite is at rest by the presence of the thing beloued , whereas being absent , the appetite is moued and agitated with a desire and longing to pursue it and get it . but there are two kinds of desires and cupidities , which may make impression in our senses , the one is naturall , the other rise from our choice ; the naturall are those which agree with the nature of the creature , as drinking , eating , sleeping ; and these are common to men & brute beasts , for that both the one and the other , haue obiects befitting their nature . those which arise from our election , are such as regard the things which are not altogether necessary for the creature , but man hath inuented them for his greater ease and commodity , as the delights of drinking , & eating , baths , play , sights , riches , honor , reputation , and such like . as for naturall desires they are not infinite , but haue their bounds ; for that as nature contents it selfe with a little , so shee prescribes vnto her selfe certaine limitts , within the which she containes herselfe , tying herselfe to the obiect which is fitting , without any diuersion . but those which follow our election haue no bounds , so they grow infinite . for as they depend of the imagination of man , as this power represents the formes and images of infinit obiects ; so these desires multiply infinitely to pursue all those good things which the imagination hath propounded . whereby it happens that representing at one instant any thing that seems pleasing or profitable , we desire it passionately , and then changing opinion wee wish another , and after it a third . so as we feele as it were a swarme of desires disclose themselues in our thoughts , which draw vs to diuerse obiects , without rule or measure . for as no aboundance of water can satisfie them that are sicke of the dropsie , so there is no kind of goodnesse or pleasure that may content our desires . the ancient philosophers compared the first matter to an infamous strumpet , who is neuer glutted with present pleasure , but doth still meditate vpon new imbracings ; for that the first matter is neuer content with the formes which she enioyes , but still desires new , not caring whether they be more noble then that wherewith she is adorned . but we haue more reason to apply this comparison to our cupidities and desires , which shew themselues insatiable in all they pursue , with what kind of passion soeuer . and herein appeares the great misery of man , who hauing meanes to passe with few things necessary for the entertainment of his life , plungeth himselfe in superfluities as into a gulph , whereas hee findes neither bottome nor bancke , and afflicts himselfe with a thousand torments in the pursuite of his vaine desires , making his condition much more miserable then that of other creatures . for they hauing quencht their desires by the enioying , remaine fully satisfied , and torment themselues no more , vntill that nature quickens againe their appetites . when as the lyon hath pursued a bull or a goate , he deuoures what is necessary to satisfie his hunger ; but he hides not the remainder in the ground . the bore drinkes vntill hee hath satisfied his thirst , and then leaues the water . the wolfe ( though a rauening beast ) runs after his prey , when hunger driues him ; but being satisfied hee leaues his chace . leopards and tygers being prest by necessity , kill their prey , but hauing fedde they are quiet . bulles hauing taken their pasture , returne content . but there is nothing able to satisfie the desires of man , his imagination being alwayes fertile and intentiue to furnish him with new toyles and cares to seeke for new , by the distaste hee hath of those which hee enioyeth . so as to comprehend them all together , there is not glory enough , nor wealth sufficient , nor obiects of pleasure and delight in the whole world , that can make him absolutely content . whereby we may see a man growne from a base estate to a glorious fortune , complaine of his estate ; neuer looking to them that are inferiour vnto him , but onely to such as exceed him . let him be aduanced to the first office of estate , yet this glory will be a spurre vnto him to aspire vnto a greater . he would play the prince , he wold contemne his king , and would enioy the glory of his diademe . finally , he would see how high fortune can raise him , and doth not consider that she growes weary , and that her consistence is as brickle as glasse , and that her lustre is like vnto those false lights , which deceiue seafaring men , and guide them vpon rocks and shelfes , whereon their ships are broken , and they suffer shipwracke . ambition hath no bounds , if she hath surmounted the earth , she wil defie heauen . so those proud princes of antiquity , not satisfied with the glory of their crownes , and hauing nothing more on earth to be desired , wold counterfeit the thunder and lightning , to haue themselues held powerfull in heauen . but if euer prince made shew that ambition is insatiable , it was alexander ; for that after so many battels , after so many glorious conquests , hauing past from macedonia through asia , euē vnto the red sea , yet he sent forth his lieutenants to discouer new worlds , there to finde out a new haruest of triumphs : the scythians though barbarians , could wel reproach him with this in●atiable passion of glory . if the gods ( say they ) had giuen thee a body equall to thy courage , the whole world would bee too little for thee : with the one hand thou wouldst touch the east , and with the other the west : and after all this , thou woldst yet know where the brightnesse of that great diuinity were hidden . but wee must not imagine , that this passion is proper onely to alexander , for there was neuer great monarch whose abundance of treasure , and extent of empire could limit his ambition . there was neuer any one whom death hath not found plotting of new designes , and making of new proiects for conquests . the cupidities and desires of riches are no lesse insatiable : the more we enioy , the more wee desire , and the passion growes more violent by abundance ; like vnto the flame of a great fire , which increaseth whē they cast wood into it . giue mee a man in whose house ( to speake with the world ) fortune hath heaped vp all the treasures of perou , to whom shee hath imparted so much gold , siluer , and pretious stones , as he not onely enioyeth it , but also treads vnder his feet pearles , rubies , and diamonds ; yet amidst al this riches and glory , i dare boldly affirme , that his soule is not content , but in this abundance hee represents vnto himselfe other riches , which he imagineth are more exquisite , & more pretious then those which hee enioyes . so as in being rich , we doe not learne to leaue to be passionate for the loue of riches , nor by enioying many superfluous things , we do not get the contentment not to desire more . and when will mighty men ceasse to extend the boūds of their possessiōs ? the lands , the houses of their neighbors , do they not stand in their light ? & do not their desires enflame them to buy thē , or take thē away by vioence ? if there be a branch of a riuer that may fit their buildings , must they not haue it either by loue or force ? doe they not cut down moūtains & rocks , diuert the course of riuers , make valleis euen ; yea , & remoue the very foundations of the earth to satisfie their desires ? poore men , which hauing but so little a body to lodge , build such ample pallaces . and for al this are their desires satisfied ? nay rather , the end of one is the beginning of another . this is a miserable passion , seeing that shee her selfe fights against her owne satisfying and content : and seeing that by a prodigious violence shee enflames vs to the pursuit of riches to inioy them ; and when wee haue gotten them , she forbids vs the vse : she begets a longing in vs , and denies vs the pleasure and as we more abhorre the cantharides and tarantules , then lyons , tigers , and beares ; for that they kill men and reape no fruite of their death , whereas sauage beasts doe feede themselues , and satisfie their hunger : so of all the cupidities and desires , there is not any one that we should so much detest , as that of couetousnesse : for that this monstrous passion draws no contentment from that it gathers together , nor suffers him rhat is possest with it , to take any pleasure : wheras other desires , at the least , aspire to the enioying and content which may grow by the possession of their obiects . interdicting thus the enioying , shee stirres vp new desires , to get newe treasure ; and hauing gotten it , wee finde , that the paine we haue taken to enioy it , is nothing in regard of the torment it giues vs after that we are owners . and yet wee stay not there , but plunging our selues still in this gulph , wee finde sooner an end of our liues , then of our couetousnesse . these are the thornes which spring from riches , which are gotten with paine , preserued with care , and lost with griefe . pleasures and delights are also infinite , not onely for that they cannot giue a full contentment to our desires , but also for that the number is so great , as we can hardly reckon them , or at least giue them names . there are desires of the eyes , which represent sensible beauties , of which we finde a thousand fashions , the search whereof should be innocent if it had any bounds ; but the excesse of our desire doth blemish the pursuit . as for example , pictures , images , statues , porphyrie , marble , amber , c●ystal , iuory , flowers , tapistries , diamonds , rubies , & all other things , where the eye discouers the wonders of nature and the art of man , are the obiects of an innocent pleasure , if we could vse them moderately . but wee suffer our selues to bee transported with so furious a desire , and we seeke them with such an inraged heate , as it is rather a madnesse then a desire . an ancient said , that nothing had more distasted him from loue , and the passion of all those things , then to see the stately triumphs of rome where they exposed to the sight all the gold and siluer of that great city , to serue for an ornament ; and carried the pictures , images , armes , plate , pretious stones , treasure , tapistry , and the mooueables of vanquished kings , & the spoyles of their rich prouinces , to encrease their glory . and his reason was , for that ( said he ) all this pompe , all this lustre , all this glory , and this abundance of treasure , was seen in one day , and then vanished : so as in a short time our eyes might behold all the pride not only of rome , but of the world . this was to make a man wise by sights , whereas others become mad . there are other pleasures of the eyes , which pollute by the excesse of our cupidities , and by the disorder of our desires : as when our eyes not content to behold the beauty of a woman , conceiue an vnchaste desire . besides these diuers pleasures of the eyes , there are others of smelling , hearing and feeling ; wherein wee obserue as little measure as in the rest . perfumes are exquisite presents of nature ; but our effeminate delicacy hath made the vse infamous and shamefull . musick , consorts , and the sweetnesse of instruments , were things which wee might vse honestly without offence ; but we haue conuerted all into luxury , which prophanes the vse . and amidst all this abundance , neither doe our eyes satisfie their desires , by so many obiects which they behold ; neither doe our eares finde their heate quenched , nor our other senses their passions , by whatsoeuer offers it selfe to their desires . the other pleasures wherunto man is addicted , as play , combats , huntings , exercises , companies , and whatsoeuer he doth to ease the cares of this life , cannot satisfie nor giue any full contentment to man : but amidst all these roses hee stil meets with some thornes , and seekes dayly after newe contentment ; so insatiable are his desires . the same cupidities also vary according to the ages , complexions , and humours of those which are toucht with this passion . yong men are passionate after play and women , and exceede in these pleasures . the sicke wish for health , as the souereigne good of his life ; old men desire good wine , and good fare , which seemes to make them liue againe , & to adde new vigor to their bodies . princes and generous spirits breath nothing but glory , tryumphs , and trophies , which serue to aduance them beyond the ordinary of men . they which are of a sanguine and hot complexion , haue a passion fit for all things , and they pursue them with great heate ; but it lasts not long , and is like a fire of straw , inconstancy & change accompanying them still in their pursuites . whereas they that are of a cold constitution , haue no great desires , by reason of the heauinesse of their humors : but they are obstinate in their pursuits , and can hardly bee diuerted from the obiect , whereunto they are tied . they which haue the least feeling of the motions of desire , are such as haue no apprehensiō of the discōmodities and miseries of this life , as they that are young ; great spirits ; men ouertaken with wine ; and finally all such as haue much blood and heate gathered together about the heart . as in like manner , they are not much transported , which haue neuer felt any vrgent necessity . for as feare and distrustes increase desire , to prouide all things necessary for the preseruation of this life , they which haue tasted of crosses , apprehending to fall into their first miseries , do desire infinite things , to fortifie themselues against all accidents ; supposing still that nothing can secure them sufficiently . they also which haue little blood about their hearts , & that but luke-warme , haue naturally cares and ardent desires to gather ; for that they feare to see themselues fall into want and pouerty ; and the importune care they haue to preuent this misery , afflicts their soules , and tortures their minds . hence it comes , that we often see men who haue bene prodigall and very profuse in their youth , so change their inclinations , as when they come to age , there can be nothing noted in them but base couetousnes in all their actions : whereas on the other side wee commonly see that wine and loue make couetous men bountifull . finally when we haue gotten with much paine the goods which we enioy , wee shew more vehemency to keepe them . the which may arise from two causes , either for that we feare to fall againe into the necessity in which we haue bene , and apprehend to see our selues forced to take new paines , and to vndergo new toyles to recouer our estates . or else for that the things which we haue gotten with sweat and danger , are more deare vnto vs , then those which come without labour and paine . so we see a young heire , which comes to a great estate by the death of his father , will bountifully bestow his gold and siluer , and dissipate within few dayes , what his miserable father had bene long a gathering , and which he had not gotten but with infinite torments both of body and mind . whereas a merchant , who hath tried the dangers of traffique ; who hath grown pale a thousand times at sea during his voyages ; who hath seene himselfe often neere death , and ready to fall into the hands of pyrates or theeues , will not thrust his hand rashly into his coffers , nor distribute his mony but with great stayednesse , and wonderfull discretion , which may make him to bee held base and couetous . doubtlesse wee haue seene in our times the most generous prince of the world , who shewed no such magnificence in the bestowing of his excessiue treasures , as the glory of his birth and the splendor of his other actions seemed to require . so as many had a conceite that he feared to fall into his first necessities ; but doubtlesse his good husbandry was far better then our profusions . wee haue spoken sufficiently of this passion of desire , the which hauing in a manner all things common with loue , it shall not need any longer treaty , nor more words to explaine it . as for the passion which is contrary vnto it , as it hath no name , ( although it bee the same which makes vs abhorre and fly that which wee thinke is hurtfull to our nature , ) so it is not needfull to seeke out the conditions and particularities , seeing they are in a manner the same which we haue obserued vppon the subiect of hatred . moreouer , that from the nature of desire , we may gather what that of horror is , seeing that one contrary deciphers another . of pleasure or delight . chap. . as this great fabricke of the heauens makes his motion vppon the two poles of the world , which are as it were the two points where it beginnes and ends : so it seemes that all the passions of our soules depend vpon pleasure and paine , which grow from the contentment or distaste which we receiue from the diuerse obiects which present themselues vnto vs in the course of this life . if we loue , it is for that wee finde a sweetnes in the subiect that doth rauish vs. and if we hate , it is in regard that wee imagine the obiect which presents it selfe vnto our imagination , is full of griefe , contrary to our apprehension . the pleasure wee take in the idea of a good thing , which we enioy not , and yet promise to ourselues the possession in pursuing it constantly , begets hope : as contrariwise , when we think it is not in our power to obtaine it , the griefe wee haue afflicts vs , and leades vs to despaire . desires in like manner are framed in vs by the imagination we haue of a benefit which may giue vs content ; and the distaste wee haue of things which we flie , is , for that we imagine they may cause our discontent and vexation . so as in all the other passions wee still finde ple●sure and griefe intermixt , in regard whereof , wee may rightly tearme them the two springs and fountaines , from whence deriue and flow all the other passions . yet they haue their particular reasons and considerations , which giue them their rancke , and put them in the number of other passions duly & exactly considered . wherefore pleasure or delight is a passion & motion , which is framed in our soules with a certaine sweetnes which filles our senses with contentment and ioy , when as they receiue the impression , by the enioying of a good which is pleasing vnto them : or else , pleasure is a passion which proceedes from the sweetnesse which our senses receiue from the obiects which delight them . or to vse aristotles definition ; pleasure is a motion of the soule , which putts it suddenly and sensibly in an estate fit for the nature of man. whereupon wee must first obserue , that as things meerely naturall tend to their perfections , by those meanes which nature hath prescribed ; so all creatures striue to attaine vnto those which are proper vnto them , by the meanes which the same nature hath made subiect to their power . but there is this difference betwixt insēsible creatures & those which haue sense , that the insēsible hauing attained to the height of their perfection , feele no ioy . so as it seemes , the sun is vnhappy in that respect , that being indued with such a shining brightnesse , and such perfect beauty , yet it hath no feeling nor knowledge of his glory ; whereas creatures haue a feeling of their good when they haue gotten it . so as this feeling filles their senses with ioy , and causeth pleasure , which makes their nature cōtent : let vs now see what conditiōs are necessary to frame this delight , & to beget in vs the pleasure of things which touch our senses . first of all , the good must be vnited to our senses , be it really & in effect , or in thought and imagination . for wee must remember in all this treaty of humaine passions , that it imports not for to stir them vp , that the obiect which incites the motions be really in the nature of things , or simply in the imagination : for that there are some men which suffer themselues to be more transported with the images which fancy frames in their braines , then by the true obiects of things which subsist really . as we reade in histories , that a certaine athenian called thrasillus had a certaine foolish conceite , that all the shipps ▪ with their loading , which came into the port of pyrea were his . but when as his friends had caused his braine to be purged , and had brought him to his right senses ; he complained of them , and blamed them for that they had depriued him of an infinite content . moreouer it is requisite in pleasure , that the obiect of good which makes an impression in our senses , should be agreeable to our nature . the which cannot be , if it be not in some sort agreeable vnto their capacity . wherefore there must bee such an agreement and proportion betwixt the senses and obiect , as there may bee betwixt them a certaine resemblance and affinity , so as that which caused the pleasure must neither bee too strong nor too weake , to make his impression . wherefore a moderate light is more pleasing to our eyes then that which is more glistring . and in like manner a sweete sound cōtents the eare more then that which is loud . and we take more delight in a speech which we vnderstand , then when wee vnderstand not the words ; for that this intelligence wee haue of the words , frames a kind of conformity betwixt them and vs , whereby the speech doth insinuate sweetly into our eares , and makes a more pleasing impression in our soule . thirdly , it is requisite to breed delight in our senses , that wee haue knowledge of the good which breeds the impression , and that we find it is fit for vs , & that we enioy it either in effect , or by imagination : for that we cannot receiue any ioy of a thing vnknowne , or which we find not that it is good for vs , or are ignorant that it is in our power . so a hidden friendship doth nothing touch vs , and yet if we had any perfect knowledge , we should be rauished with ioy , and burne with desire to imbrace it . finally , it is requisite to beget pleasure in our soules , that our appetite ( from whence desires do arise ) should receiue an alteration or change by a sweet impression , which the obiect ( being the cause ) makes in our senses . for this sweetnesse is of the essence of pleasure , which cannot subsist without her : wherefore shee consists rather in the end of the motion then in all the rest of her progresse ; therefore aristotle tearmes it , not onely a motion , but also a rest of the soule . in the mean time there are two kinds of appetites in man , that is to say , the intellectuall , which is the reasonable will , and the sensitiue , which is diuided into the irascible and concupiscible , as we haue said : the intellectuall reioyceth at good things which are conformable to reason , whereof the vnderstanding is iudge . and the sensitiue takes delight in things which concerne the senses . we also obserue this difference , that those things which delight the senses , cause a sensible alteration in the body . as in ioy wee feele our heart open and dilate it selfe ; especially if this ioy proceede from an vnexpected thing which concernes vs much , it may be so mooued and agitated , as death may follow . as it happened in those women of carthage , who hauing newes that their sonnes had beene slaine in battaile , when as they saw them liuing before their eyes : this ioy happening contrary to their hopes , they dyed suddainely . but the pleasures of reason cause no other thing then a simple motion of the will , which reioyceth the minde without any alteration of the body , vnlesse it extend vnto the senses . wherefore some affirme that this kinde of ioy is found in the essence of god , and in the nature of angels . and they are accustomed to propound a question vpon this subiect , which be the greatest pleasures , and delight most , whether those of reason , or those of the senses . but the answer is easie , for that vndoubtedly , the intellectuall and those of the minde ( if we consider them in themselues ) are more delightfull then those of the senses . and this made aristotle to say , that the sweetest and most pleasing content , wee can haue in this life , is that which proceedes from the exercises and actions of wisedome , which is spent in the contemplation of the first causes . the reason why the pleasures of the minde haue an aduātage ouer those of the body , is , for that to cause pleasure or delight in vs , there must concurre three things ; that is to say , the obiect vnited to the power ; the power to the which it is vnited ; and the actuall vnion of the one with the other , which presupposeth knowledge of this good . as for example , to beget the pleasures of our taste , there must bee delicate meates , a taste well disposed , and moreouer the vnion of these two things must bee made by the naturall organs , with his knowledge , that must receiue the impression of this pleasure . for if the most exquisite meates were put into the mouth of a man that slept , hee should receiue no pleasure , for that hee had no feeling nor knowledge . and first of all , the goods of the minde ( in the enioying whereof consist the intellectuall pleasures ) are more noble and more louely then all the goods of the senses and body : whereof we haue a notable proofe in that wee see men ( yea , most abandoned to vice ) depriue themselues of the sweetest pleasures of the body , to purchase glory , which is a good of the mind . so they sayd of caesar , who in his great inclination to loue and women , renounced all his pleasures to get the honor of a triumph . moreouer , the power of the will , in which is made the impression of these kinde of pleasures , being intellectuall : and much more excellent then the senses which are corporeall , the actions which she produceth and which are followed by these pleasures , are also more noble then those which deriue from the senses . and by consequence , the vnion which is made of spirituall obiects with the will , is farre more strict ; more worthy , and more durable , then that which happens betwixt the senses and the obiects , which they pursue . it is more strict , for that the senses regard onely the superficies of things , and doe not busie themselues but to consider the accidents which inuiron them : as colours , smelling , noyse , sweetnesse , and the like ; whereas the vnderstanding pierceth into the essence and substance of the obiects . it is more worthy , for that it is made without any alteration or corporeall change : whereas the obiect pleasing to the senses , cannot be vnited with them , but it will cause some kinde of change which is full of imperfection . it is more durable , for that the obiects of the sēses are of perishable goods which soon faile , whereas the obiects of the minde are of eternall felicity which continues for euer . yet it is true , that the obiects of the senses make a more violent impression in our soules , and that the pleasure which we receiue , toucheth vs much more then that which the spirits gathers from the obiects which are pleasing vnto it . the which happens first , for that the goods of the body are borne with vs , encrease with vs , and are preserued with vs· so as handling them daily and hourely , we haue a more exact knowledge then of the goods of the vnderstanding , which are remoued from vs. we haue said , that knowledge is necessary for the enioying of pleasures : wherefore , where this knowledge hath least power , there the pleasures are least sensible . this also happens , for that we vse pleasures as remedies and cures against the crosses , troubles , and cares of this life , which are sweetned , and as it were charmed by their presence . but most men being either indisposed , or not capable to raise themselues vp to spiritual consolations , seeke and tye themselues to pleasing obiects , which present thēselues easily to their senses . the which is fortified , for that the sweetnesse of obiects which delight our senses , are suddainely tasted , and doe not much trouble vs to seeke them . it is an infallible maxime in philosophy , that the obiects by their presence , make a more powerfull impression in our soules , then when they are absent . and those things which giue vs least paine , are most sweete in their acquisition : so as for all these considerations , the pleasures of the body seeme vnto vs greater then those of the minde . we may say in a word , that those of the senses are more sēsible , but these more perfect , & more excellent . in the mean time , all the wise men of the world exhort vs to set a careful guard ouer the pleasures of the senses , which they call the poyson of the minde . for the which wee must the more carefully prouide ; for that these passions are accompanied with a certaine sweetenesse which flatters vs at her first approach , and surprizeth our iudgement , and charmes it in such sort , as it helpes to deceiue it selfe . so as in this subiect wee must imitate those wise old men of troy , who counselled priam to send backe hellen to the grecians , and not suffer himselfe to be any longer abused with the charms of her great beauty : for that keeping her within their city , was to entertaine the siege of a fatall and dangerous warre , and to nourish a fire which would consume it to ashes . the euent did shew , that it was wisely fore-seene , and pronounced as an oracle ▪ for in the same manner wee should chase from vs the obiects of pleasures , lest they be the cause of our ruine . to which purpose an ancient said , that nature had engrafted no such pernicious desires , as those of the pleasures of the body : for that these desires growing vnbridled , doe so enflame the courages where they get possession , as they leaue nothing vndone to content their passion . whence spring treacheries and treasons , which make men to sell their friends and countrey : from thence proceedes ruines and defolation of estates , & the conspiracies against common weales . as it appeared in that of catilyne , who practized the ruine of rome : from thence the murthers , violences , burnings , and all the miseries of this life , take their spring and beginning . the reason is , for that pleasures quench the iudgement , and smother all the seedes of vertue and wisedome in man ; the which they effect more powerfully , when they are most violent : as it appeares in those which are transported with loue , who are not maisters of themselues , but suffer themselues to be wholy guided by their passions : wherefore a wiseman of the world was wont to say , that he had rather fall into frenzy , then suffer himselfe to bee surprized with pleasures ; for that , sayd hee , physitians may cure madnes , by purging the braine with helleborum , whereas pleasures depriue man of his iudgement , without hope of remedy for his infirmity . but for that there are pleasures not only of the mind , but of the body and senses , which are meerely innocent , as the pleasure we receiue by pictures , perfumes , honest exercises , and other things which bring a chast content ; it shall bee conuenient to know what the causes and obiects bee , to the end wee may of our selues iudge , which are lawfull , and which are interdicted , and to bee abhorred . first then , things necessary for preseruation of our nature , as drinking , and eating , are pleasing vnto man , and the which he vseth with a delight , which moderation and temperance make innocent . secondly , men take a singular delight in things to the which they haue beene long framed and accustomed , for that custome is as it were another nature , considering that the things whereunto wee haue bene accustomed , and whereof there is framed a long habite , by continuall exercise , haue a great affinity with those of nature . thirdly , the things which are conformable to our nature and disposition , are pleasing ; for that they force vs not in any sort , but insinuate sweetely into our senses : whereas on the other side , whatsoeuer brings any constraint vexeth vs , as studies , serious affaires , disputations , and such like , are importune and troublesome ; for that they constraine and force our inclinations , vnlesse that custome hath taken away the bitternes . whereas their contrary please vs , as rest , sleepe , play ▪ cessation from labour , sights , and such like , in which wee finde not any constraint . fourthly , whatsoeuer flatters our desires , giues vs ioy and pleasure , for that these kinds of cupidities , are properly the desires of things which we imagine are pleasing , and rauish our senses : for whatsoeuer flatters our senses , and delights our imagination , causeth pleasure and content . so euery kind of good , bee it that which is present , or past , or to come , doth giue a content by the presence or by the imagination ; for that it delights our senses , and is pleasing to our fancy , which is a delicate power , & easily toucht with the sweeetnesse of her obiect , how small soeuer . wherefore they that remember the good things which they haue tasted ▪ and those which they hope for in future , hauing these things imprinted in their fancy , feele a ioy . whereby it appeares plainely , that all pleasure and delight consists either in the feeling of things present , or in the remembrance of things past , or in the hope of those which are to come . for we taste and feele the present , we remember those that are past , and we hope for the future . and doubtlesse the things which are grauen in our memory please vs much , not only those which were sweete in the action , but euen those which we haue tasted with some bitternesse , especially when as the paines and toiles we haue indured are ended to our profite & honor : which made an ancientto say , that it was a sweete thing to remember trauailes past . so souldiers glory of their dangers past , and relate with singular content , the wounds they haue receiued in combatts . they which haue escaped dangers at sea , or made great and desperate voyages by land , haue the same content to relate the hazards and fortunes which they haue runne and surmounted . the reason of this ioy , and the cause of this content , is , for that it is a sweete thing to be freed from a mischiefe , especially when it hath giuen vs great afflictions and apprehensions . but as for that which regards things which depend of hope , all those things whose presence and enioying we imagine will bee pleasing or profitable , and which will cause vs no kind of discontent , excite pleasure in our senses , be it when we remember them , or when wee hope for them . so as whatsoeuer we imagine as a good which may befall vs , is pleasing vnto our thoughts : by reason whereof , ( as wee will shew hereafter ) we feele a content in choller , for that no man is angry , but with hope to bee reuenged , the which hee reputs for a great good . wherefore homer made achilles to say , that choller disperst it selfe in a great courage , more sweetely then hony . for as much then as what we remember or hope for , as a thing pleasing and sweete vnto our thoughts , excites ioy in our hearts , therefore most of the desires of men are accompanied with some pleasure and delight : for when as they remember how they haue plaied , or when as they imagine after what manner they hope to play , they feele a sensible content and a new ioy , which represents vnto them the image of the true enioying . as it happens to those which haue drunke with delight during a burning feuer , for they haue a certaine kind of ioy when as they remember to haue so drunke ; or when as they promise vnto themselues to drinke againe after the same manner . so they that are tormented with loue , be it that they speake of the party beloued , bee it that they write or make verses of that subiect , they feele a wonderfull content , for that in all those things , they conceiue that whom they loue is before their eyes , as in their thoughts . wherefore they hold it for a certaine signe of loue , when as any one afflicts himselfe for the absence of another , and when he takes pleasure in the teares and complaints of their separation . and it is certaine , that euen in cares and vexation , there is also a content in the teares and sighes wee powre forth for the absence of that wee loue . there is doubtlesse a griefe for that we see not the party wee loue ; but there is also a sweetnesse , for that her image presents it selfe vnto our thoughts , and sets before vs all the motions , gestures , actions , speeches , smiles , grace , sport , and whatsoeuer wee haue obserued in her when shee was truely present . reuenge also , as wee haue formerly toucht , is a sweete thing , the which doth well appeare by her contrary ; for if wee see that wee cannot reuenge the iniury which hath beene done vs , and which hath inflamed our choller , wee feele a wonderfull discontent : whereas wee are transported with ioy when as wee hope and see some appearance of reuenge . moreouer , it doth much content , and giue a singular pleasure , not onely to the ambitious , but indifferently to al sorts of persons , to vanquish and surmount those , against whom they haue any contention or dispute : for in this concurrence it seemes they dispute of the excellency and superiority , and that it is as it were , adiudged to him that obtaines the victory : and all men liuing , bee they great , meane , or base , desire , ( though some more ardently , and others with lesse passion ) to excell and surmount others . by this reason we finde there is pleasure in sports , in which there is any cōtention , as at chesse , tennis , cards , and dice ; and likewise in more serious exercises where there is any dexterity to obtaine the victory ; as in fighting at barriers , running at the ring , and tilt , or such like . wherof some are pleasing as soone as they apply themselues vnto them , and others growe pleasing by custome : as for example , they that giue thēselues to the exercise of hunting , although it bee somewhat violent ; yet they receiue a singular content , for that they must fight against sauage beasts , and aspire to get the victory . and according to that which wee haue said , that victory breeds delight , it is easie to iudge why the exercises of schooles , disputations among learned men , and the pleading of lawyers at the barre , giue a content to them that imploy themselues : the reason is , for that in these exercises , there is also an image of victory which presents it selfe vnto our eyes . glory in like manner is in the rancke of those things , which causeth delight and pleasure ; for that it consists in a certaine opinion , to be more eminent , and more excellent then other men , by reason of the esteeme the world makes of vs : for euery man imagines himselfe to bee such as others esteeme him ; especially , if they bee men which he holds to be ful of truth . wherein wee giue more credite to neighbours then to those which are remote , who can haue no exact knowledge of our merit . and wee referre more to out fellow citizens , to our household seruants , and to our familiar friends , then vnto strangers : yea , wee yeelde more to them that liue , then to posterity : we esteem more the iudgement of wise men , then of them that want wit ; and we preferre the testimony of many , before the applause of some few particulars : for that it seemes they whom we preferre , for the aboue mentioned reasons , are better informed of the truth , and more to bee credited in their dispositions . wherefore wee are better satisfied and contented , to bee in reputation with them , then with the rest of the world : for no man cares to be honored by such as are contemptible , and not regarded . wherefore if we hide our selues from infants or beasts , it is not for any fear of shame we haue of them , seeing wee know they are without iudgment , and cannot dishonor vs. it is also a sweete thing to haue a friend , seeing that the very action of loue , what obiects soeuer she propounds vnto her selfe , is wonderfully pleasing . for no man loues wine who takes not delight to drinke it . no man delights in armes which takes no pleasure in the exercise ; no man loues philosophy which is not pleased to discourse thereof . in like manner no man loues another , but hee takes pleasure in his friendship . and moreouer , it is a sweet thing to see himselfe beloued , for it is as it were a presage , that hee is indued with qualities which makes a man louely , and to be esteemed by such as haue any feeling of reason . also euery man thinks he is beloued for the loue of himselfe : the which puffes him vp , and makes him more glorious , & by consequence , fuller of content . for the same reason it is a sweete thing to excite admiration of vs in the hearts of men , for that the honor they yeeld vs , maks vs to haue a good conceit of our selues , which fills vs with ioy and pleasure : in regard whereof , flatterers charme our mindes , for that these kinde of people offer themselues vnder a shew of friendship , and admirers of our vertues . moreouer , it is a sweete thing to doe an action often that pleaseth vs , for that custome makes things easie vnto vs , & consequently pleasing . change is also delightfull vnto vs ; for that it is as it were , an imitation of nature , which is pleased in variety , & in the diuersity of things : for that which persists alwayes in one sort , frames an importune custome in its subiect , which continuing too long , comes to corrupt . where●ore it was wisely said that alterations and changes make all things more sweete and pleasant to our senses . so as they also which come againe by interualls and respits , are more pleasing vnto vs : as the returne of the spring after the sharpenesse of winter , and the arriuall of our friend after along voyage : for that these things are not onely done with a change which causeth delight , but also for that they happen rarely , and not at all times , nor in all seasons . moreouer , it is a great content to behold things which giue vs a subiect of admiration : for the wonder which they stirre vp in our soules , inflames vs , and makes vs desire to know them , and the cause of our admiration . but wee cannot learne any thing of that wee desire to know , but with extreame pleasure ; seeing it is as it were , to mount vp to the highest degree of our nature , and to eleuate it to her perfection : wherefore this admiration causeth ioy . againe , they be things full of sweetnesse and pleasure , to impart and to receiue benefits ; for that in receiuing you obtaine that which men desire ; and by giuing , you shew your selfe to haue that which others want , and that you exceede them therein ; the which we see with delight as a marke of our excellency . and as to do good is a sweet thing , it followes , that it is pleasing to ease the misery of another , to draw him out of captiuity , and to change the face of his fortune , by making him happy , who was formerly miserable . and for that any thing that breedes admiration in our soules , and giues vs any subiect to learne , is followed with pleasure : it therefore happens , that whatsoeuer consists in imitation , brings contentment , as painting , caruing , and poesy , which are all professions whose exercises are pleasing , although the things which they imitate be not alwayes delightfull . as for example , the painter leaues not to please himselfe in his art , although he drawes the portraict of a moore : nor the caruer to content himselfe in his work , althogh he cut a chimera , or that he fashiō a monster : nor a poet forbeares not to take delight in his verses , althogh they bee made vpon a mushrome , a sparrow , a flea , or some such ridiculous subiect : for that which stirres vp pleasure in the spirit of man , is not the obiect , which hath propounded it selfe , but the knowledge and iudgement hee makes to haue so well exprest this obiect , as his industry approcheth neere the truth , and is a liuely image : for that this perfect resemblance betwixt the image and the originall , teacheth him some thing which hee knew not before ; and withall , it makes him see his industry , and his labour , whereby he enters into admiration of his worke , and pleaseth himselfe to beholde the perfection of his arte. for the same reason , the euents of things not hoped for , nor expected , and the care to bee freed from those wherein there are great dangers , are accompanied with ioy , for that they happen not without amazement . in the meane time ( for that we haue said , that what is cōformable to the inclinations of nature , is pleasing ) we see , that the things which are tied by any bond of nature , & that haue any affinity one with another , as those which are of one kinde , or which haue any other naturall conformity , are delighted in the company one of another : as eagles loue eagles , lions take pleasure to bee among lions ; and men loue to see themselues among men : and for that euery thing loues that which resembles it . all men loue themselues , althogh some with more vehemency then others ; and by consequence they commend their owne workes , they esteeme their discourses , they loue commonly flatterers , who praise them , they are passionate for glory , for their friends , and for their children who are ( as wee may say ) their owne workes . and by the same reason they are pleased to finish that which they haue begunne ; which is to giue perfection to the labour of their hands . wisedome which consists in the knowledge of many excellent & admirable things , procures ioy to him that is adorned , for that it raiseth him aboue the ordinary of men , and giues him a kind of power ouer others , which man desires naturally ; and for that men are naturally ambitious of honor , they take delight to shew their authority in commanding others , and in reprehending them , they make demonstration that they cannot allow of their actions . moreoue , rman hath a singular delight to practize those things wherein he thinkes to excell ; for he is neuer tired to shew his industry , & doth willingly spend dayes and nights to become more perfect and to exceed himselfe . the which we haue seene in apelles , zeuxis , protogenes , and other excellent painters of antiquity . finally , for that the sports and recreations of the minde are pleasing , and that wee take delight to laugh , and to spend the time iouially , it followes that all the things which may ferue to that end , as iesters , their actions and words , giue vs content , and procure delight to behold them . these in some are the obiects of pleasure , which wee feele in this life ; we must now see what kind of pleasures are allowed , and which are iustly forbidden . for the explaining whereof , we must vnderstand that there haue beene philosophers , who not knowing how to set a difference betwixt the vnderstanding and the senses , and imagining there were no other pleasures but those of the body , haue condemned them generally as detestable and pernitious . but they had no reason for their assertion , seeing there is not any man that can liue without some kind of sensible and corporall pleasure ; seeing the author of nature hath vnited this kind of pleasure and sweetenesse to the actions of this life , to the end wee might with more courage indure the toyles and paines , and that they might bee as salt which seasoneth meate , and which makes it more pleasing to our taste . wee must then know that pleasure being a rest of the soule which she hath gotten by some kind of operation , there are some which being conformable to the rules of reason , and to the eternall law which god hath established among his creatures , cannot be held bad , but are meerely innocent ; as those which god hath tied to the procreation of children , when as they are tasted in a lawfull marriage , such as hee hath ordained for the preseruation of mankind . yet we must confesse , that the discordes of men do commonly peruert the vse , not keeping thēselues within the bounds of reason nor of the law of god ; the which is visible in the excesse they commit in drinking , and eating , in women , perfumes , play , dancing , and other pleasures of the body , which are seene at this day to be no other then subiects of offence : whereby we may see how infamous the opinion of the epicures was , ( from the which notwithstanding many great personages did beleeue that epicurus himselfe much dissented , affirming that hee made no account but of the pleasures of the mind , ) who with a visible reproach to humaine nature , haue placed the soueraigne good of man in the pleasure of the senses , which notwithstanding are common with bruite beasts . in like manner wee may gather what wrong they did vnto vertue , who by a notable effeminacy , represented the image of pleasure sitting in a throne like a great queene , which had vnder her the vertues , as slaues to attend her commandements . as if a man in the course of this life , should haue no other obiect in all his actions , yea in the most vertuous , then the satisfying of his pleasures , and the contentment of his senses . our resolution then is , that we must not imagine that all the pleasures of the senses are to bee reiected as pernitious , neither all to bee imbraced as beames of our soueraigne good . but as pleasure is a rest and contentment to the soule , which enioyeth some good whereof she tastes the sweetnesse ; if it bee an absolute good without exception , the pleasure is innocent and allowable to man. but if it bee a good pleasing only to the senses , and contrary to the rules of reason , and the law of god , as the pleasures of the flesh out of a chast marriage ; the effect is pernitious , and the enioying damnable . but for that we haue formerly sayd , that pleasures regard either the remembrance of that is past , or the enioying and feeling of a present good , or the hope of a future , it shal bee fit to shew which makes the most powerfull impression in our senses , and delights vs most . we must then know that pleasure taking her beginning in our soules , by the presence of a good which incounters our senses , or which vnites it selfe vnto vs by some other meanes , this presence or imaginary good is framed by the simple knowledge , and the only idea which wee haue of this good , so as the obiects wherof we haue knowledge , make an impression of their formes in our soules ▪ or else this presence consists in a real vnion of the good with our senses , whether that wee do actually enioy it , or that wee haue a certaine hope to get it . wherefore as the reall vnion of the obiect with the power is greater and more strict then that which is but imaginary ; and as the actuall vnion is stronger then that which is but in power , wee must necessarily conclude , that the sweetest pleasure is that which proceeds from the feeling and actuall enioying of the good which is really present with our senses . but the ioy which springs from hope is greater , and the pleasure more sweete , for that in this kind of ioy , there is an vnion b●twixt our soule , and the good which pleaseth vs ; not only according to the imagination , which represents vnto vs the perfections , but also with this condition , that the possession is in our power , for that otherwise wee could not hope for it . wee put in the last rancke the pleasure wee feele of good things which are past as the least of all , for that those good things not being vnited to our senses , but by the imagination and memory , which is the weakest vnion that can bee betwixt our senses and the obiects which delight them ; the ioy which we receiue must also be lesse sensible . of the effects of pleasure . chap. . the effects which arise from the pleasure we conceiue of the obiects which are delightfull to our sense , may be better vnderstood by experience , then expounded by words . fi●st of all , there is not any man which doth not feele in the midst of the ioy which hee receiues , his heart to dilate it selfe and as it were open with gladnesse , from whence it sends the signes & tokens to the countenance , by the laughter whic●●t ●irres vp in the mouth , where it causeth a visible change . they that are tender hearted , are apt to receiue the impressions of ioy and heauines , like vnto soft wax , wherein they do easily imprint the formes which are laid vpon them . they that haue them firme and hot by reason of the heate , conceiue ioy easily , & by reason of their constancy preserue it longer . whereas contrariwise they that haue it cold and hard , are capable of heauinesse & melancholly , which makes an impression easily , by reason of the coldnesse , with the which she hath an affinity , & maintaines it selfe long by reason of the hardnesse , as we see happen vnto melancholy men . for sadnesse is an earthly passion cold and dry , whereas ioy is moist and hot . and therefore it is easily framed in the hearts of children , of young men , and of those which are of a good complexion : from this ioy which makes the heart to spread and dilate it selfe like vnto a flower , growes laughter , which is no passion , but an exterior effect of an interior passion . for the sweetnesse of pleasure , makes the heart to moue and open to receiue the forme , euen as when wee go to meete a friend , and open our armes when he presents himselfe vnto vs. and this his motion and interior ioy ascends vp vnto the countenance , but it appeares chiefely in the opening of the mouth , whereas laughter is framed , and hath his seate , & from thence disperseth it self to the eyes and the rest of the face , although that some hold it hath his seate within man , and about his heart . but to take away all kind of difficulty , wee must vnderstand that sometimes laughter comes meerely from a corporall motion , as that which proceeds from the tickling of the arme holes , so as there haue bin seene sword players die laughing , for that they haue beene wounded in that place . sometimes it riseth from indignation and despight , which we haue conceiued of any thing we behold vnwillingly ; as we reade of hann●bal , who seeing the carthaginians lament their estates , for that the romaines were maisters of their fortunes , beganne to laugh● whereat one being amaz●d , said vnto him , that it was an act of great inhumanity to laugh at the teares of his fellow citizens ; to whom he answered , that this laughter was no signe of his ioy , but a token of his despight , for that he scorned the fruitlesse teares of those , who lamented rather their particular losse , then the misery of their common weale . but when it is an effect of our passion , and a signe of pleasure which our heart receiueth from pleasing obiects , which present themselues vnto our senses : it comes from a quicke and suddaine motion of the soule , which desiring to expresse her ioy , excites a great abundance of hot blood , and multiplies the vitall spirits , which agitate and stir vp the muscles which are about the heart , & those raise vp the muscles which are of either side of the mouth , which vpon this occasion opens with a visible change of the whole forme of the face . but it riseth from the pleasure and ioy which our soule conceiueth , by reason of the pleasing obiects which present themselues vnto our sense . it is certaine that as new things and not expected , prouoke most ioy in our hearts , so they stirre vs vp sooner to laughter . for proof whereof , hauing once accustomed our selues to see spectacles and sights , how pleasing soeuer they be , they doe not moue vs to laugh , as they did when wee first behelde them . and in like manner profound cogitations and meditations , hinder laughter : wherefore wise men doe not laugh so easily as others , as well for that they haue alwayes their spirits busied and imployed about some serious meditations , which will not suffer them to regard such triuiall things as commonly make the vulgar to laugh : as also for that the great knowledge they haue of things , hinders them from esteeming many of those things newe or strange , which the common sort admire . and withall , their complexion do●h contribute thereunto : for that most commonly it inclines to melancholy , which makes them pensiue , and more difficult to moue to ioy . the reason why many things please at the first approach , and afterwards lose this grace by custome and continuance , proceedes from nothing else , but that at the first sight our thought is ●ied vnto it with a certaine vehemency , which yeelding by little and little , makes the pleasure decay . the which is not onely seene in the obiects of the sight , whereof our eyes growing weary by little , begin to slacke in their action , and to become more negligent in beholding them ; but also in the obiects of all the other senses , wherewith our soule is loathed in the end after too long a continuance . the reason is , for that as in the action of the eyes , the vitall spirits consume by the vehemency of the attention : so in all other operations of the senses , the disposition of the organs alter , and are changed by the motion , and by the impression which the obiects that vnite themselues vnto our senses , make : so as it is impossible that the creature should long enioy one kinde of pleasure , or suffer the same griefe . and moreouer , as we haue sayd before , that diuersity , as an image of the changes of nature , is pleasing ; hath also a place in this subiect : for that men are weary alwayes to enioy the same pleasures , and see the same obiects . wherefore the continuance causeth distaste , how sweete soeuer the possession be . and therefore lucian brings in a man , who beeing made a god , was weary of his diuinity , and desired to dye , that he might bee no more : and his reason was , that the life of men did not seeme tedious vnto him , but onely for that hee still beheld the same things , one sunne , one , and the same moone ; the same starres , the same meates , and the same pleasures , which change not their face : wherfore , sayd he , tasting nothing but the same thing in this diuinity where i am , i am weary , and thereupon would needes dye to change . moreouer , there are men who are wonderfull sensible of ioy , which bee they to whom all things seem new , as children , and the ignorant multitude , whom any sights prouoke to laugh : whereas wise men are nothing mooued . the complexion doth also helpe much to ioy , as they which abound in blood , and haue it not cholericke and adust , but pure and sweete , are iouiall by nature , and loue to laugh . whereas mellancholy men are hardly mooued to ioy . the delight or pleasure which wee conceiue of the obiects , which are agreeable vnto vs , doth vsually stirre vp in vs an ardent desire , and as it were , a thirst of a new , or a more full enioying . the which proceedes either from the condition of the thing which is not capable to satisfie our desire at one instant . as we see in drinking and eating , to which we must returne diuerse times to entertaine life : or from the imperfection of enioying , as they which haue but tasted the first sweetnes of friendship , desire to haue a fuller content : like vnto those which loue poësie , who hauing heard a peece of a goodly verse , such as vergil wrote , wish to heare the rest to make their pleasure perfect ; or else it growes from the nature it selfe of pleasure , which is so sweete as it inflames the soule to desire the continuance : the which is seldome seene in the pleasures of the senses and of the body , but which is felt with infinite delight by those which drink of that torrent of pleasure , which the scripture describes vnto vs in heauen ; for they drinke eternally , and are neuer satisfied . we must also remember , that there is great difference betwixt the pleasures of the senses , and of the minde ; for the delights of the senses charging and as it were importuning our naturall dispositions , becomes troublesome and tedious ; as it falls out when we suffer our selues to be surprized with the excesse of eating and drinking . whereas those of the mind neuer exceed the carriage nor capacity of the naturall disposition of the soule , but rather adde perfectiō to her nature : wherefore when they are fully enioyed they delight most . and if there be at any time a distaste , it is for that the actiō of the mind is accōpanied with the action of the inferior powers , the which being corporeall , they are tired with the cōtinuance of so long an imployment . wherefore they call backe the spirit that it may giue some rest vnto the body . and doubtlesse it is the onely reason why those happy soules are neuer weary to behold the diuine essence , for that the contemplation of this pleasing obiect doth not ouercharge nor weaken the spirits , but doth ease and fortifie them . and moreouer , she doth not worke by the meanes of the senses , and corporeall organs , which are subiect to grow slack in their actions . i might adde , that this happy contemplation of the diuine essence , is alwayes accompanied with new subiects of admiration , in regard wherof , it can neuer be troublesome : and moreouer , although the obiect bee soueraignely simple , yet it comprehends all the good things which may fall into the thought or desire of man , so as it can neuer cause any distaste : but this belongs vnto another discourse . the pleasure of the senses produceth a pernicious and dangerous effect in vs ; it binds our reason and takes away the vse , the which happens by three occasions . the first , for that imploying the soule wholly in the feeling and enioying of the sweetenesse which doth accompany it , she retires it from the consideration of all spirituall goodnesse , and makes it lesse capable of reason , in regard of the heate of the passion which doth agitate it . secondly , for that most part of the pleasures of the body , at the least when they tend to excesse and disorder , are contrary to the motions of reason . and it is an vndoubted truth , that one contrary doth alwayes expell and destroy another ; wherefore pleasure yeeldes no place to the motions of reason . the which made aristotle to say , that although that pleasure corrupts not the theory and simple knowledge wee haue of things ; as for example , she doth not hinder vs from knowing , that a triangle hath three corners , and that the whole is bigger then its parts distinctly comprized ; yet shee depraues the iudgement , and hinders the esteeme wee should make by the lawes of wisedome , of that which is good : for that although we know well that temperance is a vertue , yet we flie it , for that it is cōtrary to the pleasures of our senses , which suffers vs not to esteeme it as we ought . the third is for that the pleasures of the senses cause a greater and a more violent alteration and change in our bodies , then that of the other passions . the reason is , for that wee imbrace with more vehemency , and tie our selues more strictly to the obiects which please vs , when they are present , then when they are absent . these changes and sensible alterations in the body , cause trouble to the soule : as it appeares in those which are surprized with wine , in whose actions there is no shew of reason ; the excesse of wine hauing altered their braine , and made them incapable of the functions of the mind . but honest and moderate pleasure , addes perfection to her actions , as beauty and a good grace giues the last ornament to youth ; aswell for that she is the end and scope which wee propound vnto our selues when we meane to worke : as also for that shee makes her actions agreeable by the content she ingrafts in our senses : so as to entertaine this pleasure shee causeth vs to imploy our selues with more heate and attention to accomplish them . wherefore an ancient sayd , that nature had ioyned pleasure to actions necessary for the entertainment of the life of creatures , or for the preseruation of their kinds , as eating , drinking , and generation , to the end it might bee as salt which seasoneth meate : that is to say , to the end it might make those actions delightfull , and that the creatures might not bee drawne vnto them with distaste . and touching that which concernes the allurements and inticements of honest pleasures , we must still remember the wise counsell of aristotle , who perswades vs not to obserue them at their first approach , but at their parting ; for that although the entry bee sweete and pleasant , the end is alwayes bitter and tragicall . they say that among the pagans there was a temple of diana , whose image did shew a sadde and seuere countenance to those that entred to worship it , but at their departure it seemed more pleasant and smiling : but it is contrary in pleasures , for at their first approach they present nothing but roses and sweete contents ; and in the end they leaue vs nothing but thornes and importune griefes ; especially for that they diuert vs from the soueraigne good , and from the loue of spirituall delights , without the which our soules can finde no solide nor soueraigne content . of griefe and heauinesse . chap. . as among all creatures there is not any one exposed vnto so many outrages of fortune as man , whom we may rightly tearme an image of misery and weaknes ▪ so it is most certaine , that there is not any passion wherewith hee is more afflicted in this life , then with griefe and sorrow , whose obiects present themselues continually to his sense and mind . wherefore although that by the light which we finde in contrary things when they are opposed , and compared one with another , we may iudge of the condition of griefe and sorrow , by that which we haue spoken of pleasure and delight ; yet for a more ample knowledge of a thing which is so common vnto vs , it shall be fit to treate more exactly vpon this subiect . griefe then is a violent passion of the soule , entertained by some sensible discontent : or else , griefe is a torment of the mind and body : or againe , griefe is a passion of the mind afflicted by some kind of euill which presents it selfe : or to describe it more particularly ; griefe is a passion of the soule , which riseth from a discontent she receiueth from obiects contrary to her inclinations , which present themselues vnto the senses , and afflict them . but wee must obserue that there are two kinds of griefe : the one which resides in the sensuall appetite ; and the other hath his seate in the rationall . this last which afflicts the minde , is properly called heauines , and differs from the other , for that a sensible griefe is alwayes accompanied with a visible alteration and change of the body which is moued ; whereas the griefe of the mind hath not alwayes an agitation of the body , but most commonly containes it selfe within the bounds of the power where it is framed ; in regard whereof it is sometimes attributed to god and the angells . these two kinds of griefe differ also one from another , for that the cause of the sensible griefe resides in the body , which suffers some violent impression that alters it . but the cause of the intellectuall griefe resides in the rationall part and in the mind , which represents vnto it selfe the euill which she receiues from the obiects which present themselues vnto her thought . they differ againe , for that the apprehension and knowledge which the exterior senses haue of things , they do only regard the present obiects which make an actuall impression in them ; but the vnderstanding not only conceiues things present , but euen those that are past , and which may happen , or fall vnder the imagination of man. hence it comes that corporeall griefe which followeth the apprehension , which present things make in the senses , growes onely from the presence of obiects contrary to their inclinations . whereas the griefe of the mind following the knowledge of the vnderstanding , may grow from obiects that are present , past , or to come , and from those which man doth presuppose may succeed vnto him . so as the noblest powers of our soule , and those which are the richest ornaments of our nature , as the vnderstanding , imagination , and memory , helpe to increase our paines , and to augment our afflictions : as if the presence of heauen which giues vs some prerogatiue ouer beastes , should make vs more miserable . for the most sauage beastes flie dangers , when as they present themselues vnto their eyes : but being escaped they remaine quiet and assured ; whereas we not only torment our selues ▪ for the euill which doth oppresse vs ; but euen for which is not yet happened . but you must vnderstand that to speake properly , griefe which is one of the passions of the soule , is that which is framed in the sensitiue appetite , with a visible alteration of the body , which is agitated and moued exteriorly by the euill or paine which it suffers : so as the cause doth reside in the body which receiues some kind of outrage . but the motion of griefe is alwayes framed in the soule , for that the body is not capable but by the presence of the soule . wee must also remember , that as to excite pleasure in our senses , the pleasing obiect must not only be vnited , but also knowne and perceiued by the senses , as we haue formerly obserued ; so to cause griefe , the afflicting obiect must touch our senses , so as by the imp●●ssion it makes , th●y must p●rc●iue : at it 〈◊〉 painefull . for it is certaine that as there is no good but that which is sensibly present , can cause pleasure to the senses , so there is not any but a present euill can procure a sensible griefe . but vnder the obiect of griefe we comprehend not only the euill which afflicts vs , but also the good which we haue lost . for euen as the weight of bodies causeth that not only they haue an inclination to rest in the center ▪ but also is the cause that they are neuer farre remote without suffering a visible violence in their nature : so men are naturally carried not only to loue , but with a sensible griefe of their losse . so the couetous man torments himselfe for the losse of his wealth ; the voluptuous is grieued to see an end of the obiects of his content ; the mother afflicts her selfe for her only son ▪ & we see many who after good cheare , great feasts , and dancings , hauing spent the time in all kind of pleasures , suddenly grow heauy and pensiue ; and yet can giue no reason of this sudden change , which proceeds only from the disquietnesse of our minds , which grieues at contentments past , and afflicts it selfe , the which makes him heauy ; and this heauinesse conuerts into melancholy , which augments his anguish , and torments him without any other forme of euill , that presents it selfe vnto his senses . as for the causes of griefe and heauinesse , being consisidered in regard of their subiects where they incounter , we obserue three . for first of all , our cupidities and desires , do many times cause great vexation and discontents , as when any one is surprized with the loue of a pleasing obiect , if they hinder the enioying , or but only delay the possession , they are so many thornes of griefe which pierce his soule . for as the hope to obtaine the possession causeth pleasure and delight ; so the despaire to attaine vnto that we passionatly desire , giues cruell afflictions and insupportable torments . moreouer , the loue wee beare to the preseruation of our bei●g , doth oftentimes cause sorrow and 〈…〉 , for that we apprehend the destruction ; euen as wee see all creatures afflict thēselues for that which offends them , and are very carefull to shelter their bodies from all outrage . wherefore wee may say , that griefe is no other thing , but an apprehension and feeling of the destruction of our good , which makes vs impatient . thirdly , the soule helpes to afflict herselfe , whether that melancholy workes this effect , or that the continuall afflictions oppresse her in such sort , as she doth nothing but sigh vnder the burthen of sorrow , and like vnto a bad pilot which abandons his ship to the waues and storme , shee suffers her selfe to be so ouercome with griefe , as she augments her owne paine and increaseth her misery . for we often see men who in the middest of their afflictions and discontents do nothing but sigh and powre forth teares , and will not yeeld themselues capable of any kind of consolation . but although wee shew our selues more sensible of the griefe of the senses , then that of the mind , yet it is most certaine , that the interior griefes which afflict the soule , are much greater then the exterior paines which torture the body . for that the apprehension of the mind and imagination , is much more powerfull , and more noble then that of the senses , and especially then that of feeling which hath the greatest share in corporeall paines . for proofe whereof , wee see great courages to auoyd inferior griefe , expose themselues voluntarily to the exterior paines of torments and punishments , which are in some sort pleasing vnto them , for that the interior ioy doth mollifie their paine : whereof wee haue glorious examples in the constancy of our martyres , who to auoyd the blame and aspersion which had bene layd vpon them , to haue offended god in burning incense to idolls , haue exposed themselues to the fire , to tortures , to wheeles , and to the rage of wilde beasts , for that they would not bee subiect to that ignominious reproach . finally , heauines hath troublesome effects , for that first of all , if it be excessiue , it quencheth the spirit , and takes from it all meanes to attend the search of truth . the reason is , for that all the powers of our soule , being tied vnto their essence , as the branches vnto the tree , it doth of necessity follow , that when shee is wholy busied in the functions of one of her powers , shee abandons the rest , and cannot assist them in their actions . wherefore when as any thing drawes the soule wholy vnto it , and imployes her whole action , shee cannot attend any thing else : by consequence whereof , an exceeding heauines seazing vpon her , it drawes her away ; so as shee cannot thinke of any thing else , feeling her selfe opprest with griefe as with a heauy burthen , which beares her downe and hinders the liberty of her functions . it is therefore generally true , that there is no action of the soule whereunto heauines is not a hindrance and let . the which we find verified in our selues , for wee neuer do any thing so well being possest by cares as when we are in ioy ; whereof the reason is visible ; for that the will is the cause which excites vs to act , the which hath the good for obiect , and makes the more powerfull effect , when it appeares pleasing and is accompanied with delight . it is true , that when there remaines any hope to surmount the causes of our displeasure , then heauines may serue to fortifie our action and to inflame our courage ; for that the more we feele any griefe , the more wee striue to bee freed from it . but if there be no hope remaining , we become as it were senselesse , and abandon our selues in prey to griefe . we flee the company of men , we hate the light , wee find the comforts and consolations of our friends importune , and we haue no content but to feed our selues with bitternesse . besides the torments which heauines giues vnto our spirits , she doth also produce fearefull effects vpon our bodies ; for that it is a maligne , colde and dry passion , which wasteth the radicall humor , and by little and little quenching the naturall heate of the body , thrusts her poyson euen vnto the heart , whose vigor shee causeth to wither , and consumes the forces by her bad influence ; whereof wee see the signes after death , when as they come to open those that haue beene smothered with melancholy . for insteed of a heart , they find nothing but a drie skinne like to the leaues in autumne . so as all things exactly considered , we may say , that there is not any thing that doth so much aduance our dayes as this cruell passion , which thus consumes our forces , causeth our heart to languish , and makes our life short , but extreamely miserable . there are many remedies against this passion , but most commonly the griefe is so obstinate , as all applications are vnprofitable . to cure it , we must first take away , or at the least diminish the opinion of the euill which afflicts vs : the which is easie to do , seeing it depends of our opinion . for as dignities , honors , crownes , and triumphs , giue vs no content , but what wee take our selues when as they arriue ; for that we haue seene many weepe euen in the middest of all this pompe : so the paines of this life , ignominies , banishment , the losse of goods and kinsfolkes , with all other miseries , afflict vs not extraordinarily , vnlesse wee our selues make them more bitter and violent by our owne weaknesse ; for that we haue seene many laugh in the middest of all these miseries : wee must then represent these things otherwise then the vulgar esteeme them ; for that the true cure of the euill must not bee expected from time , but by our reason , which must preuent it . otherwise wee shall receiue this disgrace , that it will cause vs to do that we would not , although it were in our power . for there is no griefe so bitter but time doth moderate , seeing that , as wee haue sayd , the greatest pleasures decrease by too long enioying , which causeth our soule to grow slacke ; so it is most certaine that excessiue sorrow by little and little decayes , by the continuance and custome which the soule takes of the griefe . the which may also happen , for that time doth change the condition of things and giues them another face , and so doth mollifie or wholy take away the sorrow . but not to yeeld to the euill when it comes to seaze vpon vs , we must foresee the accidents of this life , not as if they should happen infallibly , for that were to make vs miserable before the time ; but as incident to all men , and that being of this number , if any crosse or misery shall fall vpon vs , we may bee the lesse amazed . for the crosses of fortune which wee haue foreseene , strike vs more gently , and make a weaker impression in our soule . wherefore a wiseman of the world , who had prepared himselfe for all the accidents of this life , receiuing the heauy newes of the death of his sonne , was no otherwise moued , but only sayd , i knew i had begotten a mortall creature . doubtlesse it is the effect of an exact and singular wisedome , to haue this feeling of humaine accidents , not to bee amazed at that which happens , nor to see any thing befall him , which he hath not foreseene . so as a wiseman must alwaies remember , that dangers , losses , banishment , infirmities , yea the death of his children , wife , and that which he holds most deare , are things which may happen dayly , and which threaten all men ; and therefore if hee bee exempt , it is the benefite and guift of god ; and if they befall him , that they are the miseries of his nature . for hauing this consideration of the common miseries of men , he finds himselfe bound ●o suffer constantly and with patience , the necessities and crosses of this life : least he should seeme to fight against god , who hath layd this yoake vpon him , to punish his offences , or to keepe him in awe . but to mollifie our sorrowes , wee must remember that the miseries of this life giue vs a glorious subiect to exercise our vertue , and to shew our constancy before the eyes of heauen and earth , which are witnesses of our combatts . for as pilots cannot shew their art and industry but in stormes , nor soldiers giue proofes of their valour but in the middest of dangers : so a vertuous man hath no meanes to make his vertues shine , but amiddest the aduersities which befall him in this life ; as for example , wee should haue knowne nothing of the great resolution of sceuola , if hee had not fallen into danger before the king of the tuscanes , who was rauisht with admiration , seeing with what constancy he burnt his own hand , & suffered without amazement the violence of the fire , into the which hee thrust it , for that he had fa●ld of his enterprize . neither should wee know the notable temperāce of fabrititus , nor the moderation he shewed in refusing the gold and presents of pyrrhus king of albania , if pouerty had not bene familiar vnto him . so regulus being pierced with nailes , and torne in pieces with punishments , seruing as a spectacle of the carthiginians in humanity , purchased an immortall name for his constancy . so socrates seeing himselfe condemned to drinke poyson , and beholding the cup into the which the hangman powred that mortal draught without any palenesse or amazemēt , deserued to be admired by his enemies . after their example , then a wiseman will conceiue , that the afflictions of this life offer him a goodly occasion to shew his constancy , and to make his vertues shine ; and therefore they shall not be able to afflict him immoderatly , nor to torture his minde extraordinarily : but that which should most fortifie him in this thought , is , that god which doth cast him into the middest of these combatts , will crowne his constancy , and not suffer him to remaine without reward . moreouer , we may also striue to diuert it by some pleasing imployment , which may cause vs to turne our eyes from the fearefull image of the euill which afflicts vs , representing vnto our selues obiects which are more sweet and delightfull , then those which torture vs so cruelly . finally , to draw together as it were into one body , all the meanes wee haue to charme our cares & griefes ; heauines is disperst , ether for that wee see our selues freed from the euill which did persecute vs , or that wee recouer the possession of the good which had beene wrested from vs , and wee had lost : or else for that the misery wherewith wee haue beene crost , is as it were recompenced by some other felicities which befall vs ; as the sweetnesse of these last contents , takes away all the bitternesse of our forepassed afflictions , as would befall him that should be drawne out of prison and from bonds , to bee set in a royall throne , and to haue a scepter put into his hand , and a crowne vpon his head . griefe is also dispersed by diuertisments , by affaires , by the entertainment of wisemen , by the discourse of such as are learned and feare god , and by the force of our owne iudgement , conceiuing with our selues that we should not suffer any misery to triumph ouer our constancy ; that to suffer our selues to bee vanquished by griefe , were to shew the weaknesse of our courrage ; and that to bee toucht with afflictions , is a thing common to all men , but the glory of this constant oppositiō ▪ belongs only to an eminent vertue . and lastly , that he who sends vs these afflictions , is a father , and no executioner : that it is that great god , without whose decree there falls not a haire from our heads , & whose will no man may contradict , vnlesse hee will shew himselfe desperately mad . after all this we must remember , that griefe is neuer cured , but rather inflamed by griefe . and therefore as in other infirmities of the soule , a greater euill makes the lesse to be forgotten , so wee may disperse a present heauinesse , either by shewing that it is not the present misery which we must lament , but others that are more cruell , which threaten vs : as if hee who is afflicted for the losse of his goods bee in danger to lose his life , by publicke iustice : or else in fortifying our resolutions with a better hope , as in representing vnto himselfe the glory of paradise , after the miseries of this life , and the crownes of heauen after the combatts of the earth . all these things make great impressions in religious soules , capable of the feeling of piety . besides all this , there are remedies which are taken from the obiects of the senses , which recreate the mind and body in the middest of griefe . for first , whatsoeuer delights and giues ioy vnto the senses , causeth ease to the heauinesse of the soule ; for that ioy is to the soule that which rest is to the body . so as they which rest repaire their forces , mollifying the paine which hath tyred thē ; so they which begin to taste any sweete pleasures , feele their griefe to decay by little and little , and their heauinesse to vanish away & go to smoake . wherefore it is fit to draw them that are afflicted , into the fields , to enioy a free aire and the sight of heauen . it is good to shew them haruest , riuers , meadows , and hills ; for that these diuerse obiects diuert the afflicted soule , and make it forget a part of its griefe , so as all hideous shapes are defaced by the presence of these sweeter obiects . some haue thought that musique consorts and instruments , are fit to charme our melancholies , whereunto they referre that which the scripture sayth , that dauid by the sound of his harpe did pacifie the euill spirit which tormented saule , but experience hath taught vs , that all these things do many times rather entertaine melancholy then disperse it . wherefore in this subiect wee must obserue the nature of the infirmity , and the quality of the musique , which must be cheerefull to driue away heauinesse . the vse of wine hath also a particular vertue to expell cares : and we haue seene in our time a great prince desperately afflicted for the death of his only sonne , could finde no other remedy for his griefe , then to vse the strongest wine that could be gotten . the reason is , for that wine being moist and hot , it doth at one instant both water sweetly , and heat that bilious humor , which is as it were the center & roote whereunto melancholy doth fixe it selfe . sleepe also and the vse of bathes , are very behoouefull ; for that both the one and the other reduce nature to her first habite , and restore her good constitution which griefe had corrupted ; the which disperseth heauinesse , and causeth ioy to enter into the afflicted soule . teares are also proper to disperse heauinesse : yea wee finde many times in our bitterest griefes , that teares diminish our paine , and mollifie our miseries how sharpe soeuer . the which happens for two reasons . the first , for that the things which are pernitious vnto vs and remaine inclosed within vs , hurt vs more then when they are without : but when wee powre forth teares , we cast out that which afflicts vs , & emptying the humor which oppresseth vs , and smothers vs within , by this meanes we free our selues from a heauy burthen which lay vpon our hearts , by reason whereof our soule helping her selfe to cast out the enemy of our life diuerts and frees her selfe from the importune thought of griefe , and imployes her imaginatiō in this diuertisement , the which for this occasion is pleasing vnto her , and doth ease her in her afflictions . the second reason is , for that it is a contentment to man , to do an act befitting the estate wherein hee finds himselfe . so as if amiddest the mourning of our friends , we chance to laugh vnaduisedly , when wee enter into consideration with ourselues , this lightnesse doth displease vs , for that laughter agrees not well with mourning ; and there is nothing doth accord and concurre better with the condition of miserable men thē teares , wherefore they are pleasing vnto them , and by consequence sweeten their torments . and not onely the teares which afflicted persons poure forth are sweete vnto thē , but euen those of their friends do comfort them : whereof wee may yeeld two reasons , the one , for that naturally they who grone vnder any burthē , feele his hand sweete , which labours to discharge them , or which helpe to support them . so friends from whom pitty and compassion wrest teares in the middest of their friends misery , endeauoring as it were to ease him of the burthen which doth presse him downe , sweeten his paine , and make him endure his affliction with more constancy and resolution . the other , for that he that sees his friends participate with his griefe , knowes thereby that their affections are sound , and that they loue him sincerely ; which is the sweetest thing that may happen in this life : wherfore this thought makes his affliction more supportable ; whereby hee comforts himselfe in his discontent . but all these remedies are not so powerfull against griefe , as the contemplation of the first truth , which dispersing her beames in our soules , fills them with so pleasing a splendour , as they remaine rauisht with ioy and content . for it is certaine that this kind of contemplation is so sweete and delightfull of it selfe , as it expells and disperseth all his cares and griefe that applies himselfe vnto it . the which shee workes the more powerfully , if the soule be enflamed with the loue of true wisedom , which consists in the contemplation of the first cause , which is god. so as the soule reioyceth in the middest of the afflictions of this life , thinking still of the sweete idea's of the glory of heauen . in regard whereof some martyres haue giuen a thousand testimonies of ioy in the midst of their torments : and some marching bare-footed vpon burning coales , haue protested constantly and truely , that they thought they trod vpon roses . but we haue spoken sufficiently of griefe in generall , let vs now come vnto the buddes which she produceth , and to the species in particular , which are contayned vnder the generall , as miserie , indignation , enuy , and emulation , without the explayning whereof this treaty would be imperfect . of mercy and indignation . chap. . although there bee some philosophers who obseruing the impression and wound which the pitty wee haue of another mans miseries makes in our hearts , haue absolutely condemned al the motions of this passion , as vnworthy the greatnesse of our courrages : yet we must confesse , that amidst so many strange accidents which happen in the course of this life , amiddest the great pou●rties and miseries of men , the cruel infirmities , banishments , tortures , punishments , shipwracks , burnings , slaughters , and all other calamities aswell priuate as publicke which makes them miserable ; they must haue abandoned all feeling of humanity if they should not be toucht with griefe when as these miseries offer thēselues vnto their eyes . for notwithstanding the saying of these philosophers , that great spirits in the which vertue hath taken deepe roote , see all things without perturbation , and wipe away the teares of those that weepe without any motion : that is to say , that men perfectly vertuous giue almes to the poore , stretch forth their hands vnto him that is in danger of shipwracke , vntie the bonds of those that are in seruitude , giue liberty to a sonne for the teares of his mother , interre the bloody carcasse of him who hath bene transpierced with wounds , and yet his heart is not toucht with any feeling of all these miseries ; yea and in these accidents they retaine still the same countenance with the which they behold playes & shewes vpon a theater . these are words which haue more shew and pompe then solide truth . let vs then leaue this inhumaine philosophy which makes men rather stupid then constant , & to become insensible of the miseries of this life ; and let vs consider more exactly of the true nature of this passion , which giues vs a commendable feeling . mercy is a griefe or feeling which we haue of another mans miseries , whom we hold worthy of a better fortune . this feeling and griefe is framed in our soules , for that we consider , that what hath befallen him may happen to all the world : and particularly for that wee imagine that the like misfortune may ouertake vs , or some one of our friends : for it is most certaine that such as feele their hearts toucht with pitty , must bee in that estate as they thinke that either themselues or their friends may fall into the like accident , and runne into the same misfortune that he hath done , whose misery doth moue them to this commiseration . wherefore first of all , they that are at the height of humaine miseries , and cannot feare a more wretched condition then that whereunto they are reduced , are neuer toucht with any kind of compassion , for that no kinde of griefe presents it selfe vnto their eies but they think they haue tried it . and also for that they imagine that all the afflictions which may happen , are as it were mixed with those they suffer . secondly , they that at the height of worldly felicity , haue no feeling of pitty , but are rather transported with insolency and contempt , then to haue any compassion of the miserable . for imagining themselues to enioy all kind of ioyes & contentments , they presume that no disaster can befall them which may ouerthrow their fortunes , for that this confidence is as a part of their felicity . this second consideration made aristotle to say , that mercy had no place in the diuine essence ; for that it is soueraignely happy , and that nothing is able to trouble or diminish her felicity . but here he considers mercy as a sensible passion which doth moue and mollifie the heart , and doth imprint a feeling of another mans misery in his soule which desires to releeue him . and of this sort without doubt there can bee no mercy found in god , who is as free from humaine passions , as the heauens and plannets are exempt from the qualities and impressions of the elements : but taking mercy according to her effect , which is to releeue the miserable , were to ruine mankind which subsists by his bounty , to deny that it is in him : for this soueraigne felicity which hee enioyeth from all eternity , without any apprehension that he may euer lose it , doth not hinder him to releeue vs in our afflictions , & to draw vs out of our misery , by the sole inclination of his bounty , who hath nothing common with the hardnesse of tyrants , nor with the stupidity of the wretched . but let vs returne to our discourse . they that are capable of mercy , are such as first of all imagine themselues to bee subiect to the accidents of this life , and who haue already tried and escaped them , or which apprehend to feele the rigor . and for this reason they which haue liued long are commonly inclined to pitty , both for that experience hath taught them that neither diademe nor crowne , nor riches , honors , health , nor present prosperities , can shelter man from the stormes and tempests which assaile his life ; as also for that age filles them with iudgement and makes them wise , not to trust to fortune , which seemes to haue no other constancy , but alwayes inconstant in the fauours which she bestowes vpon vs. in like manner men subiect to infirmities , weake persons and destitute of meanes , who see themselues exposed to all kinds of outrages ; yea and learned men who haue the knowledge of the accidents and miseries of this life , are easily moued to pitty , for that they can duely consider of things , and iudge vprightly of the affaires of the world . wherefore an excellent and wise romane captaine , hauing defeated a mighty king of macedon in battaile , when as they brought this miserable prince prisoner vnto him , hee rose from his seate , and with teares in his eyes went to meet him , as a great personage fallen by some misfortune , or by the wrath of the gods , into that lamentable accident : and hauing cast himselfe at his feete , hee could not endure it , but raisd him vp with all humanity . afterwards retiring himselfe , and thinking deepely of the miseries of this life , he made a speech vnto his children and to the young men that were about him , to purge their soules from all insolency and vanity , by so prodigious an example of humaine frailty . but wee must returne to our discourse . they that haue wife , children , and a great number of friends , are also inclined to pity , for that as we haue said , they still apprehend the common miseries , and think that the like misfortunes hang ouer their families . but they that are transported with a violent passion of courage , choller , or hardinesse , are nothing moued ; for that the heate of their blood ▪ and the excesse of their passion , will not suffer them to thinke seriously of these things , and to care for future euents . an extraordinary feare doth also hinder the feeling of pitty , for that they which are seazed therewith , being tied to their priuate miseries , haue no time to thinke of another mans . so he that hath lost his children , or seene his house burnt , thinkes not of him that is led to the gallowes , or to bee broken on a wheele . but we put in the ranke of those which are touched with pitty , those soules which haue not yet lost all feeling of mankind , but beleeue that there are yet good men liuing in the world . for they that imagine there are no vertuous persons vpon earth , perswade themselues also that all men deserue the miseries they suffer , and by that reason beleeue that they are vnworthy of compassion : whereof we haue a monstrous example in that athenian , who had no pleasure in this world but to see the ●●ine of mankind . finally men suffer thēselues to be moued ●o pitty , when as they remember that they haue groned vnder the burthen of afflictions which they see other men endure : or when as they apprehend the ●ike calamities may befall them or their friends . but let vs see what things are worthy of pitty and compassion . they are generally all those which cause griefe to the mind , or torment to the body : those which take away life ; make families desolate , and cause some gre at changes and alterations in the fortunes of men . as for example , punishment , violent deaths , disgraces , pouerty in age , incureable diseases , great languishings , & insupportable want , or extreame pouerty , treachery , or losse of friends , burnings , and shipwracke , are all miserable things and excite to pitty . wee may also put in this rancke the monstrous deformities of counterfaite bodies , the accidents of limmes lamed , or benummed , and the ruines which happen to men by the treachery of those from whom they should expect all support . wee may also comprehend the miseries which befall vs often , or which happen after other accidents . and in like manner the benefits which come out of season : as if a prince should send presents of gold and siluer to one that were dead of hunger . finally , it is a miserable thing neuer to haue felt any good or contentment in this life , or if any hath happened , not to haue had meanes to enioy it . but for that these obiects of misery do not alwayes make an equall impression in our senses , we must now know who they bee whom wee do chiefely pitty , when we see them ingaged in any misery . first of all , wee are greatly moued to compassion and mercy to those persons whom we haue knowne familiarly , and with whom we haue had some kind of friendship , at the least if they be not strictly tied vnto vs by naturall affinity and blood : for as for those which touch vs so neere , we haue a feeling more violent then that of pitty . in regard whereof wee reade of amasis king of egypt , who seeing his own son drawne to execution , he neeuer shed one teare , as if he had had no feeling ; whereas perceiuing one of his friends opprest with pouerty and begging his bread , hee wept bitterly , thinking that teares were not sufficient to witnesse his first griefe , but they were due vnto the second . in like manner those strange accidents which happen to those of our blood and which touch vs so neere , are full of horror & amazement , and by their excesse suppresse our teares , yea and depriue vs of our speech , as if the spirit were wholy retired to consider of the violence of our griefe ; whereas the miseries of our other friends mollifie our courrages , and by the wound they make in our hearts , send teares vnto the eyes , which we powre forth , and are as it were the blood of that part wounded and opprest with affliction . moreouer , men haue pitty of those whom they see neere vnto some great misfortune : as when they are ready to be buried in the waues of the sea by some accident of shipwracke ; or of those who are to haue a member cut off , or to receiue some notable violence , yea or some indignity . particularly men are toucht with pitty , when as they that are exposed to outrages , or endure great calamities , are their equalls in age , in humors , in quallities , in exercise , or in breeding . for all these things make deepe impressions in the thought , that they are subiect to the like miseries ; wherefore they are moued to take cōpassion of their miseries , being an ordinary thing to pitty those which suffer any affliction , which we ourselues apprehend . and to the end we may be sensible in the feeling of a misfortune which befalls another , wee must haue it as it were present before our eyes : for that we are not much moued with those miseries whose forme is remote from vs. as for example , wee are not much moued to teares by the relation of the miseries which the slaues of byserte and algier endure . and in like sort our hearts are not much mollified for any tragicall accident which happened a thousand yeares since , neither do we care much for that which shal succeed after the reuolutions of many ages . wherefore in old time the romans to moue the magistrates to mercy , striued to make a more sensible impression of their miseries , by causing their wiues , children , and families to come desolately vnto the place of iustice : and as for themselues they appeared in iudgement with garmēts befitting their fortunes , all filthy and torne ; they opened their breasts & other parts of their bodies , to shew the wounds they had receiued in the seruice of the common wealth : yea they caused tables to bee drawne where their misfortunes were painted ▪ the which they presēted vnto their iudges , to the end that hauing before their eies so mourneful a spectacle , they might take cōpassion of their misery ; being most certaine that the voice , attire , carriage , countenance , gesture , and presence , of the miserable , make powerfull impressions in our hearts , and incite men more to pitty : the which happens for that these things make vs as it were present by the sight of another mans misery . and therefore a bloody roabe , ( as that of caesar murthered in the senate ) being showne to expresse the misfortune of a prince , did not onely wrest forth teares , but euen inflame the people to reuenge so pittifull an accident . for the same reason wee feele our selues much touched with griefe and pitty , when as wee heare the complaints , sighes , teares , and lamentation , of these which are opprest by some notable calamity : as when we behold the agonies of those that are exposed to a cruell and shamefull death : and we are the more moued to pitty and commiseration , when they are worthy and vertuous men , whose vertue and glory past , makes their ends the more lamentable and tragicall , for this consideration moues vs the more , both for that the euill is neere vs , and that our eyes are spectators , as also for that the image of their vertue , and the glory of their precedent liues , increaseth the indignity of their punishment . of indignation . chap. . as mercy or pitty is a signe of a good soule , so this other passion which we cal indignation , and which is no other thing but a grieuing & repining wee haue at the good fortune which befalles the wicked , who are altogether vnworthy , is very commendable in vs. for as pitty is framed of the griefe which we feele for the miseries of good men , or whō we iudge worthy of better fortunes ; so indignation proceeds from the discontent we receiue to see the wicked flourish and enioy the worldly blessings which they haue not deserued ; so as either of these passions is commendable , for that as wee should afflict our selues to see vertuous men ouertak●n by mi●fortunes , from the which their vertue should exempt them : so we should bee greiued to see men execrable for their crimes , aduanced to the height of honors and wordly dignities , which good men should enioy . for whatsoeuer befalls a man contrary to his merrit , is full of outrage and iniustice ; wherefore aristotle did not forbeare to say , that indignation is a thing which is found euen in the diuinity , to the which the prosperities of the wicked cannot be pleasing . but to enter into the matter , you must vnderstand , that as indignation is a griefe which wee feele , & a despight which we conceiue at the great prosperity of those whom wee hold vnworthy for their crimes , yet this passion is not framed in our soules for all kind of prosperities which may befall them : for that no man hath any reason to bee troubled to see the wicked change their life vnto a better , to imbrace piety , to become iust , valiant , moderate , wise , and adorned with other vertues . yea , the most innocent soules reioyce whensoeuer they see a man who was formerly vicious and disordered , become vertuous and temperate . there being no man liuing that is vnworthy of vertue , seeing that vertue by her presence doth extinguish vice , and makes man worthy of the blessings of this life ; whereas they that are destitute of this ornament , deserue them not . so as if hee who was formerly wicked , becomes vertuous , by this change hee makes himselfe worthy of all good fortune , and therefore if any happen vnto him we should not be grieued ; as in like manner wee should not take pitty of those who remaine obstinate in their crimes , and glory in their vices . the goods then which we grieue and disdaine to see the wicked enioy , are the goods of the body and those which we call of fortune , that is to say , nobility , beauty , honors , scepters , crownes , empires , and such like . as for example , there is no good man but doth grieue and tremble to see the tyrants of the east , the cruell and infidell race of the ottomans hold the goodliest scepter , enioy the richest citties , and command ouer the most powerfull prouinces of the world . and in like manner there are no vertuous soules that can without griefe & indignation see other wicked men to flourish and abound in all sorts of honor and riches . but especially our despight is inflamed , when as they are men who haue crept vp to the height of glory in an instant , and when they are very prodigies of fortune , being aduanced before they were in a manner knowne to bee in the world , or at the least were in any sort respected . for as for those which hold their nobility from precedent ages , who are rich by succession and inheritance , and who hold all the aduantages they haue from nature , although they be altogether vnworthy , yet wee endure them with lesse impatiency then we do new men , who are risen to a monstrous prosperity in one day . the reason is , for that they which enioy their glory and riches from their ancestors , seem to haue nothing but what belongs vnto them by the right of nature and blood ; whereas men aduanced to new honors , without merite , seeme to bee rich with the spoyles of vertue , and to enioy the goods which in no sort belong vnto them . and for the same reason , although that sometimes the goods of the body , as beauty , health , and disposition , meeting in men which deserue them not , may raise in our soules some clouds of indignation and despight to see these presents of nature so vnworthily prophaned ; yet wee do not conceiue so galling a discontent , as when we see them enioy the goods which we call of fortune , as charges , dignities , offices , the gouernment of state , and the mannaging of great affaires ; all which things seeme to bee due to vertue . for this cōsideration it is an insupportable thing , to see a man of the common sort , wholy destitute of vertue , and full of all vice , attaine to the first dignities of a realm , and in the twinckling of an eye to become as powerfull as the greatest princes . and there is no doubt but all good men tremble when they see these prodigious aduancements of persons taken from the scumme of the people , without any consideration of merit . yea these sudden changes are as it were odious , & contrary to nature which requires time in her actions . and for the same reason wee see , that the people submit themselues willingly vnder the obedience of a prince who holds the scepter of his ancestors , and is come to the crowne by the right of succession ; but when they seeke to giue them a new maister , which is not issued from the extraction of their kings , they cannot endure him , but easily shake off the yoake whereunto they haue not bene accustomed . and in like manner , no man is grieued to respect them that are descended from ancient nobility , but they can hardly yeeld honor to those whose nobility is but newly discouered . the reasō is , for that men beleeue , that the ancient nobility being in possession of this glory , no man should repine to yeeld him that which time hath gotten him , which is a right in a manner equall to that which nature giues ; for that the things which we enioy by a long continuance of yeares , seeme to be gotten and held as it were inpropriety , not by the indulgence of men , but by the bounty of nature . and withall that which hath continued so long , hath a greater affinity with the truth , whose lasting is eternall , then that which is but newly sprung vp within few dayes . but there is one thing that filles our soules with indignation , when as wee see any one enioye those goods , which haue no coherence with his quallity : as when ( to the great reproach of piety ) wee see a knight , a captaine , a souldier , or any other making profession of armes , to hold bishopprickes , to enioy abbeys , and to possesse other dignities of the church ; we hold this much more vnworthy , then if they gaue the charge of campe-maisters , and of colonels of foote or horse to religious men or bishops . or if they made a singing man or clarke of the kings chappell , generall of his armies . finally , we hold it a thing very vnworthy , to see a yong man inferior in all kind of qualities to a reuerent old man , contest with him of merit and glory ; especially when it falles out betwixt men of the same profession , betwixt whom this inequalitie is remarkeable . and admit they be not men of the same profession , yet we hold it an vnworthy thing that one who is inferior in all poynts to another , should contest against him . as if a musitian would equall himselfe to a president or counsellor of the court , remembring not that the charges of iustice are farre more honorable then the profession of musicke ; this would make all men to tremble which know what difference there is betwixt gold & lead . they which easily conceiue indignation , are first of all men indowed with some eminent quality , who see themselues reiected from dignities and offices , or which see men altogether vnworthy , aduanced to the same honours whereunto they haue attayned by their vertue : for doubtlesse it is no iust thing to place so vnequall persons in the same ranke . moreouer vertuous soules and adorned with bounty , haue a great disdaine to see good men depriued of the iust reward of their vertue , and the wicked raised to honours which they could not hope for . the cause is , for that those soules haue their iudgement pure , and can esteeme things according to their weight and value : and therefore they abhorre vice , and haue vertue in singular recommendation . againe , they that loue honors and charges , are subiect to indignation , especially when as they aspire to those places which are held by vnworthy persons . in like manner , they that haue a good opinion of themselues , and ●ho beleeue they deserue ●ore then all the world besides , are subiect to the motions of indignation , when as any one enters into comparison with them . whereas contrariwise ▪ seruile soules , men borne in barbarisme , and grosse spirits , are not transported with any thing , hauing nothing in them that may quicken this passion . yet there are some which do rather referre the motions of ambitious & presumptuous men to meere enuy , then to a iust indignation : for that indignation being a commendable passion , & which proceeds from the feeling of vertue , it cannot subsist with the vanity and arrogancy which accompany those men , but it must bee another passion which kindles in their soules this kind of despight . of enuy and emulation . chap. . as crocodiles haue their breeding , and liue in the goodliest and richest riuer in the world ; and as other venemous beasts are commonly found among the most exquisite and sweetest flowers , whose grace and beauty they pollute and corrupt ; so enuy which is a venemous and maligne passion , doth commonly assaile the most vertuous men , and such as haue attained to the greatest honor & glory in the world . wherefore one of the most famous captaines of antiquity , being yet in the flower of his age , was wont to say , that he knew hee had done nothing that was generous or commendable , for that he did not find any man that did enuy him : which shewes that there can bee nothing imagined in this world more vniust or more wicked then this infamous passion , which seekes her owne torment , and finds her punishment in the glory and contentments of another . it is also the reason why men are ashamed to confesse openly that they are troubled with this passion : and being conuicted , they labour to palliate their error , yea , they had rather accuse themselues of all other imperfections then to iustifie this ; and therefore they giue it other names , excusing themselues that it is not enuy , but hatred , feare , or choller , which transports them : the which is a silent confession they make , that of all the infirmities of the soule , they should most dissemble it , least they expose themselues to a visible shame and disgrace . but before we blame it , we must first know it with her nature and properties . enuy then is a griefe , which is framed in our soules by reason of the prosperities which we see happen to our equalls or such as be like vnto vs ; not that wee expect to reape any fruite by our passion , but for that wee cannot endure the glory of another man without griefe . it riseth first betwixt equalls or such as are alike ; that is to say , betwixt those of the same blood , of the same age , of the same profession , of the same wealth , and betwixt those that aspire to the same honors . so as we see , kinsmen enuy their kinsmen , and are grieued at the increase of their fortunes . young men also cannot suffer with griefe that they of their age should be aduanced before them . in like manner philosophers are iealous of the glory of philosophers ; and painters enuy the reputation of painters ; great commanders in the warre cannot behold but with impatiency the tryumphes of their companions ; rich men in like manner crosse the rising of such as are their equalls ; and finally , they that affect the same offices do what they can to keepe backe their companions . the reason is , for that enuy being alwaies accompanied with a certaine competition and contention , which riseth betwixt those that do passionately desire the same thing , it is necessary it should rather be among equalls ▪ then where there is no equallity nor comparison : for that men being naturally desirous to excell in all things , and to exceed their companions , this desire doth alwayes breed a contention betwixt such as pretend the same thing , and from this contentiō enuy is ingendred ; and therefore the philosophers did rightly teach , that this passion was alwayes found among equalls . and therefore they which do much exceed others in glory , being aboue their enuy , feele not themselues to be crost . and wee obserue that as the sun at noone day makes no shaddow , so eminent vertues are exempt from the iealousies of enuy , and yet they cannot auoyd the assaults of hatred . as for example , cyrus and alexander the great in their ages , and in our time henry the great being raised to the height of worldly glory , by the greatnesse of their courages haue so surmounted enuy , as in the end they found themselues without concurrence : but they could not so vanquish the hatred of the wicked , but they were exposed to their rage : especially this last , the loue and delight of princes ; whō an execrable parricide depriues of his life , when as the whole world honored his vallour . moreouer , that which made these inuincible resolutions to tryumph ouer enuy , was for that no man could contend any more with them of glory , whereof hauing attained the full ; despaire to surmount them or to equall them , did shaddow them from the iealousie of all the world . and for the same reason , they which haue attained to that height of glory , seeing their vertue raised and aduanced to so high a degree , as all they that would bee their concurrents cannot attaine vnto it , they enuy no man , but rather disdaine and contemne all the world , as incapable to mount vnto that height whereunto they haue raised themselues . as for example ; there is no priuate knight that doth enuy the power and lustre of a kings diadem , neither doth the king enuy his fortune . in like manner , there is no capuchin , or simple religious man , that doth beare enuy to the popes authority or crowne ; or whose condition also the pope doth malice : but if by some notable disaster a potent king or a great bishop should decline , and bee reduced to a more base fortune and condition , in which they that were before their inferiors , might hope to become their companions and equalls ; then there were no obstacles , but enuy might rise betwixt them , seeing that there might bee a concurrence . enuy then discouers it selfe betwixt equalls , and those that are alike : the which must bee vnderstood of those which are alike , according to their degrees and power , but are vnlike in their fortunes and prosperities ; considering that in this last point , hee which beares enuy is alwayes inferior in some kinde to him whom hee enuies , at the least , in those things which cause this torment . in the meane time there is not any thing that doth so much beget enuy , as those things which concerne honour . whereby the ambitious are perpetually affected , for that they are alwayes in contention with some one for preheminence and glory . yea , what glory soeuer men enioy , yet for that they imagine the honour they haue not , is due vnto them , and that it is as it were rauisht away by such to whom the world hath giuen it , they doe commonly beare enuy to all those that haue any lustre or share of it . they also which haue a conceit of their wisedomes , or which think themselues to bee vertuous , are wonderfully subiect to enuy . i say , those that imagine and suppose these things ; for that they which are truely vertuous , and truely wise , content themselues with their proper vertue , and with their owne wisedome , & knowing themselues to be truely worthy of honor , affect no other glory , neither doe they feede themselues with winde and smoke : whereas such as haue but the name of wise and vertuous , hunt passionately after this vanity , and desire to bee honoured and praised of all the world ; shewing a wonderfull despight against those that contemne them : and for this reason they are enflamed with enuy against such as are aduanced to great honours . cowardly mindes are in like manner subiect to enuy , for that beeing faint-hearted , when as they see things of small price shine in others , they esteeme them great and worthy to bee enuyed : like vnto little children , who seeing a piece of glasse or a pin in the hands of those of their age , afflict themselues , and striue to take it away . they also which haue attained to some good with wonderfull paine , are enuious to see another attaine vnto the like without any difficulty , and especially if the facility which hee hath found be preiudiciall or dishonorable vnto them . as they which haue spent many yeares to learne painting and philosophy , enuy such as are growne perfect in a short time , especially when they are to make profession in the same city . finally , they against whom we conceiue any enuy , must not be farre distant from vs , either in place , time , age ▪ dignity , honour , or such like : so as the inhabitants of paris and france , doe not enuy those of the great cayre or china . in like manner , wee beare no enuy to those who had fauourable fortunes two or three thousand yeares since . neither doe wee see that kings enuy the fortune of alexander or of caesar , although they may enter into some emulation of their valour . in like sort , wee enuy not the dead , or those which are not yet come into the world . and there is no apparence that a yong man , though issued from a noble family , should enuy graue old men , which enter into a councell of state. in like manner , an attorney of the court cannot enuy a chancellor of france , being so farre short of his dignity . neither doe shepheards enuy the crownes and scepters of kings : nor merchants malice generalls of armies , with whose charges their qualities haue so little proportion . but our enuy is kindled against those , whose glory doth as it were dazell our eies with their continual presence , which makes vs to thinke of the basenesse of our condition , the which wee see deiected vnder theirs . but especially when as they possesse a good which wee haue enioyed , and which is no more in our power to recouer . by reason whereof , it often happens , that old men enuy the younger sort , for that beeing in companies , they see that their age takes from them the vse , or forbids them the enioying of those sports and exercises , wherein young men take delight . and this enuy which they beare them , appeares in the rigors which they shew them , in their reprehensions which they make them , and in the hinderances they giue them , when as they may crosse them . moreouer , the things that may bee profitable or commodious vnto vs , stir vp more enuy then those which are onely proper to him that enuies them . wherefore wee do more enuy our equalls for their beauty , riches , knowledge , and honours , then for their health or long life , which are particular vnto themselues . and the reason is , for that enuy rising from this desire to bee esteemed in the world , and from the passion we haue to see our selues more respected then other men ; the qualities which recommend them , make the deeper impression of enuy in our soules , the more capable they are to purchase reputatiō to him that enioyes them . and there is no question but the things which may bring pleasure , profit , or honor , not only to him that enioyes thē but also to all men that shall possesse them , are euer esteemed more honorable , and more glorious then those , whose pleasure , profit , or glory , extend but to one in particular : wherefore they doe also stirre vp more enuy. there is another passion which is also a bud or branch of headinesse , as well as enuy , and that is emulation , which hath some affinity with it , but yet they are very different passions . for although that emulation bee a griefe which we haue conceiued for the prosperity of our equalls , yet it riseth not from any bad affection wee beare them , but onely from a desire wee haue to see our selues attaine vnto the like felicities . wherefore emulation doth not merit the blame which enuy doth , but many times it is commendable in vs. as for example , when as wee see some vertue shine in one of our equalls , we striue in imitation of him to attaine vnto it . this emulation is worthy of praise . so caesar is commended , to haue propounded alexander for a patterne , as alexander did achilles : and themistocles did shewe that hee was borne to great matters , when as he said that the triumphes of miltiades would not suffer him to sleepe : for that it was a testimony that hee was troubled with an honest emulation of his vertue . emulation then is found among equalls , or at the least among those which are almost alike , for that this passion stirring vp a desire in vs , inciting vs to seeke the perfection which shines in those , whose glory hath made this impression in our soules ; wee must of necessity imagine that it is in our power to attaine vnto them , for that we neuer desire those things which are impossible . wherefore wee haue no emulation of those , who haue so great an aduantage ouer vs , as it is not in our power to come neere them . reciprocally we haue no enuy in regard of those that be so farre inferior vnto vs , as we see no commendable quallity in them , which wee enioy not with much eminency . among the rest , young men are naturally inclined to emulation , for that by reason of the heate of their youth , they are found more hardy , and being full of good hopes , they shew themselues more actiue to vndertake ; for that all things how difficult so euer , seeme easie vnto them . and for the same reason great and couragious spirits , are very capable of emulation , by reason of the greatnesse of their minds , which makes them conceiue that there is no designe aboue their valour , and that there is nothing so difficult but they may surmount . among other things which may induce vs to emulation , those which may make a man necessary or profitable to many , hold the first rancke . as for example , learning , eloquence , riches , power , the mannaging of affaires , and such like , are greatly subiect to the force of this passion . and therefore it is often commendable ; that is to say , when shee propounds vnto her selfe no sort of externall goods , but the only treasures of the soule and the riches of the mind , which shee sees to shine in another subiect , whose glory inflames her , and makes her aspire to the possession of the same graces . for this consideration also we haue a particular emulation , and desire passionately to equall , or to imitate those who are respected throughout the world , whom all the world commends , and al men loue , and especially when their vertues are honored by excellent pennes : for that all these things are so many glorious testimonies of their merits . these bee the personages whose vertue makes so glorious a shew , as wee desire earnestly to imitate them : as contrariwise wee contemne and are ashamed to resemble those which are destitute of all these goodly qualities . wherefore as man should carefully free his soule from enuy , which doth but trouble his rest , and afflicts him more then the party against whom it conspireth ; so in some sort hee should giue way to an honest emulation , which proceeds not from any euill will hee beares to another , but from the good hee desires to himselfe , to the end that in propounding to himselfe the examples of magnificence , valour , iustice , modesty , prudence , wisedom , and of the other vertues which shine in the liues of great personages of his condition , he may become magnificent , valiant , iust , moderate , prudent , wise , and endowed with all the other qualities which make them glorious which are adorned therewith . but wee haue spoken sufficiently of the concupiscible passion , we must now treate of those which make their impressions , and stir vp the irascible . of hardinesse or courage . chap. . as in the ancient sacrifices of the pagans they did carefully obserue the generosity of the beasts that were to bee sacrificed ; so as ●he priest comming to passe a naked sword before their eyes , if they were affrighted with the brightnesse thereof , they were chased from the altar ; whereas if they stood stil without amazement , they were held worthy to bee offred to the diuinity . so base and deiected minds which grow pale at any danger , were alwayes held in great contempt ; whereas generous and resolute spirits , whom no kind of perill could terrifie or amaze , haue euer beene held in singular admiration . this resolution and courage proceeds from an excellent nature wherewith they are endowed , which makes them to looke vpon all the accidents of the world without any alteration , being resolued to vanquish whatsoeuer presents it selfe to encounter their constancy : shewing thereby , that they apprehend a disgrace more then a misfortune , and that they had more care to preserue their honors , then to prolong their liues . seeing then that true hardinesse and courage is so commendable a thing , and that many of the most excellent men of antiquity haue preferred it before riches , the disposition of the body , beauty , and the other ornaments , whereof men do vsually glory ; we must seeke out the essence , and shew what courages she doth accompany , and in what soules shee is found . hardinesse then is no other thing , but a resolution of courage , whereby promising vnto himselfe to be able to surmount the calamities which threaten him , he sees them comming without amazement , and is not terrified when they are befallen him : or else according vnto others : hardinesse is a passion of the soule , which doth fortifie it , and makes it assured against the miseries which are most difficult to auoyd , and which doth encourage it to pursue those good things which are most painefull to obtaine . whereby it followes , that hardinesse is alwayes accompanied with a certaine hope to bee able to vanquish and disperse those fearefull things which present themselues vnto the imagination of man. this confidence may grow from the opinion wee haue , that the euill which treatneth vs is far from vs ; or from our beleefe , that if it should present it selfe , we should bee able to surmount it . as when a citty hath a conceit that no man will attempt any thing against the peace of her cittizens ; and if they should , they were able to repell the iniury , and to endure the attempts of their enemies ; this beleefe makes them hardy and assured . secondly , it may grow , for that although wee finde our selues weake , and vnable to resist our enemies , yet wee beleeue that wee shall bee powerfully assisted by our allies , with whose ayde wee hold our selues inuincible . as for example , although the duke of saiwy bee not able of himselfe to resist the armes of spaine ; yet being fortified with the alliance of this crowne , hee doth not apprehend them , neither is hee affraid to incense them , knowing that the assistance of the christian king protects him of that side . thirdly , this confidence may grow , for that wee beleeue , wee haue neither receiued nor done iniury to any man , which should make vs apprehend reuenge . and againe , for that we thinke wee haue no enemies , or else that they are so feeble and weake as they cannot annoy vs. it may also grow in regard that they who haue power to hurt vs , are our friends , and liue in good correspondency with vs , and haue assisted vs in our occurrents , as for our part we haue endeauored to bind thē vnto vs by al occasions which haue bene offered . so the allies of great kings feare not their power , although it be fearefull to the rest of the world . by this meanes wee find that there are diuerse sorts of persons which are full of hardinesse and assurance . first , they are hardy , which imagine that all things shall succeed happily in regard of their former felicities . so alexander vndertaking the conquest of india , apprehended nothing ; by reason of the happy victories , and tryumphes which he had gotten ouer the persians . so caesar being ouertaken with a cruel storme and in a small barke , feared nothing , but to confirme the resolution of his pilot whom the storme had amazed , he wisht him not to feare , seeing hee carried caesar and his fortunes . secondly , they are hardy who hauing beene ingaged in great dangers , haue yet escaped ; for they imagine that good fortune which hath beene so fauorable vnto them in so many other occasions full of despaire , will not abandon them in that present danger . finally , men are not troubled in dangers for two reasons , either for want of experience , or for the hope they haue to be speedily releeued . as for example , they that go by sea , hauing neuer seene the horror of tempests , imagine that the maisters and such as guide the ship , are expert in their facultie , and that they will easily preserue them from shipwracke ; so as they are not amazed , although the stormes and waues seeme to threaten them their death . thirdly , men are full of assurance when as they see such as equall them not , or do not exceed them in power , make no demonstration of feare ; conceyting that they are assured , they haue more cause to continue constant . men not only hold them inferior vnto them whom they haue exceeded , but also such as cannot enter into comparison with them , or at the least are not more pow●rfull then those whom they haue vanquished , againe men are full of courage and resolution , when as they see themselues furnished with all those things which may make thē feareful to their enemies . among the which we put store of coyne , disposition of body , greatnesse of minde , extent of empire , support of friends , the power of armies , and a great prouision of all that is necessary for the maintenance of a war. moreouer , men hold themselues assured when they haue not offended any man , or when such as they haue offended are not able to reuenge the iniurie . and withall , men are much assured , when as they thinke that god is fauorable and assistant in their designes . wherefore , in old time great captaines of war were not wont to giue battaile , before they had sacrificed vnto their gods , and had seene in the intrailes of their sacrifices some happy presage of diuine assistance . for the same occasion they consulted with oracles , attended the answers , and were carefull to obserue the signes which were seene before the battaile : so that sometimes the flying of an eagle hath assured armies that were amazed . but without all these signes and presages , men thinke that god is fauourable , when as they thinke they fight for a good cause : as when they haue taken armes for religion ; for the seruice of their prince ; for the maintenance of his crowne ; and for their countrey : yea , when as they imagine , that the reuenge they pursue is iust , and that they haue beene vnworthily abused . the reason is , for that choler which is alwayes enflamed by the iniury receiued , and not by that which wee doe vnto others , makes men hardy , perswading themselues , that god assists them that are wronged and vniustly persecuted . lastly , they that begin a warre are commonly hardy , especially when they haue a conceit that the action will succeed , and that the euent will answer the expectation . as for the constitution of the body , which may contribute to the hardinesse and resolution of man : it is certaine , that such as haue much blood and spirits , and which abound in heate , are most commonly hardy and valiant . for they haue great mindes and full of generosity , which makes them to cōtemne dangers . and if in the middest of hazards some part of the blood retires inwardly , yet the better part keepes her seate , and remaines firme and constant : so as they neuer grow pale , nor tremble like to other men . but if before they fight the apprehēsiō of dāger , makes any impression in their soules , they recouer themselues suddainely , and expell the feare which would surprize them . and for the same reason , they which are full of wine , may become more hardy : not that this defect of it self doth contribute any thing to the greatnesse of courage , but for that wine enflames the blood , & by accident makes men valiant ; and withall , they that are ouertaken with wine , haue their reason captiuated , and their iudgement troubled : so as they cannot consider duely of the greatnesse of perill , but imagine , that all dangers are inferior to their force and resistance . in the meane time we obserue , that many which shew a great hardinesse and courage to cast themselues into danger , as soone as they finde themselues engaged , are often amazed ; as we see in those that go valiātly to a charge , but finding resistance , they turne their backs to the enemy : where of wee can giue no other reason , but that they are not valiant by iudgment , but by the bounty of nature . so as apprehending not the greatnesse of the danger before they enter , but imagining that they shall vanquish whatsoeuer opposeth it selfe against them ; when as they finde resistance which they did not expect , they are amazed at the strangenesse of this accident , and their hearts grow cold and relent in such sort , as sometimes they flye before their enemies . but the contrary happens to those that are truely valiant ; for when as they gouerne their courages by wisedome , and measure their forces , attempting nothing aboue their strength or against reason , there is no sudden accident that may befall them , that can trouble them in any action of armes ; whereas commonly they finde lesse resistance then they expected before they entred the fight , so as their resolution is alwayes fortified and neuer decayes . and then propounding honor only before their eyes , the feare of the losse of life cannot amaze them , but their vertue surmounting all accidents , it causeth them ( notwithstanding all hazzards ) to persist couragiously in that which they haue gloriously begunne . yea , commonly they shew themselues more cold in the beginning , then at the ending ; for that it is not the passion that doth animate them , but it is iudgement which doth act in their courages . by reason whereof , in the beginning of the actiō they are more cold , & are not enflamed but with fighting . but it hath bin obserued in many valiant men , which had their hearts all couered with haire : whereof wee haue a famous example in that couragious lacedemonian leonidas , who with fiue hundred men kept the streight of thermopiles against that huge army of xerxes , & who had the courage and resolution to passe through the midst of his armed souldiers , to wrest the diade●e from his head . for when as after his death the king of persia ( amazed at so great a resolution ) had caused him to bee opened , his heart was found all couered with haire . some , it may be , would put this among the prodigies , or rather among the scornes of nature ; but the reason is easie to bee giuen , for they that are extraordinarily valiant , haue an exceeding heat , which drawes from their heart a fume of excrements , which thickens , and is conuerted into haire ; the which is a marke of their courage , and a signe of valour . chap. . of feare or dread . althovgh it seems that feare is a dead passion & that it shold not make any great impressions in our soules , nor cause any strange alterations in the world : yet as there bee certaine starres , which beeing in a manner continaully hidden , haue notwithstanding very maligne and pernicious influences : so although shee seeme not to bee so actiue as the rest , and remaines as it were couered & hidden , yet she doth cause strange accidents in the life of man ; for that shee hath sometimes ruined powerfull armies , brought kingdomes and states into dangers , and ouerthrowne the fortunes of priuate persons . wherefore wee haue seene great commanders in warre , who troubled by some sinister and vnexpected accident , in a day of battaile , haue had recourse to vowes and prayers , and haue promised to build temples to feare and palenesse , to diuert the ruine that threatned them , if the amazement spread ouer the whole army , had not beene as it were miraculously dispersed . wherefore seeing that feare doth produce such powerfull changes in the affaires of men , and withall , that this life is dayly threatned with infinite miseries , which giue vs still cause to feare ; wee must see wherein shee consists , how shee is framed , and in what soules she doth reside . feare then is no other thing , but a griefe and distresse of the soule , troubled by the imagination of some approaching euill , wherewith man is threatned , without any apparence to be able to auoyd it easily , although it tend to the destruction of his being , or cause him some strange calamity in the course of his life . it is first of all a griefe and a distresse ; for that as pleasures fill the senses with delight and ioy , so the imagination of an infallible euill , which cannot bee auoyded , fills vs with griefe and heauinesse . but secondly the causes of this griefe , are not alwayes solid nor true , but many times they are vaine and imaginary : for that wee doe frame or rather forge to our selues the miseries , whereof the apprehension afflicts our mindes , and torments our senses . the which made an ancient say , that there are more things which amaze vs , then that presse vs : and that most commonly opinion and apprehension , doth vs more harme then the thing it selfe . wherein doubtlesse the condition of man is lamentable , for that as if he were not inuironed by a sufficient nūber of true miseries , he forgets others which are not in nature , to encrease his miseries . for wee see daily that although there appeare no presages , nor any signes of a calamity that doth threaten vs , yet our minds do frame false imaginations , and vaine feares , which many times are the causes of our ruine . there are some things which torment vs more then they should do , others trouble vs before the time , and some afflict vs without cause or subiect , for that we either increase our griefes and paines , or we forge them our selues , or else wee run before them and anticipate them : and whereas wee should striue against these iealousies and false opinions which cause them , wee suffer our selues to be vanquished , resembling therein certaine soldiers who being amazed at a little dust raisd by a flocke of sheepe , turned their backes , as if the enemy had beene at their heeles . these vaine feares may sometimes grow from the ignorance of things which they imagine to bee of bad presage , although they bee meere effects of nature which they should obserue without trembling , as we haue many times seene an eclipse of the sun or of the moone which haue their naturall causes , trouble whole armies and terrifie their commanders . thirdly , wee must obserue that to cause feare , the euill that doth threaten vs must not bee present but to come ; for that when it is present , it is no more a feare but a meere heauinesse . and then the euill which wee doubt must bee full of horror , and threaten vs with the losse of life , or some other great preiudice : for things of small weight , are not capable to make any impression of feare , at the least if there remaine any sparke of generosity in our hearts . yea all kind of calamities how great so euer , are not able to cause feare , if it be not accompanied with a certaine horror which amazeth the sences . as for example , men apprehend not to become vniust , or wicked , although they be things more to bee feared then all the miseries of this life . but the nature of vice is such , as the horror of her presence is not sensible vnto vs , for that shee seemes not to destroy our being , nor to cause in vs any great alterations that should afflict vs. moreouer , to bee terrified with any euill , it must bee as it were hanging ouer our heads , and threaten vs with a ruine at hand ; for when as we imagine that it is farre from vs , how fearefull soeuer the forme be , yet we are not amazed . euen so although that death bee the most horrid & fearefull thing that may fall into the thought of men , yet for that euery man presumes it is not ready to seaze vpon him , we do not apprehend it as we ought , but wee suffer it to come and prepare not our selues . there rests now to see what things wee haue iust cause to apprehend . an ancient makes three sorts , that is to say , pouerty , diseases , & the outrages of the mighty . the two first , that is to say , pouerty , and diseases , make the least shew ; but the outrages of the mighty present themselues vnto our sences with much bruite , and terrifie our eyes and eares . for euen as an executioner is the mor● fearefull when he brings forth diuerse instruments to torture & torment the patient , so as many times they which would haue endured their punishment patiently , are dismayed , seeing so many deaths at one instant before their eyes ; euen so among the calamities which oppresse our spirits , those cause most terrour which march with the greatest shew , for that they represent vnto our thoughts irons , fire , chaines , prisons , gibbets , wheeles , and whatsoeuer is most horrible and fearefull in this life . but let vs heare aristotle , who also sets three kinds of things which giue vs apprehension and feare . in the first rancke he puts those which tend infallibly to the destruction of our being . for this reason , we do iustly feare thunder and lightning ; for that the life of man is full of the examples of such as haue bene miserably burnt . we feare in like manner great inundations , and deluges of water , which are the cau●es of so many ruines vpon earth . for the same reason , being in forrests and deserts , wee apprehend the encounter of sauage beasts , which are enemies to the life of man. and for the same subiect wee apprehend to fal into the hands of those whom we thinke we haue offended . in the second rancke of fearefull things , he puts those which cause pinching vexations and griefes , as the losse of our kinsfolkes and friends , banishment , imprisonment , and other punishments . in the third hee placeth those which are as it were the signes and presages of these kind of miseries . not that these signes of themselues cause vs any preiudice , but for that they are as it were the forerunners of the danger into which wee feare to fall . the which makes kings and princes apprehend the rising and apparition of comets , for that they haue beene perswaded they are foretellings of the death of great men . these signes which amaze vs , may bee reduced to foure heads , which are found in the course of this life , and in the affaires of the world . for we are accustomed to feare the wrath , and hatred of those which haue power to bee reuenged ; for that their wrath and hatred is as it were an infallible signe of our ruine ; seeing that hauing power to vndo vs , there is no question , but ( by a disease commune to all men , ) they will be naturally inclined to reuenge . but secondly , wee apprehend our enemies more , when they are not stayed by some honest feare of iustice , or some other respect , but are ready to tread all diuine and humaine lawes vnder foote to satisfie their reuenge . for men which haue thus renounced all the feelings of vertue , wanting no power , & hauing a wicked inclination , are alwayes ready to do euill ; and apprehend not to shew their valorous disposition . so we haue great reasō to feare such as in the liberty of crimes , find themselues aboue the lawes , and cannot bee punished by any man. as for example , tyrants which haue seazed vpon estates & empires , are much to be feared ; for that hauing force & power to oppresse whom they please , there is no doubt but they will speedily put it in execution ; for that these sauage spirits , knowing that those whom they haue made subiect to their empire , ( hauing iust cause to hate them , ) haue no other dessigne but to take from them al meanes to hurt thē , by weakning them , and terrifying them with the feare of punishments . they are also to be feared , not only for that they haue power , but also for that to settle their empire , they are inclined to commit all outrages and violence . it is true on the other side , that the same tyrants should apprehend the fury of the people , who do but seeke occasions to roote them out , and to abate their power . wherefore wee see the life of these plagues of mankind , is ful of iealousies and distrusts , which torment them day and night more cruelly , then those which they make their miserable subiects to suffer , who grone vnder the burthen of their tyranny . for although they bee inuironed with their guards ; that they haue powerful alliances ; that they command great armies ; and haue strong townes & forts at their command , yet nothing can assure their consciences , but they are in perpetuall terrour ; which makes their condition like to that of sauage beasts , which flye all the world , and all men abhorre them . thirdly , we haue cause to feare resolute men , who make profession of honour , when we haue offended them : for that beeing sensible of iniuries , it is certaine their courage will carry them to reuenge . lastly , wee should apprehend those which haue iust cause to feare vs , at the least , if they haue power to hurt vs. for beeing in continuall apprehension , lest wee should attempt something against their liues , they had rather preuent vs , then suffer vs to surprize them . from hence it followes , that there are diuers persons whose enterprises we should feare , and haue a speciall care of . first , wee should feare those to whom we haue imparted some great and important secret , which beeing reuealed , may bee the cause of our ruine : for the weakenesse of mans minde is such , as it may bee , they will either be corrupted , or induced by promises to discouer vs ; or the feare to bee found confederates if the matter should be reuealed , they will seeke to iustifie themselues in accusing vs , and ruine vs to saue themselues . secondly , we should apprehend such as haue power to hu●t vs , for that commonly the will followes the power , and they will easily take liberty to effect that which is in their power . thirdly , wee should dread such as we haue offended , or that thinke wee haue wronged them , beeing likely , that they will not leaue this iniurie vnreuenged , but will endeauour to take reuenge when occasion shall be offered . fourthly , wee should feare those which haue wronged vs , and which are subiect to feare vs : for that doubting lest wee should apprehend the iniury wee haue receiued , and hauing forces at command , it is likely they would free themselues of this feare by preuenting vs , as we haue formerly said . fifthly , we shold distrust those which dispute or contend with vs , for honour , or for any good thing , which wee cannot enioy ioyntly together . for to take away this obstacle in their pursuites , it is to be presumed that they wil attempt something against vs. sixthly , wee should dread such as are fearefull to greater personages then our selues . for that if they may strike a terror into the mighty , they wil more easily doe it in them that are weake . seuenthly , wee should bee watchfull of those , which haue already tried their forces against such as are more powerfull then our selues , and haue preuailed ; or that haue vsed some surprize or treachery , to bee reuenged of such as were not equall to vs in power . for that the first may easily perswade themselues to bee able to master vs , hauing vanquished those that did exceede vs. and the second , seeing their successe against the weaker , they will take courage in their crime , and promise themselues the like successe against them that are more powerfull ; to whom they imagine they should be fearefull , by reason of that which they had formerly done . eighthly , we should apprehend the friends of those whom wee haue offended : not such as are prompt to choler , and which speake much , for that it is easie to discouer them , & to beware of them ; but those that are close , dissembling , and full of arte , for that it is a difficult thing to knowe what is in their soules , and to discouer if they practise any thing against our liues . among the things which make an impression of dread , the most fearefull are those which surprize vs , and which wee had not fore-thought . the which happens for two reasons : the one , for that befalling vs thus vnlooked for , they take from vs the meanes to thinke of the remedies , whereof wee doe commonly make vse against the disasters that doe threaten vs : and the other , for that speaking of the accidents of this life , bee they good or bad , the more wee consider of them , the more the opinion which we had formerly conceiued , is extenuated . in regarde whereof , as there is no griefe so violent , but time doth mollifie , so there is no apprehension so great , which is not in some sort diminished by preparing our selues for the miseries which threaten vs. wherefore feare increaseth when we are surprized , and haue not meanes to thinke of the remedies . secondly , those things are most fearefull , when as if wee commit a fault , it is no more in our power to repaire the error , but if there bee any remedy , it depends wholly on the will of our enemies . for this reason wee haue often seene generous resolutions , and great captaines , apprehend much to giue battaile , for that as the euents of war are doubtfull , so if he chance to lose it , there is little means to repaire the error , but most commonly he must receiue a law from the victor , in stead of giuing it him . thirdly , among fearefull things , wee apprehend those which stirre vp compassion in our soules , and mollifie the heart with griefe , if wee see them befall other men : as shipwrackes , burnings , racks , tortures , executions , desperate diseases ; the losse of goods , kinsfolkes , or friends , and al other accidents which may make men miserable . wee must not forget that ●eare augments in vs , when as the causes which produce it come to increase . wherefore as it riseth from the consideration of dangers which threaten vs : so many times , they which doe exactly consider the hazards and dangers which threaten this life , are most subiect to feare ; as wise and discreete men , such as haue had a long experience of worldly affaires : whereas fooles , drunkards , and young men apprehend nothing , but hope for all . moreouer , the excesse of danger encreaseth feare , especially when it is neere vnto vs , when it presseth vs , and when wee see no remedy nor meanes to auoyd it ; as when an army or a city is surprized , and neither captaine , nor souldier endeauours to repulse the enemy . yea , after that any one hath escaped a great danger , the very imagination to haue beene freed from so great a misfortune , is able to kill him ; for that the imagination hath that force , to represent vnto vs the thing , as if it were yet present , and as if wee were in the midst of the danger . as they report of a iew , who hauing by night past a bridge , whereas no man did passe by reason of the danger ; who when hee came to thinke of the perill wherein hee had beene , was so surprized with feare and horror as he died . on the other side , it helpes much to dissipate feare , to imagine there is no kinde of danger in that where-with they would terrifie vs. the which may proceede from two causes , that is to say , either from an exact knowledge of the nature of the things which wee haue carefully obserued and knowne , and find therein no subiect of feare ; and this course is ful of discretion : or else from meer ignorance , which makes vs to iudge of things otherwise then wee ought ; imagining , that there is no danger in places or things which are full of amazement ; which is a signe of want of iudgement . finally , there is a kinde of people which feare nothing ; that is to say , such as haue renounced all feeling of things , whereof we haue iust cause to apprehend the losse . as they which haue lost all honor , abandoned all shame , wasted their fortunes and their goods , and those whose liues are tedious vnto them . for what can they feare , who haue nothing remaining to trouble them ? for this reason wee must greatly apprehend desperate persons , and such as haue abandoned the loue of this life : for as an ancient said , hee that contemnes his owne life , is master of another mans . yet there are diuers things which may free our soules from all feare whatsoeuer presēts it self . for as they that are perswaded that nothing can hurt them , haue no apprehension nor feare : yea , if the heauens should fall , they would not be amazed at their ruines : in like manner men do not feare to lose those things , which they thinke are safe from the outrages of their enemies . as wise and vertuous men doe not feare that the rage of tyrants can preuaile ouer their minds to blemish their constancy . if tyrants threaten them with any shamefull death , they are ready to say , as a resolute spirit did once vnto a prince who threatned to hang him : this ( sayd he ) would amaze the gallant courtiers , but as for mee , it is indifference whether i ro●te in the ayre , or in the earth . thirdly , men feare not those whom they think haue not power to hurt them , although in effect they should apprehend them . this false perswasion hath o●ten ruined great commanders in the warre , who contemning the enemies , and making shew not to feare them , haue lost the victory , and fallen miserably into their power . in like manner , men feare not when as they conceiue that the occasions which should make them feare , are taken away : as they which apprehend the persecution of a tyrant , lose all feare when as they see his power ouerthrowne : whereby it appeares that men feare , when there is apparence that they may suffer some iniury : or when as hee that is threatned is exposed to outrages : or when as they that threaten are powerfull : or that time and occasion fauours him that would do an iniury . by all this we may gather , that there are two kinds of men which are aboue all feared . the first are such as are very happy , which haue many friends , abundance of wealth ; great spirits , great power ; and which haue not yet tryed the miseries of this life . for this great felicity , this immoderate wealth , this exceeding power , and the other aduantages of nature and fortune , make men hardy , insolent , outragious , and to contemne all the world . whereas on the other side , pouerty and weaknesse make men fearefull , for that the callamity which doth presse vs , being the obiect of feare , they which neither haue meanes nor power to defend themselues , haue cause to apprehend . the second sort of men , are they which thinke they haue suffered the cruellist afflictions that can bee endured in this life , and whom the custome of forepas●ed miseries haue made insensible of future calamities , as they that are led to execution , after that they haue bene tortured in prison . but the chiefe reason why these men haue abandoned all feare , is that which aristotle alledgeth , that to haue an apprehension of the things which afflict vs , there must bee some hope or some shew , to be freed from it by industry . and therefore feare makes vs fly to counsells , and to seeke out remedies : for no man consults of a businesse that is desperate . so as these men seeing no reliefe in their affaires , as they haue no more hope , so they cannot feare . and touching that which aristotle saith , that feare makes vs flie to counsells ; some one may make a question , whether that feare doth contribute any thing to make men more wise , and more disperse their feare . whereunto the answere is easie , that feare makes an impression in vs of greater care to seeke for counsell to fortifie vs against the calamities that do threaten vs ; but many times it doth hinder vs from reaping the fruits which we might gather without this apprehension . the reason of the first is , that feare representing the danger hanging ouer our heads , and hard to be auoyded , it binds vs to seeke the meanes to diuert it , and makes vs to craue aduice of our friends , to supply our weaknesse . the reason of the second is , for that they which are troubled with feare , or transported with any other passion , imagine things to be greater or lesse then they are ; so as they that loue , value the things beloued much ; & they that feare , represent them more horrible . wherefore in that regard all passions are enemies to wise counsells , and good resolutions . of the effects of feare . chap. . the effects of feare are diuerse & strange ; for to leaue the impression which it makes in the mind of man , ( whereof we will speake hereafter , ) she doth produce all these effects vpon his body . first , shee shrinkes vp his heart , and doth weaken it by the liuely apprehension which she doth giue it of the affliction ; by reason whereof all the heate that is in his face is forced to flie vnto it to succour it : and when as that sufficeth not , the blood of the other parts flow also vnto it : so as they that are affrighted grow pale . for prouident nature to preserue the life of man , hauing thus call'd backe the blood and spirits from all the parts to succour the heart which is the fountaine , speedily leaues the other parts wholy vnfurnisht and naked . in regard whereof the blood being that which giues colour , and makes man to haue a sanguine hew , it being fled , his complexion fades , and hee growes pale . for the same reason they that are amazed , are presently surprized with a continuall shaking , for that the heate which resides in the blood and spirits , being that which supports and fortifies the members of man ; being destitute thereof they can hardly support themselues , but tremble and shake in that manner . and whereas the hands and lippes shew greater signes of alteration then the rest , the reason is , for that those parts haue a more strict bond with the heart , and haue lesse blood then the rest ; and therefore cold doth more easily make an impression vpon them . finally , the members which haue a particular connexion with the heart , haue also a particular feeling of his agitation : wherein it is strange , that as trembling is an effect of the want of heate , and that feare chaseth the heate vnto the heart , to preserue the center of life ; yet they that are terrified , haue their hearts agitated , and they beate in them , as if they were destitute of heate . the reason is , although that prouident nature to preserue the heart sends downe the heate from aboue , yet feare doth not suffer it to subsist long there , but doth chase it lower ; for that in them that feare , their spirits grow thicke , and become more heauy by reason of the cold which imaginatiō doth produce , that they are not able to resist the danger which doth threaten them : so as the spirits being growne thus heauy , by reason of the cold which this imagination leaues , tends downeward , and remaines not about the heart . they that are surprized with feare , feele strange alteration ; and are wonderfully dry ; for that the heate which nature hath drawne about the heart , burnes and filles the bowells with an exceeding heate , which makes him to desire cold and moist things , wherein thirst consists , to quench this troublesome alteration , to refresh the creature , and to free it from this insupportable heate . and for that in this motion of feare , the heate descends , it made homer to say of him that was without courage , that his heart was fallen to his heeles , after which there commonly followes many accidents which slacken and vnknit all the ioynts and ligatures of the body ; but especially they that are terrified haue their tongs tied & can hardly speak , causing them to ●umble in their discourses : yea their voyce is very shrill and weake , for that it is abandoned by the heate which should entertaine her force ; whereas in choler it shewes it selfe more strong , for that the heate which ascends fortifies it , & makes it more powerfull . moreouer feare makes the hayres to stand vp with horror , for that in the absence of hea●e , the cold congealeth , and stoppes the conduicts by which it passeth : so as the haire as it were opprest in the rootes , by the cold which diuerts their naturall nourishment , for that they cannot suffer a strange humour full of excrements which doth rot them , they stand vpright with horror ; the which sometimes workes so strange an effect by her vehemency , as they make young men grow graye in an instant : whereof wee haue a memorable example in the age of our fathers , during the reigne of the emperour charles the fift . for francis gonzague , hauing caused a young man of his house to bee committed to prison , for that he suspected hee had conspired against him ; this miserable young man was so terrified with his affliction , as the same night hee was cast into prison , his haire grew all white . in the morning his keeper seeing him thus changed , went and made report thereof to gonzague , who being amazed at this prodigie , cōceiued that it was a testimony of his innocence ; whereupon he pardoned him . this sudden change of the prisoners haire , proceeded without doubt , for that the vehemency of his feare caused the heate retire from his braine : as in like manner old men grow white , for want of heate , which decayes with age : finally , they that haue little hot blood about the heart are naturally fearefull : so as those creatures which haue great hearts to the proportion of their bodies , ( as stagges and panthers ) are more subiect to feare ; for that hauing little heate , it is weakned , dispersing it selfe into a large extēt , euen as a litle fire cannot so warme a large roome , as it would do one that is lesse . so as the blood growes cold , & is lesse able to warme the heart , which is the seate of courage . whereas other creatures which haue more heat , and the heart proportionably lesse , are more hardy and couragious . for that the heat abounding in them , it is more actiue , and the subiect where it workes , dispersing not her action by extent , shee workes more powerfully : so as she enflames them to all generous enterprizes , and glorious designes . but let vs come to the effects which feare breedes in the minde of man. besides all these strange accidents which she doth produce in the body , shee causeth other disorders in the soule , filling it with such confusion , as shee leaues him neither memory , nor iudgement , nor will , to encounter any danger that threatens his ruine . wherefore it is not the worke of an ordinary courage , to haue a constant resolution in the middest of greatest dangers , and suddenly to finde remedies against the mischiefes that threaten him . as histories giue this commendation of hannibal , iugurth , caesar , alexander , and some few of those great spirits of former ages ; whose iudgements were neuer danted with apprehension of any danger , but in the middest of combates they could speedily redresse all accidents , which happening suddenly , might amaze their armies , and depriue them of the victory . moreouer , feare ( like a feruile and base passion ) depriues man of all courage : and whereas the apprehension of danger is a spurre to generous spirits , to fortifie them , and to make them seek powerfull meanes to auoyde the danger ; it doth so deiect faint-hearted and fearefull men , as they remaine , as it were , immoueable , and vncapable of all action . moreouer , it makes a man ashamed and confounded , and to contemne himselfe ; he crosseth his armes , and flatters them basely and vnworthily , whom hee thinkes may ease his griefe . it fills him also with amazement , and as if it were able to conuert him into a rocke , it reduceth him to that stupiditie , as hee forgets himselfe , and becomes , as it were , insensible of the miseries which oppresse him , althogh they vexe him worse then death . but you must remember that wee speake of a disordered feare , which doth wholly trouble the imagination of man : for there is a kinde of moderate feare , which striking reason but gentlely , makes vs aduised ( to the which the stoickes giue the name of circumspection ) to prouide with iudgement for that which concernes vs : for that it makes vs carefull and atentiue to looke to our affaires , and to giue order for that which is necessary to shelter vs from stormes . of shame . chap. . seeing that shame is , as it were , a shoote or a sience of feare , wee must shew wherein it consists , and what effects it doth produce , to the end we may leaue nothing behinde that may concerne this subiect . shame then is , a griefe and a confusion , which growes from the apprehension of some crosses , which may make man infamous : and vnder this kinde wee comprehend those calamities which are presēt , past , or yet to come ; so as they bee of that nature , as they may trouble and breed a confusion in the soule of man. and impudency on the other side , is a contempt of the same misery , for want of feeling . by the definition of shame , we may gather , that men are ashamed of those things that they thinke will breed them infamy , or lay some aspersion vpon them , or their friends , or vpon such as belong vnto them . so as first of all , all vices , and all things that doe resemble or haue any shew of vice , are capable to breede shame in our soules . as for example , it is a shamefull thing to flye from the army in a day of battaile ; for that this flight is a signe of basenesse and want of courage . in like manner it is a shamefull thing to refuse to restore that , which hath beene left with vs in guard , and which hath beene consigned to our fidelity ; for that this refusall is a proofe o● our iniustice & disloyalty . it is also a shamefull thing to run indifferently into all dishonest places , in the which ( as diogenes said to a young man ) the farthe● he enters , the more his infamy encreaseth ; for that it is a testimony of intemperance and dissolutenesse . and againe , it is a very shamefull thing to seeke to reape profite from all base and abiect things ; like ●o that romane emperour , who said , the fauour of gaine was alwayes sweete , from whence soeuer it came : for it is a signe of a prodigious couetousnesse . moreouer , it is a shamefull thing to refuse to releeue them that are in misery , and implore our aide , with money or any other thing ; for it is a signe of our inhumanity : yea , it is a shame not to assist them bountifully according to their meanes . but especially when they are our kinsfolkes , our allies , our friends , or such persons , as at another time may require the offices wee haue done them in their necessity . it is a shame to begge for fauor or to borrow money of an inferiour , or that is poorer then our selues ; and wee cannot but blush to require money of him in lone , who hath first demanded it of vs ; or to require of him , who would gladly bee payd that which we owe him . all these things cannot proceede but from a base minde , and voyde of integrity . moreouer , wee blush when as wee praise any one aboue his merit , and when as we seeke to excuse in him the defects that are inexcusable , to the end that wee may obtaine some fauour , some present , or some assistance from him . and in like manner we cannot but blush , when as to insinuate our selues into the fauour of any one , wee abandon our selues to impudency , to extoll his good fortune , and the successe of his prosperity , without measure . as also wee are ashamed of the extraordinary demonstrations we do vsually make to men afflicted , to witnesse vnto them the feeling wee haue of their griefe : as when to comfort our friend for the death of some one that was deere vnto him , we wish ( although it bee farre from our thought ) that we were able to redeeme him whose losse is so bitter vnto him , with the losse of our owne blood or life ▪ for all these are signes of insupportable flattery , which cause euen our friends to blush when they heare vs. wee blush in like manner , when as wee refuse to endure the toyle of honorable imployments which are offered vs ; and that men of greater age , more vnable , more tender , and of another quality then our selues , accept them freely : for that this refusall is a signe of our effeminacy . moreouer , wee blush to receiue benefites and fauours continually from the same person ; and wee cannot without some shame reproach them we haue bound vnto vs by our fauours , for that it is a signe of great basenesse . finally , we are ashamed when as we attribute praises vnto our selues which are not due vnto vs ; or that we brag vnseasonably , or challenge the glory of goodly actions , which other men haue ended : for that it is a note of our arrogancy and vanity . so al vices , and all the marks of vices , make an impression of shame in all those which are infected with them . secondly , we are ashamed to see our selues destitute of all honest qualities , which recommend all our equalls generally , or at the least most of them . as for example , it is a great shame not to bee adorned with valour , wisedome , knowledge , modesty , and other excellent parts ; which shine commonly in those of our profession , of our age , of our blood , or of our quality . so caesar seeing himselfe two and thirty yeers old , and hauing made no shew of the greatnesse of his courage , nor done any great exployt , hee grew ashamed , and began to weepe , beholding the image of alexander who seemed to reproach him . all these defects are full of shame and infamy , especially when as they proceede from our negligence , which shewes that we haue no cause to accuse any man but to blame our selues . thirdly , men blush when as they are forced to do or suffer things which are vnworthy either of their condition , or of the nature of man. as for example if they would force a man of quality to do seruices vnworthy of his rancke , this fills him with shame , and he cannot endure it , but with great griefe and distaste : yea we reade in histories of generous spirits , who in the middest of their captiuity remembring that they were borne free , had rather precipitate themselues and chuse a voluntary death , then bee forced to do seruices vnworthy of their births . and therefore nero should die for shame to commit that excesse which he did with the scumme of the people vpon the altars and in the publique places of rome : but what graue or serious thing can wee attend from that infamous monster , who hath dishonored mankinde with his impudencies ? in like manner it is a matter which causeth extraordinary shame in men of note and quality , when by the iniuries of fortune , or by their own basenes they see themselues reduced to that extreamity as to suffer indignities and outrages which blemish their first lustre and glory : as those kings who hauing lost battailes , & seene their estates ruined & spoyled , to crowne their miseries were led in triumph to rome , to serue as a spectacle to that world of people , and to be the images and shewes of humane misery , and of the inconstancy of the world . wherefore they branded them with infamous basenes , which did prostitute themselues to this shame either through couetousnesse , or for want of courage . contrariwise according to the custome of the time , when as christian religion had not yet dispersed the vanity of pagan errors , nor conuerted reproches into exercises of patience , they obserued great beames of generosity in a woman borne to pleasures , and bred vp in the middest of all delights : for that being in the power of her enemy , shee chose rather to kill her selfe by the biting of aspicks , then to bee led in shew , to serue as a fatall ornament to his tryumph . but generally it is a very shamefull thing in all conditions to do or to suffer things full of indignitie and reproch : yet we must set a difference betwixt those that suffer them by their owne basenesse , and such as endure them by a violent constraint . for they that suffer them by their owne basenesse , are infamous ; for that they expose thēselues volūtarily to those affronts . but wee must againe set a difference betwixt those that suffer them by constraint : for either they resolue though timerousnesse and by an apprension , which should not fall into a constant soule ; and then it is a signe of their weaknesse : or else for that they cannot resist , being forced by such as are become maisters of their persons ; and then it is rather an effect of their misfortune then a signe of their basenes : as wee see in those that suffer some indignity by them that are more powerfull . but for that shame riseth from a beleefe which wee haue to bee wounded in our reputation , the which wee measure according to the iudgement & esteeme which men make of vs ; it falls out many times that we are ashamed of the disgraces we suffer in the presence of persons which we respect much , and whose blame and censure we apprehend . in which ranke wee put those which haue in their power the good chances whereunto we aspire , and of whom depends the honour or contentment which wee affect with passion . as for example , a souldier will bee much more ashamed to haue fled from the enemy in the view of his captaine ▪ then to haue committed this basenesse in his absence ; and a louer will endure an iniury done him in the presence of his best beloued , more impatiently , then all the affronts that can bee done elsewhere . for the same reason our shame increaseth , when as wee receiue any reproach before vertuous persons , and such as are held to be iust : as when they are wisemen or reuerent old men that accuse vs ; for that wee thinke men will easily giue credit to what they say of vs. wee are also ashamed if any infamous thing befall vs in the presence of our equalls , and of such which are as it were emulators and riualls of what wee pursue ; for that contending with them of honor , it is a wonderfull griefe vnto vs to see this breach made in our reputation in their presence . and generally wee are ashamed of that which is done in the sight of men which obserue it , or which haue a malicious disposition , & which interpret all actions sinisterly . for wee conceiue , that if they do not pardon innocence , they will not spare vs. shame in like manner shewes it selfe in the presence of such which are adorned with vertues contrary to the defects which appeare in our actions , especially if they bee seuere men , who are not accustomed to pardon or excuse the errors which they see committed : as the romans were ashamed to do any vnworthy act before cato , both for that he was a seuere censor of the actions of the cittizens , as also for that he pardoned no man. it troubles vs also to see our selues reproued & scorned by ordinary iesters , and by such as make profession to shew themselues in theaters ; for that wee conceiue it is a testimony that we are publikely defamed , or at the least wee feare that these people to the eternall infamy of our name , will teare our reputation in publique assemblies . we are also ashamed to shew our defects before those whom we thinke wee haue offended , and are not our friends : for that we know they will not faile to publish our imperfections . finally , wee blush when as any thing vnworthy of our condition befalls vs in the view of such whose fauour & friendship wee seeke ambitiously ; apprehending that this misfortune will bee an obstacle to our pursuites , and a subiect to make vs be reiected . as in like manner we blush to see our selues surprized in some notable fault , by such as had vs in good esteeme , especially if they be our familiar friends , or of our owne family , which discouer the error , into which we had neuer before fallen , or had alwaies cunningly concealed it . there are also diuerse other subiects which make an impression of shame ; and for example , at our first speech to any one whom we know not well , we blush , for that being ignorant what account hee makes of vs , or how hee is affected to vs , wee are in suspence betwixt hope & feare , and know not how hee will entertaine our discourse . and in like manner we are surprized with shame , when as wee are to speake before a great multitude and a concourse of people : for that in this great diuersity of minds and humors we thinke it impossible , but there is some one who hath no great disposition to fauour vs. moreouer , when as we are to speake before a person of eminent quality , of exquisite knowledge , or of exact iudgement , wee blush and are amazed , by reason of the great respect wee haue of him ; which makes vs feare to fayle before him , and this feare fills vs with shame , and makes vs blush . wee are also not only ashamed of our defects , but euen of all the signes and tokens of our vices and bad inclinations : as wee blush not only at vncleannesse , but also at all the signes of wantonnesse ; especially we are ashamed at licentious words , which offend chaste eares . wherefore alceus hauing opened his mouth to speake to sapho , & then staying himselfe , and pretending for his excuse , that shame had hindred his speech , she answered ; if you had not had some bad desire , but had meant to speake that which was honest and not licentious , shame had not appeared in your eyes , neither had it tyed your tongue , but you would haue deliuered your thoughts freely . by all that we haue sayd , it followeth , that men are not ashamed to do or say any thing whatsoeuer before such as they do not esteeme , but contemne : whereby it followes , that they neither respect nor feare the eyes of children nor beasts . but those before whom wee are most ashamed to shew our selues in our misfortune ▪ are our enemies , to whom wee know our miseries are a sweete and pleasing spectacle : as caesar seeing himselfe a prisoner in the hands of pirats , said , that his enemy crassus would be glad of the misfortune which had befallen him . to cōclude , mē are ashamed to see thēselues defamed publikely ; as to be led to execution in the midst of a multitude of people , to bee witnesses of their ignominy . and yet the poet antiphon being condemned to dye with many others , by denis the tyrant , when as hee saw his companions going to execution , & passing before a great multitude to hide their faces , as being ashamed ; beeing come out of the city , he said vnto them , what my friends , d ee you feare that some one of these gallants will see you againe to morrow , and reproach you with your misfortune ? but doubtlesse euery man hath not this resolution , nor so great a courage in the last indignities of life . chap. . of the effects of shame . as there are certayne plants whose roots are venemous and mortall to such as vse them , but their leaues are indued with excellent qualities , and proper for the preseruation of the health of man : so there are passions of the soule , which on the one side serue man as a spurre to vertue , and on the other side precipitate him to vice . and this is particularly incident to shame , the which doth sometime induce men to decline from wickednesse , and sometime shee diuerts them from commendable & vertuous actions , by the apprehension of an imaginary dishonour . timoleon conceiuing that all the world did hate him , for that he had consented to the death of his brother , who was a plague to his common wealth , wandred vp and down the fields twenty years together , and could not resolue to embrace the defence of his citizens generously . others beeing ashamed to abandon their countrey in publike calamities , haue carried themselues couragiously to vndertake things , for the which they knew , they shold bee vnworthily recompenced by the ingratitude of their citizens . but before wee come to the effects which shame produceth in the soule , let vs see what impressions shee makes in the body : for it seemes shee stirres vp an effect farre different from the cause from whence it proceedes . shame , say the philosophers , is a kinde of feare , which ariseth , for that man doubts some blame and some censure of his actions . as feare then retires the blood , and makes it descend about the heart , how comes it that shame should cause the blood to ascend vnto the countenance , and make the face to blush ? whereunto they answer , that men may be threatned with two kinds of miseries , whereof the one is not onely contrary to the inclination of their senses , but also tends to the destruction of their nature and being , as extreame dangers and perills of death . others are onely contrary to the desires of the senses , but doe not threaten man with death or the decay of his being : as for example , the blame and dishonour which wee apprehend for something we haue done . when man then propounds vnto himselfe the forme of these first kindes of obiects , that is to say , of those calamities which tend to the dissolution of his being : nature beeing amazed by the impressiō which she receiues from the senses , striues to succour them , and drawes the blood and heate vnto the heart , which is ( as wee haue said ) the fountaine of life ; whereupon the countenance being destitute of blood , man growes pale in these great terrors . but when as he apprehends onely the calamities of the second kinde , that is to say , those which tend not to the destruction of his beeing , but onely to the decrease of his glory ; nature is not so powerfully mooued by the senses , for that the ruine of her consistence is not directly in question ; but leaues the griefe in the senses , whose amazement doth not send the heat and blood into the body , but causeth it to mount into the face , which becomes all red and sanguine . some beleeue that this blushing is as it were a veile , which nature extends before her to couer her shame ; as wee see commonly , they that are ashamed carry their hands before their faces and eyes , for that those parts are most afflicted with shame , in regard they are the most noble . and the impression is particularly made in the eies , which the ancients haue called the seate of modesty : and therefore plato brings in socrates couering his eyes , when as hee would make a discourse of loue , wherein hee thought there was some shame for a man , making profession of deepe wisedom . the reason therof is , for that wee are ashamed to see our defects knowne to men , whō we greatly respect and reuerence . the ancients did alwaies hold it for a good signe and presage in young men , to see them blush easily ; wherefore they called this blushing the colour , or vermillion of vertue . yea , that great romane censor said , that hee loued them better that blusht , then such as grew pale , for that to be pale , is a signe they feared some danger : so as they that grow pale , seeme to haue an apprehension to be called in question for some crime , and punished : whereas they that blush , shew they are ashamed , and apprehend euen the very suspition of doing ill . but there is no kinde of people in whom an honest bashfulnesse is more commendable ; yea , vpon the lightest occasions , then in virgins , and women : for to blush for words , for motions , and for the least licencious actions , is a signe of an exact modesty , which is the rarest and the most rich ornament of their sexe . but to returne to young men , as it is a good signe to see them blush , for that being naturally inclined to follow their passions ( by reason of this great heate of blood which abounds in them , and enflames them ) it is a commendable thing to see that shame is , as it were , a bridle to retire them from vice . but this kinde of shame is not much commendable in men of ripe age , who haue not this spurre to incite them to euill ; and moreouer , vertue should haue taken deep root in their hearts , whereby all their actions should be commendable and full of glory , so as they haue no subiect to blush . but if they fall into this defect , it is a signe that they iudge themselues , and that their vertue is not perfect nor compleat proportionable to their age . let vs now come to the effects which shame produceth in the soule : there are some good , as we haue sayde in the beginning , but she also produceth badde . many times shee hath made them valiant , who were faint-hearted and feareful ; yea , we haue seene whole armies beeing amazed and terrified , haue resumed courage by the presence of caesars , alexanders , scipioes , & other great commanders , who haue brought backe their souldiers in battailes ; for that the great esteeme they had of such excellent captains , made them blush to flye before them ; yea , to chuse a most certaine death , rather then to be held cowards by such wotthy men . moreouer , there haue beene souldiers , who hauing faintly maintained an encounter , the next day to wipe away this shame , haue performed wonders , whereof the greeke and romane histories , furnish vs with many examples . besides , shame doth retire vs often from dishonest things , as appeared in him who confessed freely that he plaid not at dice , for that he was ashamed any one should see him lose his time in so bad an exercise . but on the other side , shame diuerts vs many times from commendable things ; yea , and from those which are profitable , and which concerne the preseruation of our liues . as for example , you see at banquets , some being prest to drink extraordinarily , are ashamed to refuse them which inuite them ; and ouer-ruled by their vniust entreaties , fall into surfeits which ruine their health . others in like manner seeing thēselues importuned or coniured in bad companies , not to bee so modest before their friends , suffer themselues to be carried away , to commit great disorders , as with women , or at play , or to do other execrable villanies , for the which they are grieued in their soules , but they haue not the courage to refuse such as presse them : whereby it happens often , that flying the smoake they runne headlong into the flame , that is to say , for that they are not able to resist an imaginary shame , they fall into an eternall reproach , being blamed by all vertuous men , when they heare of their basenesse . there haue bene some also who fearing that there haue bene plots laid to kill them , or to poyson them , yet surmounted by shame , haue abandoned themselues to the danger . so dyon being aduertized of the conspiracy which was practized against him , and his host and friend calippus ; being ashamed to refuse to go whither they were both inuited , which was the place where the murther was intended , he went rashly to his death . so antipater the sonne of cassander , lost himselfe for that he durst not refuse to suppe with demetrius , where he was slaine . young hercules , the sonne of alexander the great , was surprized by polipherchon and cassander , being ashamed to refuse their requests to suppe with them , who tended only to haue a meanes to murther him . by all that we haue sayd , we may gather that shame is sometimes profitable , and sometimes pernicious ; but it is alwayes commendable , when it serues vs as a bridle to retire vs from vice . of hope and despaire . chap. . hee which sayd that hope was a dreame which presents it selfe to them that wake , hath excellently described the nature and effects of this passion . for as dreames in the night fill vs with illusions and vaine formes , which abuse vs , and which make vs imagine that wee are rich in our extreamest pouerty , that we are happy in our greatest misery , that wee enioy scepters and crownes , in the midst of bonds and irons , that wee command great empires when we are restraided in a hard and slauish captiuity ; in like manner , hope , abusing our imagination , fills our soules with vaine contentments , and represents vnto vs that all things are subiect to our power , that the whole world should receiue a law from vs ; and if that there appeare any obstacle to hinder our dessignes and desires , that we are able to surmount them . yea in the middest of our greatest disgraces , wee flatter our selues with this conceit , that humane calamities and miseries haue their bounds , and that they are weary to be alwayes about one man ; as the winds and stormes in the end breake , and are pacified after the most violent gustes . wee represent vnto our selues the constitution of heauen and earth ; wee call to mind that the starres which are in the west returne suddenly to the east , that the day followes the night , that a calme season succedes a storme , and that faire weather followes thunder and raine : finally , we beleeue that wee must assure our selues to see a change in the course of this life , and that the day which wee attend will make our condition better , and conuert our misfortunes into incomparable felicities : so as i doubt not but euen among those wretched slaues whom miseries consume in the turkes gallies , there are some which dreame and thinke of the scepter of the empire of asia . wherefore an ancient sayd , that there was nothing so common in the life of men as hope , which remaines euen to them that are depriued of all other good and content : for that the miserable after an absolute shipwracke , entertaine hope , as the last anchor of their ruined fortune . but to leaue the illusion and deceipts which wee frame in our selues ; who knowes not that when they are well ordered , they serue to mollifie the paines , and to incounter all the crosses and accidents of this life ? what had become of the romans after the battaile of cannas , wherein they lost the flower and chiefe of their men of war , if a better hope had not reuiued their courages , to reuenge the losse and disgrace which they had receiued ? had not their common-weath without it , bene a prey to hanniball , and the carthaginians ? had not their estate beene ouerthrowne , and their rich prouinces made desolate ? but these great personages representing vnto themselues that many suffer shipwracke in the port ; and contrariwise others , saue themselues among rockes ; fortified them selues with hope , which made them not only repaire this losse , but also to giue a law vnto the victors . how many other estates , empires , and kingdomes , through hope haue maintained themselues against the iniuries of fortune ? during the reigne of charles the sixt , in that great deluge of english , which ouerflowed in a manner all france ; in those domesticke treacheries , in that generall reuolt of all the orders of the realme , what had become of the fortune of france , if those great ornaments of our history , those worthy men , which liued at that time , by an infamous basenesse had abandoned the ship in the middest of a storme , and had lost all hope to preserue the king , and his crowne ? was not their hope seconded by a thousand miracles which god wrought to preuent the shipwracke of the state ? and in our dayes , amidst the powerfull conspiracies of spaine , and the violent factions of the league , into what misery had this goodly crowne falne , if great henry , the miracle of our age , full of good hope , which neuer abandons great resolutions , had not supported it , and by his va●o●r ouerthrowne all the obstacles , which his enemies had set before his throne to hinder his rising ? but if hope hath great power to maintaine publique fortunes , it hath no lesse to assure those of priuate mē . so as we may say , that most men liue by hope , & entertaine thēselues with the future , this passion neuer abandoning any man vntil he goes to the graue . wherfore if we shold search out the nature of any passiō exactly , it is of this in particular , which hath such power ouer the other affections of our soules . we must then gather the definitions dispersed here and there in the writings of philosophers . hope , said an ancient , is an expectation of good : hope , sayd another , is a cert●●●e cōfidence which we haue , that what we imagine shal befal vs. and a third writes , that hope is a motion and passion of the soule , by the which , vpon the impression which wee haue of a future good , which presents it selfe to our imagination as difficult to obtaine , we endeauour to pursue it , conceiuing that we are able to attain vnto it , and in the end to get the possession . from this last definition , which doth explicate the true nature of hope , wee gather that there are foure conditions required in the obiect . first , it must haue bounty , for that hope tends alwayes to that which is good . wherein it differs from feare , which hath for obiect the euill wherewith man is threatned . secondly , this good which wee hope for must bee to come , for that the presence and enioying of this takes away the hope . so alexander going into india hoped to conquer it , but hauing finished his conquest , this hope vanished , and was conuerted into the enioying and possession of that which hee had hoped for . so in this life we hope for the glory of heauen , but when we shall enioy it ▪ this hope shall bee quencht and extinguished . and therein hope differs from ioy , which is a contentment of a good which we possesse . thirdly , there must bee a paine and difficulty to attain vnto the good whereof wee haue conceiued an hope , for no man hopes for that which is in his power . and therefore the philosophers obserue , that hope is alwayes mixt with some feare , by reason of the obstacles which present themselues , and may hinder mans enioying of the good hee hopes for ; wherein she differs from desire , which extends generally to all kinde of good , without any apprehension of difficulty : and therefore desire belongs to the concupiscible appetite , whereas hope is subiect to the irascible . fourthly , amidst the difficulties which man doth apprehend in getting the good which he hopes for ; yet notwithstanding hee must imagine , that it is in his power to preuent all the obstacles which might hinder his enioying ; for no man did euer hope for things which hee holds impossible . so caesar would neuer haue hoped to finish the conquest of gaule , if he had not first perswaded himselfe that the industry of a generous captaine , might bring that enterprize to a good end , although it were difficult and dangerous . whereby wee may gather , that although hope hath her seat in the irascible appetite , which hath the good for her obiect : yet as it is the property of powers indued with knowledge , to excite those which are capable to desire , representing their obiects vnto them ; her motions depend of the imagination which man frames in himselfe of a good which he beleeues confidently to obtaine , notwithstanding that he apprehends great crosses in the pursuit . for man , who is a credulous creature , and alwayes flatters himselfe in his hopes , doth also assure himselfe to compasse that which he thinkes is not aboue his forces , although hee bee not ignorant that hee shall finde some resistance . so as this beleefe begets in the irascible part a certain confidence , which makes him vndertake that which he desireth , assuring himselfe to surmount all obstacles which may crosse him and hinder his enioying . and it is certaine , that euen bruite beasts haue motions of hope and despaire as well as men . for the interior passions of creatures discouer themselues , and are knowne by their exterior motions , wherewith they are agitated ; whereof we haue daily experience , in the sparrow-hauk , tassel , sacre , lanner , and other hawkes , who seeing their game farre from them , and not in their power to ouertake it , they neuer bate after it , nor offer to pursue it ; whereas if they see it in a reasonable distance , they presently take their flight to seaze vpon it . and in like manner the lyon going to hunt after his prey , to satisfie his hunger , runnes not after those beasts which hee thinkes can easily flye from his fury , but sets vpon those which hee imagines cannot escape him . but wee must vnderstand , that to frame the hope of a-any thing in our soules , it is not necessary that wee know euidently that it shall happen , and that it is in our power to attaine vnto it , but it sufficeth that wee haue some opinion and coniecture grounded vpon the apparēce , which makes vs beleeue that there is meanes to obtaine it : for that when wee perswade our selues vpon any reason whatsoeuer , as imagining that others haue attained vnto it , that it hath at other times succeeded , and that the same euents attend vs ; that time assists vs , that the place is fauourable vnto vs , that we haue friends , or that wee are able enough of our selues to compasse our designes ; we fill our selues with hope , and doubt not but all will succeede happily . so as there is no reason how light soeuer , but it is sufficient to make vs hope for that which we propound vnto our selues ; wherein it seemes , that amidst the miseries of this life , and all publicke and priuate calamities , which otherwise would be intollerable , the wise prouidence of god hath prouided vs this remedy , to fortifie our constancy and to keepe vs from shrinking , and falling vnder the burthen of aduersities . the which the poets would represent vnto vs , vnder the fable of pandora , in whose boxe ( beeing emptied of all good things ) there remained nothing but onely hope vpon the brimme of the vessell . and therefore a rhodian being cast into an obscure and cruell prison , among serpents and venemous beasts , and coniured by some of his friends , to make an end of so many miseries by a voluntary death , he answered wisely , that man hopes still whilst he breathes : as if he would say , that death onely could depriue man of the hopes of life , and a better fortune . the persons which fill themselues with hopes , are first of all those which haue had a long experience and a perfect knowledge of the affaires of the world . as for example , such as haue beene in many incounters , and haue gotten great victories , promise still vnto themselues a power to vanquish , yea , when they haue beene beaten . and therefore that romane consull which escaped from the battaile of cannas , where his companion had beene slaine , and the whole romane army defeated , was commended for that he hoped well of the common-weale . and heere wee must remember what wee haue formerly said , that the obiect of hope is a difficult good , but yet possible to attaine , for thereby followes , that one thing may contribute , and serue to entertaine our hope after two manners ; that is to say , either in making the thing truely possible , and put the effects into our power : or at the least , in making vs beleeue that it is not impossible , and that we may attaine vnto it by meanes , which are not aboue our forces . in the first sort , whatsoeuer makes vs more powerfull increaseth our hopes . and in this kinde wee put riches , armes , courage , crownes , empires , yea , and a long experience of things : for so we see that men powerfull in wealth assure themselues to compasse any thing . as philip of macedon said , that hee could force any place whereas money might enter . and great kings measuring enterprizes , rather by their power and courage , then the obstacles which present themselues , haue an imagination to accomplish them happily . and in like manner experience , by meanes whereof man hath gotten the knowledge of meanes fit to procure things to succeed easily , makes him cōceiue a certain hope , to haue good successe of that which hee proiects . wherefore an ancient said , that no man apprehends to vndertake that which hee hath learned well and can do accordingly , in the second sort , whatsoeuer makes vs esteeme things easie , or which diminish the difficulties , may also serue to fortifie our hopes . and of this sort an exquisite knowlege , or a powerfull remonstrance may contribute much . and therefore in great battailes , generalls haue beene accustomed to represent vnto their souldiers their valours tryed in many occasions , the little courage of their enemies ; and whatsoeuer may assure them of the victory . in this manner their experience may preuaile much : for by the experience which a man hath of things , he perswades himselfe that what others hold impossible , may notwithstanding succeede happily . it is true also that experiēce may weaken hope , according to the resolution or want of courage where it resides . wherefore aristotle said , that old men haue weak or bad hopes , for that the long experience they haue of things , the changes they haue seene , the deceits which they haue tried , the fraudes wherewith they haue beene circumuented , the practises wherewith they haue beene abused , and the little integrity and sincerity they haue found in the actions of men ; fills them with iealousie and distrust . adding moreouer , that they liue rather by memory then hope ; for that they haue a small share in future things , which is the ground of hope , and that they haue a great idea of what is past , which serues to entertaine the memory . but contrariwise young men are full of hopes , for three reasons grounded vpon three conditions , required in the obiect of this passion , which we haue sayd should bee a good not yet present ; difficult , but yet possible to obtaine ; for young men haue little knowledge of what is past , and haue a great part in the future , by reason of their age : in regard whereof memory being of things past , and hope of things to come , they do not much build vppon their memory , but feed themselues with hopes , which are many times vaine . and moreouer young men haue much heate , and aboundance of spirit , which puffes vp their hearts , and makes them aspire to great matters , little esteeming any difficulties which present themselues . thirdly , as they that haue receiued no repulse in their enterprizes , nor found any obstacles in their dessignes , they perswade themselues easily that they shal attaine vnto their desires , young men hauing no experience of the crosses , and hinderance which are found in affaires , imagine that all will succeed happily , and therefore they are still full of hope . they also which are surprized with wine conceiue great hopes , both by reason of the heate and aboundance of spirits , caused by the excesse of wine , as also for that their spirits being drowned in wine , cannot apprehend the dangers , nor foresee the obstacles which they may find in their dessignes . for the same reason mad men , who are neither capable of counsell nor iudgement , are easily carried to hope , for all that which they imagine ; and they vndertake foolishly whatsoeuer comes into their fancies ; for as aristotle sayth , to speake of all things and leaue nothing vncensured , is a marke of folly ; so to attempt all things , and to hope for all , is a signe of little iudgement . if against this which we haue propounded , ( that young men , such as are ouertaken with wine , and mad-men are commonly full of great hopes ) they obiect , that neither the one nor the other haue any kind of experience whereof they may make vse , nor any firme resolution , neither yet any great power to effect their dessignes , all which are necessary conditions to frame hopes ; they must remēber that although these men in effect haue none of these qualities , but are for the most part vnprouided , yet they are rich in imagination , and thinke they enioy them . and we haue sayd , that the obiects of hope , make not their impression in our soules , by the truth alone of things , but also by the vaine imaginations which wee frame in our selues . wherefore although they bee without experience , without resolution , and without great meanes to effect what they haue propounded , yet they do promise much vnto themselues , and hope for all . and although that loue be the fountaine of all the passions of the soule , yet hope may be the cause that we loue any one . for hope may propound vnto it selfe two things , that is to say , the good which wee hope for , and the meanes to obtaine it . wherefore an obiect of good presenting it selfe vnto vs , which wee are not able to attaine vnto , but by the assistance of some other ; for this reason , hope doth also regard those that assist vs , and make the thing easie . seeing then that hope regards the obiects which wee propound vnto our selues , vndoubtedly loue is the root and cause of hope ; for that we hope not for any thing but that wherewith wee are in loue , and whereunto we haue tied our affections , desiring passionately to enioy it . but for that hope regards him which doth open to vs the meanes , and makes the thing possible ; loue is a bud of hope , seeing that we loue him , for that we hope to attaine vnto our desires by his assistance . so as the first impression which the obiect wee pursue makes in our soules , is an effect of the loue wee beare it , conceiuing it to bee a good fit for vs. but the consideration of the meanes to attaine vnto it , which comes from others , makes a second impression in vs , and induceth vs to loue him that doth procure it , representing him vnto vs as profitable vnto our dessigne , and therefore worthy to be beloued . touching that which concernes the effects of hope , we will not make any particular discourse , but content our selues to say , that as the north star is the marriners guide who looke continually vpon her light to assure their nauigation : so hope is that which inflames vs to all the difficult actions wee vndertake . and as the brightnes of this star doth fill them with ioy that saile by sea , but when as it shines not they are dismaide , & feare hourely to perish by the violence of some storme , or to see their ship split vpon some rocke : so whilest wee haue any remander of hope , our soules are content ; but if it bee quite vanished , we hold out selues miserable , and begin to neglect and forget our selues . the first effect of hope is , that it breeds a singular contēt in vs , which makes our pursuites pleasing . wherefore all the philosophers concurre in this maxime , that hope fortifies our resolutions , and makes them more prompt in their actions . the which is for two reasons . the first , for that she hath for her obiect a good hard to bee obtained . but the apprehension of the difficulty , which presents it selfe in the pursuite of the good whereunto wee doe aspire , doth vsually make vs gather our forces together , to vanquish all obstacles , and to attaine vnto it , notwithstanding all the difficulties that may bee encountered : and therefore wee imploy more care and diligence , by meanes whereof wee attaine more easily to the end of our dessignes . secondly , hope breeds this pleasure and sweetnes whereof wee haue spoken , which makes vs more actiue and more ready to pursue that which we desire ; for that we behold nothing painful wherin we take deligh● ▪ wee must then remember here , what we haue spoken elsewhere , that hope is a sweete imagination which we frame in our selues , of a good whereunto wee aspire . and that this imagination begetts in our soules a second contentment , for that it is accompanied with this beleefe , that wee may attaine vnto it . wherefore as pleasure makes all actions delightfull vnto men , so the content we receiue from our hopes ( according vnto the philosophers ) makes vs to pursue with more heate and lesse paine , that which wee haue once conceiued in our thoughts . this ioy which proceeds from a certaine hope we haue of enioying , deriuing from the soule , disperseth it selfe into all the members of man , the which do ioyfully receiue the impressions of the mouing faculty , yeelding vpon this occasion a more prompt obedience to execute the commandements of the irascible , the which of the one side is inflamed with desire to incounter & vanquish whatsoeuer opposeth it selfe against her , and on the other she is sweetly entertained in this resolution , by the pleasure which imaginatiō giues her , representing that shee may vanquish all these obstacles , and be victorious in this combate , and in the end obtaine the good whereunto she aspires . but particularly , this ioy falles about the heart , which sends it backe againe and makes it ascend vnto the eies and countenance . wherefore we reade in their faces that are full of good hope , the contentment which their imagination giues them . in regard of the ioy and cōtentment which hope giues vs , wee do easily deuoure all the toyles and paines which present themselues in our pursuites , especially when the good which we pursue is endued with some excellent perfection , which makes vs to esteeme it greatly , or to loue it ardently . as for example , at the seege of troy , the grecians were not discouraged with the tediousnesse of the time , nor with the toyles and dangers of warre ; for that they imagined the beauty of hellen deserued their long labor to restore her to her husband , and to reuenge the reproach and infamy of greece . so iacob being passionately in loue with faire rachell , hee patiently endured the rigors of her father , the toyles of his seruice , and the afflictions of his mind , for that he liued daily in hope of this in comparable beauty : and therefore hope hath so great power in humane affaires , in which there is found some kinde of difficulty . the laborer would not expose himselfe so freely to the rigor of the aire , nor endure with such patience the iniuries of times , in tilling his land , if hee did not promise vnto himselfe a rich haruest for the fruit of his labour : the souldier would not cast himselfe into dangers , he would not mount vp to breaches , nor thrust himselfe into the fury of combates , if the expectance of glory , or hope of booty did not animate his courage . the merchant would not passe through rockes , fires , waues , and stormes , running from sea to sea , and from port to port , if hee did not promise vnto himselfe great wealth , in recompence of his voyages and trauailes . yea , alexander himselfe going to the warre of asia , where hee should expose himselfe to a thousand dangers , protested that he was wholly thrust on by hope to enioy all the glory and treasures of the east , by subduing those barbarians . so as hope is as it were , the soule of goodliest actions , making vs to surmount all the difficulties and obstacles , which might hinder the execution by the mollifying of our resolutions . yea , it is certaine , that courage hath alwayes beene held an effect of good hope : for when as man hopes to surmount those fearefull things , which seeme to threaten him , he goes couragiously to encounter them ; whereas when he is surprized by feare , he faints , and abandons himselfe vnto the misfortune , his despaire rising from the difficulties which he apprehends in the good which he should hope for . but to haue full knowledge of this subiect , and of the whole matter , we must in the end of this chapter shew , how despaire is contrary to hope , and seek the reason why it may sometimes make men valiant , and to winne great victories . first of all , you must remember what wee haue formerly sayd , that among the passions of the soule , they obserue two kinds of opposition . the first is found among those that haue contrary things for obiects : and that is onely a-among the passions of the concupiscible part : as for example , betwixt loue and hatred , whereof the one regards the good , and the other the euill . the second is obserued betwixt those that in truth regard the same obiect , but with diuerse considerations , and that is found among the irascible passions , whereof the one seekes the good , and the other flies it , by reason of the difficulty which doth inuiron it . as for example , courage and feare do both regard an imminent danger , which presents it selfe to the imagination ; but courage lookes vppon it to encounter and vanquish it , and feare regards it to auoyd it and flye from it , if it be in her power . after this manner then despaire is contrary to hope , for that the obiect of hope which is a good difficult to obtaine , drawes vs of the one side , that is to say , so farre as wee doe imagine a power to obtaine it . but it doth reiect vs on the other side , as when we apprehend , that wee haue no meanes to enioy it : for this apprehension daunts our resolution : or that , as aristotle teacheth , the impossibility which wee imagine in things , makes vs to giue ouer their pursuit . wherefore in this consideration , despaire is quite contrary to hope . but some one may say , how comes it that many times in warre , despaire makes men valiant , and giues them great victories , as well as hope , for that it is not the custom of nature to produce the like effects from contrary causes ? to which we answer , that when in the midst of despaire men resolue to fight valiantly , as we reade of the english in the plaines of poictiers , where they tooke one of our kings prisoner ; it happens for that they haue not lost all hope : for they that see no apparence of safety by flying , and apprehend that it cannot preserue them from falling into their enemies hands , but will purchase them eternall shame with their miserie ; losing all hope of that side , they resume new courage , and resolue to sell their liues dearely , and to reuenge their deaths gloriously . wherefore great captaines haue alwaies held opinion , that enemies should not bee thrust into despaire beeing put to flight , but rather make them a bridge of gold , & to giue them meanes to passe riuers , lest that finding themselues staied , and despairing of all safety , they should take more courage , and generously reuenge their first basenesse , by a cruell slaughter of their enemies . of choler . chap. . of all the passions of the soule , there is not any one that takes such deepe root , or extends her branches farther then choler ; wherof , neither age , condition , people , nor nation , are fully exempt . there are whole countries which liuing vnder a sharp & rough climate , are not acquainted with pleasures : there are others , who contenting ▪ themselues with those benefits which nature presents vnto them , are not enflamed with any ambition . some there be , to whom misery is familiar , as they fear not any accidents of fortune . but there is not any , ouer whom choler doth not exercise her power , and shew the excesse of her rage : yea , she enflames whole kingdomes and empires ; whereas the other passions doe onely trouble and agitate priuate persons . wee haue neuer seene a whole nation surprized with the loue of one woman . it was neuer foūd , that a whole city hath beene transported with a desire to heape vp treasure : ambition doth puffe vp but certaine spirits . but we see cities , prouinces , and whole states , enflamed with choler , and transported by this fury , with a publicke conspiracy of great & small , young and olde , men , and children , magistrates , and multitude : we see commonalties , whom this fury hath incensed , runne all to armes , to reuenge a disgrace , or a wrong , which they pretend hath beene done them . wee haue also seene great and powerfull armies , which haue bene the terror of the world , ruine themselues by this fury , which hath thrust them into mutiny against their commanders . wherefore if there be any passion which is pernicious vnto man-kind , it is this , which seemes neither to haue bounds nor limits , nor any shew of reason . it shall bee therefore fit to know the nature , properties , and effects thereof ; to the end , wee may finde out some remedy , to diuert the miseries which shee brings into the world . let vs begin by the definition , which giues a full light of the essence of the thing , and makes vs to know perfectly . choler is an ardent passion , which vpon the apparence there is to be able to reuenge our selues , incites vs to a feeling of a contempt and sensible iniury , which we beleeue hath been vniustly done , either to our selues , or to those we loue . whereby it appeares first , that choler is accompanied with a heate , which is framed and ingendred in vs , for that this passion enflames the blood and spirits , which are about the heart , by meanes of the gall , which in this heat exhales it selfe , and ascends vnto the braine , where it troubles our imagination . this heate differs from that which proceedes from loue , for that the heate which is found in loue , tending to the thing beloued to vnite it selfe with it , is mixt with a certaine sweetenesse , so as the philosophers compare it to the moderate heate of the ayre or blood . wherefore we say , that sanguine complexions are most capable of loue , & that the bounty of the liuer wheras the blood is framed , induceth to loue . but the heate of choler is boyling , full of bitternesse , and accompanied with sharpenes , which tends to the destruction of the obiect which it pursues , and is properly like to the heate of a great fire , or to adust choler extraordinarily mooued , which consumes the subiect whereunto it is fixed , and therefore the philosophers maintaine , that it proceedes from the gall . it appeares also by the definition of choler , that she hath alwayes for obiect the particular persons which haue wronged vs. wherein she differs from hatred , which extends to a multitude of men . as for example , wee detest all murtherers , all theeues , all poysoners , and all slanderers : euen as wee abhorre all serpents , vipers and venemous beasts . and therefore it is not sufficient to satisfie our choler , that he that hath done vs wrong fall into some disaster , which might suffice to giue satisfaction to our hatred : but moreouer ( to giue vs full contentment ) hee must know that we haue procured him this crosse , and that wee are the authors of the reuenge and afflictions which he endures . so vlysses hauing put out the eye of cyclops , dissembled his name no longer , as he had done before , but would make himselfe knowne vnto him ; as if he had not bene sufficiently reuenged of this monster , vnlesse hee had let him know that he was the author of his disaster . we learne also by the same definition , that to incense vs to choller , it is necessary , that he who is theobiect haue done vs wrōg ; or to some one whō we loue , or that belongs vnto vs. as for example , wee are discontented with those that wound our reputation , which attempt against our liues ; which crosse our pleasures , or vndertake any thing against our kinsfolkes or friends : but wee cannot bee angry with him which causeth a iew to be put vnto the chaine at constantinople , or a moore to be whipt at rome ; for that the outrage done vnto these persons doth nothing concerne vs. but if it doe casually happen that one man is angry against another , hauing receiued no cause of distaste from him , only by a certaine antipathy and contrariety of humors ▪ the reason is , for that in this naturall antipathy , he that is angry against the other , conceiues in his imaginatiō that hee is able to do him some wrong , or at the least he hath such a distaste of him as it is troublesome vnto him to looke on him . so as this antipathy supplies the place of an iniury , and workes the same effect that the imagination did to haue receiued some wrong . wee gather also from the same definitiō , that to excite choler we must imagine that wee are able to execute the reuenge whereunto we aspire : and therefore wee dare not be angry , or at the least verie lightly , against kings , and great personages that haue wronged vs ; for that wee know their authority protects them from our reuenge . yea there hath bene a father , whose son a great king hauing slaine in the middest of his cups with the shot of an arrow , supprest his griefe in such sort ( seeing hee could not reuenge it ) as forbearing to complaine of this monstous cruelty , hee commended the princes dexterity in shooting . but we may say , that this actiō sauored more of flattery then of constancy , for the last obseruation we must remember that the causes which excite choler are not alwayes true , but many times are such as we frame in our owne imaginations ; for this passion with her other defects hath also that euill , that she is witty to finde out meanes to cloake her violence and fury . as it appeared in that roman , who transported with this fury , supposed three crimes to put three innocents to death , vnder some colour of iustice. by that which we haue formerly sayd , it may be gathered that choler is alwayes accompanied with some kind of pleasure , which proceeds from the hope we haue to reuenge the wrong which hath beene done vs. for there is a content to promise vnto our selues to bee able to attaine vnto that which wee desire passionately ; whereas no man man wisheth for those things which he thinkes are aboue his power . wherefore as he that is incensed against any one , pursues a reuenge whereunto hee thinkes hee may attaine , this hope fills his soule with ioy , and giues him a singular content ; wherefore homer makes achilles to say , that choler disperseth it selfe in the hearts of generous men , with a sweetnes which exceeds that of hony . but this great content doth not only arise from the hope wee haue to bee able to reuenge our selues ; but it also proceeds from the working of our imagination , which thinking continually of the same obiect of reuenge , breeds in vs a pleasure like vnto that which they feele that haue delightful dreams , and which take pleasure in their vaine apparitions . yet we must remember that choler is also full of griefe and bitternesse , for that it propounds the iniury receiued , the which shee cannot easily disgest , presupposing that it is accompanied with some notable contempt which tends to the impayring of his honor and reputation . so as the sweetnesse which is found growes from the opinion of reuenge ; and the bitternesse proceeds from the conceite of the iniury which we cannot endure . finally , as our choler is inflamed by the contempt and bad opinion which they seeme to haue of vs ; as there are diuerse kinds of contempt , so it may grow from diuerse subiects . for many times although the contempt be not accompanied with any iniury , making only a shew that they do not hold vs in such esteeme as we thinke wee are worthy of , this simple contempt prouoketh vs to choler , holding our selues wronged , for that wee are not honored as we thinke wee haue deserued . as if we should yeeld to a king all the honors of the world , and yet forbeare to giue him the title of a king , this were sufficient to enflame his choler : at it appeared in alexander , to whom darius hauing written a letter full of great and large offers , but had forgot to giue him the title of king ; this generous spirit bare it so impatiently , as in the end of that which he sent for an answere , hee added for the last conclusion of all their conferences by writing , finally , when thou writest vnto me , remember that it is not only to a king , but euen to thy king that thou writest . the which hee added for that hee had defeated darius in battaile . in truth he that yeelds not to any one the honour that is due vnto him , makes shew to contemne him , and that he deserues not the honor which he doth enioy : for that if hee regarded him as hee ought , hee would not seeke to diminish those honors which all the world besides yeeld vnto him . and therefore we may prouoke any one to choler by our silence , for that it may bee a signe of our contempt . but the wrong wee receiue from those which depraue vs openly , and dishonor vs either in deed or word without any cause , is more hard to disgest . for that he which doth this outrage without any subiect , makes a visible demonstration that he doth not esteeme vs : it being most euident that when as wee hold any good regard of a man , we are careful not to offend him without cause ; yea wee endeauor to insinuate our selues into his friendship . there is another kind of contempt which prouokes choler more then that whereof wee haue spoken ; as when any one takes a pleasure to wrong vs and to crosse our dessignes , reaping no profit by the crosses which he giues vs , but the contentment to haue crost vs , and to haue hindred the course of our intentions . for it is an apparent signe of a wonderful contempt , seeing that he wrongs vs in a thing whereof hee reapes no profit but the discontent hee giues vs , & withall he shewes to haue an opinion that wee are not able to hurt him ; otherwise he would apprehend to wrong vs vpon so weake a subiect : and that hee attends no kind of goodnesse from vs ; for if hee did hope to reape any profit by our friendship , hee would seeke it and cherish it by all good offices , and not take that liberty to discontent vs. so as hauing so many testimonies of contempt , and of the little esteeme hee makes of vs , we thinke wee haue iust cause to bee moued , and to reuenge our selues of him . but when as this contempt proceeds to outrages , and that any one without cause seekes to blemish our reputation by scandalous reports made in companies : then our choler hath no bounds , but is inflamed beyond measure , and makes vs burne with desire to reuenge so great an affront . in like manner he , who without prouocation doth vs wrong both by word and deed , and who dissembles not his bad disposition , but doth publish it in all places , makes shew that hee doth wonderfully contemne vs. for as he is not ignorant , that so sensible an iniury deserues reuēge , seeing that he makes no difficulty to doe it , but in despight defames vs in all companies where he comes ; hee shewes plainely how basely he esteemes vs , and that hee thinkes wee are either too faint-hearted to vndertake , or to weake to execute the reuenge , which so sensible an affront deserues . in the meane time we suppose that hee which hath wronged vs in this manner , doth it for his pleasure , hauing not giuen him any apparent subiect of discontent : for if it were to repell a former iniury which hee had receiued from vs , it were no more a contempt or an outrage , but a reuenge which he would take of vs. but you must not wonder at that which we haue said , that there are some people , which take a delight to commit outrages : and the reason is , for that naturally men cannot endure that any one should exceede them in those things wherein they take delight : yea , they desire to excell those whom they thinke are competitors with them in that which they vndertake . wherefore if they encounter any one that is able to oppose himselfe against thē , they contend with him , and vpon the first occasion doe him some affront , to the end they may shewe how much they exceede him in power . and therefore yong men , and such as are rich and powerfull , doe most commonly fall into this excesse . for young men , and such as haue their blood hot and boyling , are wonderfully ready to commit insolencies : and as if they wanted better imployments , they busie thēselues to doe harme ; yea , vnto those which haue not offended them . whereof wee haue great and notable examples in the life of alcibiades , who scandalized the whole city of athens , by the insolency of his actions . rich men in like manner , and such as are powerfull , are full of this vaine ambition to seem great , by the outrages they doe to their inferiours , imagining that this insolency is a marke of their greatnesse . for they presuppose that they are farre aduanced aboue those , whom they dare so visibly wrong . and therefore they take a certaine kinde of content , to do them some affront , which is also the ordinary end that they propound vnto themselues , which take a delight to wrong others . finally , we must remember , that men are commonly moued to choler , when as they see themselues contemned in any of those manners which we haue related . and if we shall seeke the cause in the center , wee shall finde that the reason is , for that men desire passionately to see themselues honoured , and they beleeue , that such as are inferior vnto them , bee it in nobility , power , vertue , or any other eminent quality , are bound to yeeld them all sorts of duty and respect . rich men also will bee reuerenced and respected by the poorer sort , who are inferior vnto them in the goods of fortune . and hee that is indowed with singular eloquence , desires that such as haue not attained to the like perfection , should acknowledge the aduantage he hath ouer them . in like manner men of authority and command , will haue such as are subiect to their gouernement , honour them with their seruice . and if their inferiours faile to yeeld them the honor which they think is due vnto them , they cannot endure this iniury , but fall into rage ; which makes them to seeke all occasions to punish this contempt . and therefore it was truly said , that the indignation of a king is great and fearefull ; for that when as a great king is incensed against any one that is not of his quality , although he temper and moderate his choler for a time , yet hee smothers it in his brest , and is neuer satisfied vntill hee hath made him feele the effects of his power , that durst presume to offend him . wherefore an ancient said , that choler encountering with a great power , was like a thunder-bolt , which breakes in peeces whatsoeuer stands in its way . but not onely kings , but euery priuate person is impatient to see himselfe contemned by those which are his inferiours . and to speake truth , there is nothing but the wisedome of god , and the law of iesus christ , that can pull out of our soules , this feeling of a contempt , or of an iniurie receiued vnworthily . for a conclusion of this chapter , we will obserue , that philosophers make three kindes of choler : and that as among serpents , there are aspickes , vipers , and dragons , whose poyson encreaseth daily ; so they hold opinion , that of these diuerse kindes of choler , some are accompanied with more violence , and shew more fire then the rest . for there is a kinde of choler , whose motions are sudden and prompt and which enflame vpon the first occasions , and the first obiects which present themselues . aristotle calls those that are subiect to this passion , sudden , actiue , cholerick , and adust ; for that this suddennesse to bee mooued , riseth from the abundance of adust choler , or from the gall . but as it is kindled suddenly , so it is quencht with little paine , like vnto the waues of the sea , which rise and breake at the same instant there is another kind of choler , which takes roote , and is fashioned in the soule , by a long continuance of time , during the which , man doth represent vnto himselfe the forme of that party which hath wronged him , and preserues the memory of the iniury he hath receiued . aristotle tearmes these men sharpe , bitter , and secret : such was the choler of achilles , which the death o● so many braue princes slaine at the siege of troy , during his despight , could hardly mollifie . there is a third kinde ( although it differs not much from the second ) the which doth wholly transport men , torments them perpetually , and neuer giues them any rest , vntill they haue satisfied their reuenge . aristotle calls those that are agitated-with this frenzy , violent , outragious , and insupportable . the first is found in the best dispositions , but the two other are signes of bad inclinations . to conclude , there is not any one of them , but we should auoyde and flie from , as a poyson which kills charity , which should shine in all the motions and actions of christians . and if we are at any time surprized , let vs bee angry , but sinne not ; let nature worke her first effect , but let vs stay her violence , and aboue all , let not the sunne go downe vpon our wrath . of those against whom we are angry . chap. . hee which said that man was a creature which is passionate for glory , seemes to haue discouered all the roots of choler : for if we obserue the obiects which excite it , and against whom we are angry , we shall finde it generally true , that it neuer discloseth it selfe in our hearts , nor is framed in our soules , but vpon a conceit we haue , that they seeke to diminish our glory , and to blemish our reputation , with some notable contempt , or by some great outrage which wee cannot beare : so as this passion is kindled first , by a contempt and an iniury which we imagine we haue receiued , the which maketh an impression in our soules : the griefe and discontent to haue beene wronged , makes vs to seeke meanes for reuenge , beeing thrust on by the nature of griefe , which alwayes seekes ease , and which in this occasion cannot finde it but onely in reuenge , the desire whereof makes his heart to swell , and stirres vp his courage . for it is certaine , that reuenge quencheth the heate of choler , and we are pacified , when as wee see the wrong which we haue receiued , sufficiently punished : for that we conceiue by this meanes that our reputation is repaired , and the contempt reuenged . but before this reuenge , the griefe of the iniury stickes fast vnto our soules and imflames , vs to seeke reparation . an empresse of constantinople hauing let slippe certaine words of contempt against narses that generous captaine , who had reduced italy vnder the obedience of the empire : and sayd in disdaine that they must send for that eunuch and make him spinne amongst her women ; this valiant man being incensed at this outrage , protested in the middest of his griefe , that hee would weaue such a webbe for the emperour and his empresse , as all their power and industry should not be able to vndo : and thereupon he drew the lombards into italy , and dismembred those goodly prouinces from the empire : whereby it appeares how dangerous it is to incense a great spirit . secondly , when we are much transported with passion , and do vehemently affect any one thing , wherein we are crost & haue some obstacle giuen vs , be it directly or indirectly , by ouert meanes , or secret practizes , our choler is inflamed against those that are the authors of this let : and therefore sicke men are angry with such as to repaire their health , refuse them water or fruits , or some other thing which they earnestly desire : and they that are in loue , frowne on them that flatter not their passion , and which seeke to diuert them from the pursuite of that they loue . but aboue all , men are bitterly incensed , when as they contemne their present condition , and the estate whereunto some calamity or their owne indiscretion hath brought them . hence grow the complaints and vexations of the miserable , of poore people , of the diseased , of those which apprehend some notable afafliction , and of those which see themselues exposed to the violence of the mighty , yea there haue beene men which haue died of sorrow & griefe , for that they were reprocht with an imperfection of nature which they broght with them into the world . moreouer we are discontented against those who wee thinke are the authors or abettors of any disastrous accident which wee expected not , holding them for our friends . for as any great felicity which befalls vs beyond our expectation , fills vs with extraordinary ioy ; so great misfortunes which happen , not foreseene , and contrary to our expectance , afflicts vs strangely , and excites vs wonderfully to choler . and sometimes the circumstance of places where wee are , the humors , wherein we are , the time wherein they take vs , with a thousand such like serue to prouoke vs to wrath . as for example when wee are sad and full of sorrow , choler doth easily become mistresse of our senses opprest with griefe : and in like manner , if they giue vs any words of cōtempt in cōpany or before such persons as we loue , we beare thē impatiently , and let slippe the reines to choler . these are the chiefe roots of anger which breeds in our soules , and these are the powerfull obiects that may excite it . but moreouer there are other mouing causes which haue power to prouoke it , although they bee alwayes grounded vpō the contempt which is done vs : for men are also discontented against those that cause them to suffer some indignity , or that scoffe at them , or at such persons whose reputations are as deere vnto them as their owne . so the cittizens of millan being beseeged by the emperour frederike , hauing spoken something against the honor of the empresse , the emperour bare it so impatiently , as hauing them in his power , he caused them to suffer all the indignities that might bee inflicted vpon the vanquished ; yea hee ruined their citty and sowed it with salt , to take from them all hope of rising or to see it built againe . the reason of this extraordinary choler is , for that these opprobrious scoffes are signes of a notable contempt . men are also moued against those which do them some sensible outrage , the which brings no profit to the author , but dishonors him that receiues it . wherefore choler made a powerfull impression in the soule of the emperour iustinian the second , by reason of the outrage which they of constantinople ( deposing him from the empire ) caused him to suffer , in cutting off his nose ; who being restored to his estate , whensoeuer there distilled any humor from his wound , hee sent for some one of them whom he thought to haue had a part in the conspiracy , and put him presently to death , or sent him into exile . the reason is , for that these kinds of outrages blemish the things wherein they take any kind of content , as they that are passionatly affected to armes , canno● endure to heare the profession taxed without choler : neither had it bene the meanes to winne any great fauour with caesar , alexander , and great henry , to haue made discourses vnto them in disgrace of martiall exercise . and in like manner they that loue philosophy , cannot see it contemned without perturbation . yet wee must obserue , that such as thinke they haue attained to the perfection of any thing , are not so apt to bee moued for words that are spoken to the disgrace of their profession , as they that haue but weake beginnings , and are but new apprentices ; and which thinke they haue no great opinion of them , or which know their owne defects : for these men are easily incensed for any thing that is spoken against the profession they imbrace : whereas the others being assured by the knowledge they haue of their owne merits , make shew to neglect the blame is giuen thē without iudgement . but there is no contempt more insupporable then that we receiue from our friends , and from such as wee thinke are bound to contribute to our glory : for when as wee see that insteed of aduancing our honour they seeke to blemish it , we can no longer maister our despight . wherefore we haue seene great personages , who finding themselues vnworthily intreated by their common-weale , or by their cittizens , for whose preseruations they had exposed themselues to a thousand deaths , haue borne this iniury so impatiently , as they haue giuen way to despight ; and hauing no other meanes to reuenge this ingratitude , for the last monument of their wrath , haue denied their ashes vnto their country , desiring to be buried in other places . wherefore the ancients held opinion , that the choler of brethren was cruell and hard to pacifie : for that the loue of brethren being tyed by the most powerfull bonds of nature , being once broken , choler turnes into fury , which continues euen after death . againe , men are mooued against those which hauing made profession to honour them , grow cold againe , and yeeld them not that respect which they had formerly done : for that they imagine this coldnesse proceeds from some kind of contempt , as if they had discouered some imperfection in them , the which they had not formerly obserued : for they discourse in themselues ; if these men had not changed their opinions , and if they had not conceiued some new contempt , which withdrawes thē from vs , they would liue as they had formerly done ; the which they neglecting , they attribute it to an opinion which those men haue conceiued , that insteed of honoring them , they should bee honored by them . men are also incensed against such as they hold ingrateful , and who they think haue no feeling of the benefits they haue receiued from them : for they imagine that this ingratitude is a meere contempt both of them and of their fauors , as if they had bene due vnto them , or that they were much their inferiors . they are also discontented against those which take a contrary part to that which they imbrace , which contradict their counsells ; oppose their resolutions , and which are of another opiniō in all occasions which are offred : for they conceiue that this contradiction proceeds from the little esteeme the opponent makes of their sufficiency & industry , and also from a concyit they haue to bee more capable and sufficient , which is a visible contempt . but men are wonderfully incensed to see themselues disdained by the baser sort , which are in no estimation , holding this contempt to be much more insupportable , then that of eminent persons , and which are in reputation . the reason is , for that as wee haue said , choler riseth from the indignity of the contempt ; but we cannot endure a contempt accōpanied with a greater indignity , or a more sensible outrage then that which comes from base persons , and which are our inferiours , who should yeeld all honour and respect to those that exceed him in dignity and merit . wherefore men of honor cannot endure but with much impatiency , to see themselues contemned by the scum of the people . men are also discontented against their friends , if they refuse to commend them , or to oblige them by their courtesies and fauours , but especially if they doe the contrary : that is to say , if they braue them , and reiect them , seeming to bee ignorant of their necessities , or if they accommodate not themselues to their desires and passions . and in truth it is a great signe of contempt , when as any one feignes not to know that which his friend desires and affects with passion : for that we striue to know the affaires and inclinations of those , of whom we haue any care and loue dearely . men are also incensed against those which reioyce at their calamities , or haue not the true feeling they ought . for to scorne , or take delight in them , is a marke of hatred ; and not to care for them , is a signe of contempt . men are also discontented with such as neglect them , and hold it an indifferent thing to displease them , or to doe an act that may offend them . wherefore we doe commonly hate such as bring ill newes , conceiuing that if they had borne vs the respect they ought , they would not haue beene the messēgers of that which they knew wold afflict vs , lest they shold giue vs occasion of discontent , but would haue left the cōmission to some other . in like manner they are mooued against those which take delight in scandalous speeches made to the preiudice of their reputation , or which laugh with the rest , or take pleasure to be spectators of their miseries : for that the first argues a contempt , and the second shewes an hatred . so as wee see true friends vndertake wordes of reproach deliuered in the absence of their friends , and are mooued with griefe , when as they happen to be spectators of their misfortunes . as it chanced to that poore man , who held himselfe happy to be vpon the coast of egypt , not farre from alexandria , where as pompeys slaues performed his last funerall rites , to the end hee might witnesse his griefe , and pitty for the misery of so great a personage . but men are particularly mooued against those which contemne them before foure kindes of people : that is to say , before those with whom they contend for honour and glory . as alexander could not endure the contempt of those which preferred darius before him : nor caesar such as equalled pompey vnto him . or before such as they admire , or by whom they desire to be admired : as alexander could not without griefe endure they should blemish the glory of his conquests before the athenians : for that hauing their vertue in singular recommendation , he desired in like manner to bee admired by them , and attended from them the most glorious ornaments of his triumphes . or before such as they loue and honour , as children grow into choler against those that contemne them before their parents ; and he that is passionate in loue with a woman , cannot endure an affront which is done him in her presence . or else before those by whom he will be reuerenced : as fathers grow bitter against such as discouer their imperfections to their children , by whom they cannot endure to be contemned . moreouer , men are discontented with those that contemne or offend such as are deare vnto them , whom they are bound to assist , vnlesse they will be partakers of their disgrace : the which hath bene the cause of great warres to reuenge an iniury done to the wiues , daughters sisters , and mothers of kings : princes hold thēselues interessed to reuēge the reproch done vnto those persōs , that nature hath tied vnto them by so powerfull bonds . moreouer , they are angry with such as doe not thanke them , nor acknowledge the fauours they haue receiued from them : for when as they see themselues depriued of this iust acknowledgement , which they had propounded vnto themselues , for the fruite of their good turnes ; or at the least , which they expect from the good disposition of those they held obliged vnto them , they attribute it vnto a meere contempt . and their choler is kindled against those which haue depriued them of an honour whereof they helde not themselues vnworthy . they are angry also with such as dissemble things , and make a ieast of that which they haue done seriously : for this dissimulation and diuersion of their intensions , is a signe of scorne . finally , men are discontented with those which doe good to all the world , yet do none to them in particular : for they are conceited , that such as haue no care to bind them vnto them , shewing an inclination to oblige all the world , witnesse thereby , that they esteeme them not as they do other men , but haue a most base conceit of their merit . this consideration hath bred discōtents in the courts of great princes ; for euery one holding himselfe as worthy as his companion to attain vnto the offices of state , when as any one is aduanced without mention made of them , they conceiue that his good fortune is a blemish to their glory , & makes them to be esteemed inferiour to his merite . to cōclude , forgetfulnesse prouokes choler , for that forgetfulnesse is a signe of the little care they haue of men . and this little care is a mark of contempt , for that the things whereof they make account , are most carefully recommended to memory . chap. . of the effects and remedies of choler . among all the passions that trouble & transport the soule of man , there is not any accompanied with so great violence , which shewes such brutishnesse , or that produce such fatall and tragicall effects , as choler ; which seemes properly to be the spring frō whence flowes all the miseries and ruines which happen in the world . for whereas other passiōs , as loue and ioy , desire and hope , haue certain beams of sweetnesse , which makes them pleasing ; choler is full of bitternes , & hath no sweeter obiects thē punishments , blood and slaughter , which serue to glut her reuenge . these be her delights , these are her ioyes , these are the sweetest and most pleasing spectacles which she can behold . but if you desire to see how shee is the fountaine of all the horrors which are dispersed ouer the world , and make it desolate : reade in histories of the sacking of townes , of prouinces ruined and made deserts , obseruing the euersion and ouerthrow of empires ; diademes troden vnder foote ; princes basely betrayed , and smothered by poyson ; kings murthered ; great commanders in warre cast into chaines ; and seruing as an example of humane miserie . consider that whole multitudes haue beene put to the sword , or made gallyslaues ; whole natiōs rooted out ; the temples ( wheras diuinity dwels ) prophaned ; the altars beaten down ; and whatsoeuer was most holy and most reuerend among men , vnworthily violated , and they shall find that all these tragicall spectacles are the effects of that cruell and inhumane fury . but setting apart the horror of the effects which shee produceth generally , let vs obserue the miseries whereof she is the cause in priuate persons that suffer themselues to bee transported with this passion . first then if the saying of physitians be true , that of all the infirmities wherewith we are afflicted , there are none worse nor more dangerous then those which disfigure the face of man , and which make it deformed and vnlike vnto himselfe ; we must conclude by the same reason , that of all the passions of man , there is not any one more pernitious , nor more dreadfull then choler , which alters the gracefull countenance and the whole constitution of man. for as furious and mad men shew the excesse of their rage , by the violent changes which appeare in their bodies ; euen so a man transported with choler giues great signes of the frenzie that doth afflict him : his eyes full of fire and flame which this passion doth kindle , seeme fiery & sparckling ; his face is wonderfully inflamed as by a certaine refluxe of blood which ascends from the heart : his haire stands vpright and staring with horror , his mouth cannot deliuer his words : his tongue falters , his feete and hands are in perpetuall motion . he vomits out nothing but threats , hee speakes of nothing but blood and vengeance : finally , his constitution is so altered , and his lookes so terrible , as he seemes hideous and fearefull euen to his dearest friends . what must the soule then be within , whose outward image is so horrible ? wherefor an ancient sayd , that choler was a short fury : and another maintained , that all violent choler turned into madnesse : the which we may confirme by that which is written of hercules , who growing furious knew not his owne wife and children , vpon whom he exercised his rage , tearing them inhumanely in peeces ; euen so they ouer whom choler hath gotten absolute power , forget all affinity and friendship , and without any respect make their owne kinsfolkes and friends feele the effects of their fury . for it is a passion which growes bitter against all the world , which springs aswell from loue as from hatred , and is excited aswell in sport as in the most serious actions . so as it imports not from what cause it proceeds , but with what spirit it incounters : as it imports not how great the fire is , but where it falles ; for the most violent cannot fire marble , whereas the smallest sparkles will burne straw . hereby wee gather , that this passion domineers principally in hot and fiery constitutions ; for that heate is actiue and wilfull , and giues an inclination to these kinds of violence , making vs to grow bitter easily , yea vpon the least subiect that may be . finally , to returne to our first purpose , choler doth not only disfigure the body , but many times it ruines it wholy : for some being extraordinarily moued , haue broken their veines , and vomited out their soule with the blood ; yea they which haue slaine themselues , owe their misfortune to choler which hath forced them to this last fury : hauing then left such cruell signes of rage vpon the body , she assailes the mind , shee doth outrage to the soule , and smothers reason in man , and like vnto a thicke cloud , will not suffer it to enlighten him , and by this meanes fills him with disorder and confusion . so as hee begins to shut his eare to all good aduice , he will no more heare speake of that which may helpe to mollifie his courage , which is full of bitternesse and violence ; so as taking pleasure in his owne affliction , he abhorres all remedies , and flies the hand of the physitian which might cure him : yea in this transport hee is offended at any thing , and imitates the sauage beasts , whom the most cheerefull colours thrust into fury : an innocent smile , a shaking of the head which signifies nothing , a glance of the eye without dessigne , is capable to draw him to the field . but how often haue wee seene this inhumaine fury dissolue euen the most sacred friendship vpon very friuolous subiects ? hath shee not prouoked dearest friends to duells , and made them serue as spectacles of infamy both to heauen and earth , for quarrells imbraced without any ground ? it is then very apparant , that this passion is not only infamous , but also most wretched , seeing that vnder an weake pretext of reuenge she doth precipitate men into most horrible villanies , & makes them tread all diuine and humaine lawes vnder feete , to satiate her in●olency and rage . wherein doubtles she is more to bee blamed then all the other passions wherewith the soule of man is afflicted : for that the other passions haue this property , that euen at the very instant when as they are as it were in the height of their transport , giue way somewhat to reason , and yeeld in some sort vnto her commandements , when as shee presents her self to pacifie them ▪ whereas choler doth like vnto marriners which are amazed or corrupted , and will giue no eare to the voice of their pilot : or as mutinous souldiers , which will not heare the aduice of their leaders : yea shee despi●es truth if shee opposeth against her rage ; and although she come to know the innocency of the party whom shee persecutes , yet she holds obstinacy more honorable then repentance : so as nothing shal be able to make her desist from her vniust and violent pursuites . and continuing this iniustice against himselfe , shee sometimes constraines the most couetous profusely to cast away their most pretious treasure , and to make a heape of their wealth , and then to set fire on it ; and many times also shee forceth ambitious men to refuse and reiect the honours which they had passionatly affected before their despight : who doth not then see that this passion , ( more then any other ) quencheth the light of reason ? the cause is , for that of all the passions , whether they haue the good for their obiect , or regard the euill , those cause the greatest perturbations in our soules which are the most violent ; there is not any that doth exceed or equall choler in violence , which doth inflame the whole blood , and all the spirits which flowe about the heart , which is the most powerfull organ of passions : by reason whereof there followes a wonderfull disorder not onely in the sensible and corporeall powers , but euen in the reason . for although she vse no corporeall organs in her proper functions , yet to produce them forth shee hath need of the powers of the sences , whose actions are crost and disquieted by the trouble which riseth in the heart and the whole body ; by reason whereof choler doth darken , yea hinder the whole light which she striues to cast forth : whereof wee haue two apparant signes , for that the members , wherein the image of the heart doth most shine , as the tong , the eies , & the countenance , feele the most violent force of this fury . it is true that aristotle sayth , that choler doth in some sort giue eare to reason : but that must be vnderstood touching the report which she makes of the iniury receiued , wherein shee takes a singular content ; but shee giues no ●are vnto her , but reiects her aduertizements in the measure and moderation which shee ought to hold in the reuenge . so as in truth there must bee some kind of reason to prouoke choler ; for that men which are stupid & dull are not capable of these motions ; but when this passion is fully inflamed , then she doth wholy darken reason . and as the same philosopher sayth , that they which are full of wine and drinke , are not mooued with any thing for that their reason being drowned in wine , they are not capable to ballance an iniury , or to obserue a contempt : but such as are not fully drunke , are moued to choler , for that there remaines some weake beames of iudgement to discerne that which hath an apparance of iniury or outrage ; but this passiō riseth in them without subiect and without any great occasion , for that their reason is captiuated by the wine which hath gotten the maistry . euen so in the beginning of choler , reason may giue some light to the irascible power ; but whē she hath gotten the absolute cōmand , and is become mistresse of the senses , reason is darkened , and is of no vse in a soule thus transported . but we must not conceiue that this mischief is absolutely incurable , but wee must rather imagine , that as helleborum hath power to cure mad men , so there are remedies against choler . the most powerful are those which are taken from the law of god , who teacheth vs nothing but patience , charity , mildenesse , humanity and sufferance . but wee will rest satisfied to set downe the instructions of philosophy , which may serue to this effect : first of all , philosophers aduise vs to entreate this passion as they do monsters and serpents , whom they striue to smother as soone as they are disclosed : for they will that man should haue a care to the beginning of choler , which many times ariseth from so light an occasion , and so poore a subiect , as it is vnworthy a great spirite should bee transported therewith and as it is easie to quench a fire of straw in the beginning , but if we suffer it to take holde of more solid matter , it passeth all our labour and industry , and makes a pittifull ruine : euen so , he that will obserue choler from the beginning , seeing it beginne to fume and kindle for some light quarrell and small offence ; it is easie for him to suppresse it , and to stay her course . but if shee be once setled and beginnes to swell , and that he himselfe blowes the bellowes ; that is to say , if hee stirres it vppe and enflames it , it will bee hard for him afterwards to quench it , whereas he might easily haue done it before by silence , wherefore as pilots foreseeing a tempest , doe vsually retire themselues into a road or vnder the lee of some rock , before the storme come ; so he that feeles the first motions of choler , should haue recourse to reason , and oppose it to the passion , to controule her violence . for the first meanes to vanquish choler as an vniust tyrant , is not to yeelde any obedience to her , nor to beleeue her in any thing she saith or doth , to inflame vs to reuenge , we finde in other passions , that the liberty wee giue them , brings some ease . as when young men which are enflamed with loue , goe in maske , make dances , combates , or feasts , in fauour of the party they loue ; all this giues some ease vnto their passion : and when as they suffer those that are afflicted to weep in the midst of their afflictions , the teares they powre forth , carry with them a part of their griefe , but choler hath nothing of al this , she growes bitter , and is incensed by the liberty wee giue her , and is enflamed the more in that we giue way to her fury . and as they that are subiect vnto the falling sickenesse , hauing any signe or beginning of their fit , retire themselues suddainly , and take all the remedies which may diuert so troublesome an accident , or at least , hide the shame ; so they which see themselues transported with choler , should retaine themselues , and striue to moderate their passion , and diuert the infirmity which seekes to seaze vpon them . wherevnto they should the more willingly resolue , for that all other passions doe but draw men to euill , but this doth precipitate them ; those doe shake them , but this doth ouerthrow them ; those when they haue the vpper hand , suffer themselues to bee curbed , but this beeing mistresse will obey no law ; like vnto the thunder-bolt , which being once falne from the cloud wherein it was enclosed , can no more bee stayed . other passions stray from reason , but choler treades it vnder feete , and leads it as it were , in triumph . wherefore by all these considerations , men should be carefull not to fall into the hands of so furious a mistresse . the second remedy that may be giuen , is to represent the defects of this passion , & the miseries wherewith she is accompanied ; the which are such , as it seemes they carry the palme of vice , and to bee more detestable then all other crimes , wherewith the soule may be polluted . auarice , in truth , is a shamefull greedinesse of getting , but yet it sometimes gathers together that , which falls into the hands of a good man that succeedes a miser : whereas choler scatters all . for what expences , what profusiō doth she not to attaine vnto the reuenge which shee doth meditate ? how often doth shee make a man ruine his owne fortune ? the husband to separate himselfe from his wife ; the sonne abandons his father ; the people arme against the magistrate ; and he which aspired to honour , checks himselfe , and giues ouer his pursuite . choler is also worse then voluptuousnesse , for that lusts make men to plunge themselues in particular plesures ; whereas choler makes them of so bad a disposition , as he is delighted in another mans miseries . it is much more wicked then enuy : for that if enuy desires to see any one miserable , it is choler which procures the misery . but we must not continue our great desires in the reuenges of choler , for generous spirits are as it were , impenetrable to offences ; whereas they that cannot resist , shew their weakenesse ; whereby we see that women , children , sicke folkes , and olde men are most subiect to these motions and impressions . the highest and goodliest part of the world , and neerest to the firmament and starres , is neuer couered with clouds ; and in whose bosome there is neuer any haile , rain , windes , nor other tempests congealed : there is neuer any thunder nor lightning , although the thunder-bolts fal from thence vpon the earth . in like manner , a spirit truely eleuated , a generous soule , is alwayes quiet , moderate , and graue , neuer suffering it selfe to bee transported with the furious motions of choler ; shee represents vnto her selfe the defects of this passion , shee sees that they which abandon themselues vnto it , disrobe themselues of all shame , and lose all reason : for who is he that in the middest of his despight & wrath , seems not to haue renounc'd all moderation , and modesty ? can hee refraine his tongue , or containe the other parts of his body in their duty ? but how many great personages haue we seene expose themselues to bee a scorne of the world by the excesse of their choler ? witnesse that famous prince , who wrote letters to a mountaine , and who caused a riuer to bee whipped , which had beene an obstacle to his passage . wherefore as in seeing the shamefull motions of them that are drunke , we conceiue a certaine horror of the excesse of wine : so great spirits seeing the deformity of choler , endeauour what they can not to bee infected with a vice , which is as it were a reproach to humane nature . but to preuent it , wee must first flye all affaires that are aboue our reach , lest that finding our selues opprest , as with an insupportable burthen , griefe kindle our waywardnesse and choler . we must also flye the company of quarrelsome persons , lest by a certaine contagion they poyson vs with their passions . drunkards prouoke to drinke , voluptuous men mollifie the most couragious , and auarice poysons those that haunt the couetous . in like māner , cholericke men infuse into vs their troublesome humours , or at the least in frequenting them , wee expose our selues to the dangers of quarrels with them ; whereas conuersing with quiet men ( besides the good example ) we are freed from that danger . philosophers produce other remedies to cure choler , aduising them that haue any inclination to this passion , to leaue al great and waighty occupations of the minde , yea , the most serious studies : and they exhort them to imitate those that are weake sighted , who ease themselues in fixing their eyes vpon the most cheerefull colors ; aboue all things they coniure them to auoyde the occasions and subiects which are giuen thē , to remember that it is not expedient for man to see all nor to heare all , and that wee must let many things passe which are spoken against vs ; for that many times hauing neglected them , it is a kinde of iustification . that which prouokes vs to choler ( say they ) is the opinion we haue to haue beene outraged ; but we must not so suddenly giue credit to this opinion , nor presently receiue the reports which are made vnto vs , how cleere and euident soeuer the proofes of the iniury may seeme vnto vs ; for there are many things which hauing a shew of truth , are notwithstanding false ; so as wee must reserue one eare to heare the reasons of him that is accused , or else shut them both to the reporters , who many times take a delight to sowe discord , and to breed quarrells for their owne pleasures . and doubtles we may many times repent to haue run rashly to reuenge , whereas we haue cause to bee glad to haue deferred it . for the same reason wee must flie suspitions and iealousies , which many times incense vs , as well as the iustest subiects of choler ; for that taking in ill part a looke , a smile , or some other light action , wee conceiue a despight , and runne to field against those that are innocent , and which had no desire to wrong vs. finally of things that offend vs , some wee haue by report , others wee haue either seene or heard ourselues . as for those which are reported wee must not easily giue credit vnto them , considering the practizes which are vsed at this day to abuse the most credulous : a flatterer will seeke to insinuate himselfe into fauour by accusing an innocent ; he wil suggest an outrage & make a bad discourse to perswade that hee hath heard it with griefe of mind ; another will seeke an occasion to dissolue the most sacred bonds of friendship : another full of venome & poyson will desire to haue the sport of a quarrell , and will bee glad to bee spectator of a combate which he hath kindled , so as he be none of the party . it is then a notable lightnesse to condemne a friend suddenly before he be heard , and without an exact knowledge of the matter whereof he is accused ; and it is a prodigious iniustice to bee incensed against him before that hee know who accuseth him , or what crime is imposed vpon him . as for those things whereof we our selues are witnesses , we must cōsider the disposition & will of those that haue committed them ; if it bee a young man , let vs impute it to his age and beare with his youth . is it a father ? hauing receiued so many other benefits from him , it is reason wee should endure , and that remembrance of things past should mollifie our present bitternesse ; and we must duely consider with our selues whether hee hath not iust cause to entreat vs with that rigor , whereof wee now complaine . if it be a woman , this sexe doth not alwayes follow the motions of reason , and her weakenesse should serue her for an excuse . if they bee persons subiect to a greater power , it may be they haue bene forced , and being solicited by such as they could not disobey , would you then bee angry against necessity ? another may offend vs after that he hath bene outraged by vs : and what wonder is it if hee requite vs with the like ? if he be a magistrate or a iudge from whom wee pretend to haue receiued some iniustice , his sufficiency must bee of more weight then our priuate opinion , and wee should rather accuse our owne crime then suspect him of corruption . if it bee a king or prince , that punisheth some malefactor , we must beleeue that hee doth it iustly : but if hee oppresse an innocent , we must not complaine , but giue way to the miseries of humane nature , remembring that the weaker are subiect to the lawes of mighty . if it bee a bruite beast or a peece of timber or stone that hurts vs , we must beware that we become not more stupid then sencelesse things , thinking to reuenge our iniuries of them . if it be a good man , we should not thinke that he had any will to hurt vs , beeing confident of his innocency . if hee bee a wicked man , why are wee amazed if the effects resemble the cause ? moreouer if we thinke that wee are wrongfully opprest , let vs remember that many times wee thinke that vniust , which is not so in effect : this proc●eeds from too great a loue which wee beare vnto our selues : and in a word , it is ignorance or insolency that thrusts vs into choler , neuer remembring that humane nature ( like vnto a field full of weeds and thornes ) brings foorth spirits that are ingrate , trecherous , enuious and wicked . hee that shall duely consider this , will not easily giue way to choler . these are parts of the remedies which philosophers propound against this furious passion . there are others which were too long to relate ; and to say the truth , most of them are rather remedies of emperickes which palliate the euill , then solide medicines which cure our passions . the soueraigne remedy is to cast our eyes vpon the examples of patience which the seruants of god and the saints haue taught vs in this world , and especially to fixe them vpon those which the sonne of god hath left vs , who being outraged by men did not curse them ; being persecuted , hee did not threaten his excutioners ; being crucified , hee prayed for his enemies ; and who in the end by a philosophy farre different from that of the world , hath put our saluation in his crosse , our triumphs in his reproches , and our glory in his punishments . of mildnesse and gentlenesse . chap. . as choler enflaming man to reuēge , transports him in such sort as many times he seemes to be depriued of all kind of humanity ; and that it hath conuerted him into a sauage and cruell beast , which breathes nothing but blood & slaughter , so there is a motion contrary to this passion which restores man to the estate of man , and casting as it were water vpon the fire of his wrath , makes him tractable to pardon the outrages which hee pretends to haue beene done him vnworthily . this passion hath no proper name , but may be called gentlenesse , mildnesse , or clemency , according to the subiects where it encounters ; and it is no other thing but a motion which reduceth the soule to a quiet estate , and makes him forget all kinds of iniuries & reuenges . wherefore as men are ordinarily incensed against those that contemne them , & this contempt being an iniury which proceeds from the will of him that offends vs , it is visible that our choler is easily pacified when as wee see there is no cause of contempt in vs ; for that they of whom we might complaine , haue done it against their inclination , and not by any affected malice : and the reason is , for that humane actions depend of the intention of him that doth them . wherefore imagining that they haue no bad intention against vs , we hold them free from crime . by the same reason we do easily forget the choler which wee haue conceiued against those , who being mistaken shew their griefe , and desire to liue otherwise ; for that this desire is a testimony that their will hath beene surprized . as for example , a friend in our infirmity may giue vs a receipt which hee thinkes fit to cure our disease , but hauing taken it , our paine increaseth ; yet wee are not bitterly incensed against him , for that it appeares his will was to giue vs ease , although our paine increased . and particularly wee shew our selues easie to pardon those which doe vnto themselues what they haue done vnto vs : for that we cannot conceiue that they haue contemned vs in those things wherein themselues are ingaged ; being apparent that no man contemnes himselfe . we also pardon those easily which confesse their faults freely , and shew repentance for their offences ; for that wee imagine this griefe is a sufficient punishment for their wrong . whereof we haue a familiar example in our seruants ; reprehending more sharply , and punishing more seuerely , those that palliate their offences , or that answer vs arrogantly ; and we entreat them more graciously which acknowledge their faults and demand pardon . and the reason is , for that it is a signe of impudency to maintaine an error which is apparent , and th●s impudency is a notable cōtempt of him against whom they contest so boldly : for that wee contemne those with whom we shew no respect or reuerence . we are easily pacified , when as they whom we pretend haue offended vs , humble themselues before vs , endure our reproofe , and doe not contradict vs ; for that this submission is as it were , a signe of feare or reuerence which they beare vs , whereby they silently confesse , that they are our inferiours : so as we conceiue they doe not contemne vs : for that no man contemnes him whom he feares . wherefore euery man layes aside all choler against those that humble themselues : we haue an example in the lyon , a generous beast , who neuer shewes his fury , but pardons those that lye prostrate vpon the ground to saue themselues . we also shew our selues mild to those which making the same profession , honour vs , and speake not slanderously of vs : for that this respect shewes they haue vs in good esteeme , and that they contemne vs not . wee also pardon those willingly , from whom wee haue receiued some notable fauour , & particularly when they entreat vs and coniure vs with passionate prayers , to forget the iniuries they haue done vs , and not to take reuenge of them ; for that these kinde of ●ntreaties are signes of their submission . wee also pardon those willingly , which are not reputed to be insolent , slanderers , mockers , or contemners of others , but are knowne to be good men , doing outrage to no man vnlesse it be to the wicked , among whom we desire not to sort our selues . wee checke and controule our choler , when as we know that they that haue offended vs are powerful persons , from whom wee might feare some greater iniurie , if wee should attempt to reuenge that which they haue done vs ▪ for wee seldome make demonstration of choler against those whom we feare , beeing vnpossible that at the same instant wee should feare any man , and yet bee in choler against him . yea , wee passe ouer their faults lightly that haue wronged vs in the heate of their choler : so as if wee are incensed against them , it is with lesse feeling and bitternesse , for that we conceiue that what they haue done , was not through contempt , seeing that no man euer contemned him whom hee held worthy of his choler : for that contempt is without griefe and apprehension , but choler is full of griefe and feeling of the iniury receiued . places , times , imployments , companies , helpe many times to make vs mild and quiet , and to keepe vs from being transported with choler , if it bee not for some outragious iniury : for in sports , at banquets , and publique feasts , among our friends , in the midst of our great prosperities , during the happy successe of our affaires , and in the midst of our good hopes , we doe not easily receiue any impressions of choler , vnlesse ( as we haue sayd ) they do vs some notable outrage which exceedes all patience . in like manner , when as we suffer much time to passe before wee seeke reuenge of the iniury , by little and little we forget it , and time hauing asswaged our heate , wee lose all desire of reuenge . but one of the things which helpes most to quench our choler , is , when as some other then that party against whom it is enflamed , hath beene seuerely punished or sent to execution , before wee could satisfie our reuenge against him . wherefore philocrates , being demanded why hee did not purge himselfe of the crimes whereof he was accused , during the time the people were in choler against him ; answered , that the reason was , for that he expected some other should be vniustly accused and condemned before him ; imagining ( as it is true ) that when as men haue powred forth their choler and splene vpon any one , then they grow more milde , and their rage is turned to pitty . as it happened to ergophilus , against whom although his iudges were more incensed then against calisthenes ; yet they pronounced him innocent , and freed him from punishment ; for that the day before they had condemned calisthenes . moreouer , men shew themselues milde and tractable to those ouer whom they haue gotten some fauourable decree , and also to such as they see exposed to more cruell afflictions , then they would haue imposed vpon them for their reuenge : for they conceiue that they are punished sufficiently for their offence , and that for their part they are fully reuenged of the iniury they haue receiued . but particularly our choler is not often enflamed when as we conceiue the iniury that we suffer is done vs iustly , & that wee haue well deserued that chastisement ; for then it rather makes shew of a reuenge iustly pursued , then of a contempt or iniury vniustly procured . choler hath iniustice for her obiect , bee it true or apparent : for that as we haue obserued in the definition , it is a feeling of an indignity which wee thinke we haue receiued wrongfully , and without merite : wherefore when as we apprehend there is no iniustice in the wrong wee receiue , our choler breakes not forth and runs not hastily to reuenge . and therefore when we will reprehend any one , it is fit to represent vnto him the subiect wherefore we vse this seuerity , that making him know wee haue iust occasion , it may stay him from choler . the which wee should practise particularly with our seruants , who will take our reprehensions in better part , and serue vs with more affection when wee shew them that they haue erred , and let them know the offēce which hath moued vs to this rigor . our choler is not easily moued against such as wee hold insensible of any thing that we shall doe or say ; for that choler will haue her effects knowne . wherefore no man of iudgement will bee angry against insensible things . but the choler which we shew against the liuing , is mortified in regard of the dead , for that they haue endured the last misery of life , and they haue no more feeling nor knowledge of iniuries , which choler doth wonderfully desire . wherefore homer to pacifie aclilles , who insulted ouer the dead body of hector , let him know , that he did but beate the earth , and outrage an insensible thing . these are briefly the persons to whom mildnesse or clemency extends , and which can command their choler . this mildnesse is commendable in all men , for that it is a bud of true humility , or rather a true character of the children of god. but it hath a greater lustre and a more eminent shew when it is found in the soules of kings and monarchs of the earth : for what praise , what triumph , and what glory is it to a great prince , to haue the command of so many millions of men , to bee arbitrator of their liues , to be master of their goods and fortunes , to be able in an instant to leuy fearefull armies , and in the twinckling of an eye to ruine townes & countriee , without the feare of any lawes ? and yet in this prodigious power , not to suffer his eyes to be daxeled with so great a splendour , nor to bee transported with choler , and in offences not to vse seuerity ; to spare blood , to containe his passions , and to make it his whole glory to doe good to those that are subiect to his authority . wherefore this bounty and clemency in princes , makes them not onely to bee beloued , but euen to be adored by their subiects , who are rauished with a sweete excesse of ioy , when as they see themselues subiect to a power which hath nothing insolent , but all things tend to their preseruation , and propound vnto themselues no more glorious obiects then their safety . subiects hide not thēselues from these good princes , and flye not from them , as if a tiger , a lyon , or some other sauage and cruel beast , did present it selfe ; but they runne to meete them , to behold them , and admire them , as starres of good influence , of whom depend all their happinesse . the subiects runne vnto their temples for such good princes , & poure out their vowes and prayers for their honors and safety . it is for them they watch and are in care , and it is for them they are ready to suffer a thousand deathes , rather then any attempt shold be made against their liues , whereunto they know their safeties are tyed : for their mildenesse and clemency , as a powerful charme bindes the affections of their subiects vnto them , and doth purchase their loue , which is the most powerfull bond and the safest guard wherby monarches may assure their estates : for there is no empire nor gouernement , more firme then that which pleaseth the subiects ; whereas those that are odious , are soone ruined : yea , they that could temper their authority by clemency , haue alwayes enioyed a happy successe in their gouernement . and to speake in a word , clemency is as a soueraign ornament to all the other royall vertues ; yea ; it is to princes as a way to heauen , and immortality to vse so eminent and fearefull a power moderately ; to loue their subiects , to pardon the humble , to abstaine from all cruelty , to do no violence , not to bathe their hands in blood , to let their time passe , to pacifie their choler , and to procure peace and quietnesse to the world . for these reasons their subiects apprehend not them , but apprehend onely for them : whereas the violence of princes striks a terror into the minds of their subiects , but it makes them neither more powerfull , nor to be more respected by them . and these feares and terrors of the subiects are weake tyes and bands of their affection and loue : for when as they imagine they haue no more subiect of feare , they beginne to hate . but admit that the horror of punishments and tortures were able to settle empires : who knows not , that as it is an incomparable shame for phisitians to fill vp graues , putting their skill in practize : so it is a great reproach to princes to mainetaine their greatnesse by tortures . they should vnderstand all the defects of their estate , but wisedome binds him to excuse some : and if they be forced to vse seuerity , they must doe it in punishing crimes which deserue no pardon ; yet with a testimony of griefe and remorse . and finally , they must shew their clemency to those where there is some hope of amendement , not alwayes seeking to inflict punishments , but sometimes to bee satisfied with the repentance of them that haue offended . they must remember that it is a glorious thing to pardon him whose offence hath already made miserable , and that it is a seuere punishmēt to be forced to craue pardon for his crime . they must imagine that cruell and violent commands are more sharpe then durable ; that no man can bee feared of many , but he must feare much : and that the life of princes , is as a perpetuall warre , and a perpetuall death , if they bee forced to distrust , and to guard thēselues from so many millions of men which hate their power , if it bee insolent and insupportable . chap. . of the diuerse passions of men , according to their ages and conditions . as all the countries and parts of the world , are not equally shaken with the tempests of the aire , yet there is not any corner of the earth , nor portion of the vniuerse , in which there riseth not some little winde , or some small stormes : euen so , although that all men are not subiect to the furious motions of the same passions , yet there is not any age nor condition which doth not feele some effects , & is not in some sort agitated . onely there is this difference , that the one haue a feeling of one sort , & the other of another : some are more violent , and other haue them more quiet and temperate . for some are passions befitting yong men ; others are incident to men of perfect age ; and some are those of olde men : some the rich and mighty are subiect vnto , and others transport the poore and miserable . and first touching that which concernes the passions of young men , they are hot and fiery by reason of the blood which boyles in their veines ; and what they once desire they affect with vehemency . yet they shew this heate more particularly in the motions of loue , whereunto their age which is in the flower , giues them a violent inclination , which appeares in the heate of their pursuites . but they are subiect to all kindes of changes , and haue no constancy in their affections ; so as their passions are properly like to the hunger and thirst of sicke persons , which passe away with the fit of their disease . or to speake more properly , they resemble meteors , or wandring fires which are kindled in the aire , and suddainely extinct . they are in like manner very ready to the motions of choler , and are easily transported with disdaine , especially when as they seek to blemish their honour , or to doe them any kinde of outrage . they are also ambitious , and loue glory passionatly , so as they preferre victory before any other thing , for that it is the highest degree of excellency whereunto they aspire . but they are not couetous , neither doe they loue money , for that they haue not yet tried the miseries of pouerty : like vnto him whom an ancient reproached , that the contempt hee made of gold , was a signe that hee had not yet felt the sweetnesse thereof ; for if he had tasted it , his hands would be more ready , and he would bee more diligent to gather it together . neither are they maliciously disposed , but shew more plainenesse then cunning in their actions , for that they haue not yet learned the subtilties , nor tried the malice of the world . but they are credulous , and doe easily beleeue what is said vnto them : for that they haue not yet tried the fraudes of men , nor haue bin often abused . moreouer , they are full of great hopes , like vnto thē that are surprized with wine ; both in regard of the heate which abounds in them , as for that they haue not yet felt the iniuries of fortune : and therefore they liue in hope ; for that hope regards future things , as memory is imployed about that which is past . and as for them , they apprehend , that the time they haue to liue , is long ; and they make no account of that which is past . and for the same reason in the flower of their age , they remember not what is slipt away before their time , but hope for all that is to come , so as they are easie to bee deceiued : for that hauing this beleefe and hope , it is easie to make them beleeue and hope for that which is not . by consequence they are valiant and hardy , both for that they are cholerick , and also for that they are full of good hopes : for choler takes from them al feare , and hope makes them hardy ; whereby they haue a great confidence of the successe of that they vndertake . moreouer , yong mē are bashfull , knowing nothing in this life , but what they haue learned from the lawes , or from their education : wherefore when as any thing presents it selfe , of whose nature they are not well instructed , they remain as it were in suspence , and know not what to resolue , and therefore they are commonly subiect to blushing . they are also magnanimous and generous , both for that they haue a good opinion of themselues , as also for that they haue a proud conceit of their courage , holding themselues fit for any great action : and in like manner , for that they haue not yet tried the calamities and miseries , which ouerthrow the fortune and constancy of men , but are ignorant of the afflictions whereunto this life is subiect . finally , they desire rather to vndertake those things which are honorable , then that which concernes profit . for that they gouerne themselues rather by their owne courage , and the bounty of their nature , which hath the honesty of things for obiect , then by the discourse of reason , which doth commonly propound for end , that which is most profitable . young men doe also loue indifferently the company of such as are of their age and condition , not making any curious choyce of their friends ; the which shewes , that they haue more curiosity then care of that which may auaile them in the course of their liues . they are also violent , and obserue no moderation in their motions and actions : so as if they loue , they loue furiously ; and if they hate , it is extreame : and so in all other things they keepe no mediocrity . the which grows from their presumption , and for that they haue a conceit to know any thing ; which makes them to speake boldly , and to defend their impertinencies wilfully . they commit many errors , but commonly they are the defects of youth , which proceede from the heat of blood , so as there is more insolency in their actions , then affected crimes . they are moreouer pittifull and gentle ; for that measuring others by their own innocency , they beleeue that al the world is good ; and that they which suffer any extraordinary miserie , haue not deserued it : and for that reason they haue compassion of them . finally , young men are pleasant , witty , and loue to laugh , and to heare a witty ieast , which they thinke is a signe of a good spirit , and therefore admire him . they also loue horses , dogges , huntings , combates , and other exercises , which haue some kinde of violence or pleasure . to conclude young men are commonly rich in inuention , but poore in matters of iudgement : they are fit for execution , but incapable for any great dessigne . they are borne to excite troubles , but are not able to pacifie them : they imbrace much , but hold little : they aspire to the end , but looke not to the meanes : and when they haue committed an error , they will hardly acknowledge it and leaue it ; like vnto those resty horses , which leape and bound ▪ and will neither stand still nor go forward . as for those that grow to age , they haue passions in a manner quite contrary to young men : for hauing liued long , and beene often deceiued , hauing themselues committed many errors , and knowing also that the world is full of subtilty and villainy ; they are not assured of any thing , but looke vpon all things with distrust : and if they deliuer their opinion in any businesse , it is with a kind of feare : so as it seemes they will make it knowne , that in all things there is more coniecture then certainty : wherfore their ordinary restriction in their answers and discourses , is , it may be , peraduenture it is true . the which proceedes frō the great idea they haue of the inconstancy of things , & the deceits of men . for the same reason they are malicious , being a meere malice to interpret , as they doe , all things in the worst sence ; and for the same reason they are also distrustfull and suspitious : suspitious by reason of their distrust , and distrustfull , in regard of the experience they haue of things . finally , they neuer loue entirely , neither is their hatred furious , but they loue commonly as if they should hate , and they hate as if they shold he moued to loue . moreouer , their courage is weake , both in respect of the coldnes of their blood and spirits , as also by reason of calamities past , and the miseries which they haue tried . and for this reason , vnlesse they haue some spice of folly , they doe seldome attempt any hardy enterprizes , nor hazard their fortunes and honors , but they are content to seeke that which may protect them from necessity : whereby they are couetous and fast , fearing to diminish that which they thinke is necessary for them : whereunto they are drawne by experience which hath taught them , how hard a thing it is to gather great wealth , and how easie it is to lose it . they are in like manner fearefull , and encrease their apprehensions by imagination , and by the fore-sight of the future : wherewith they are alwayes troubled ; the which proceeds from the coldnesse of their blood . for this coldnesse which is common to olde men , makes them enclined to feare , whereas heate incites courage and resolution . moreouer , they loue life much , and especially vpon the declining of their dayes ; for that men desire that naturally , whereof they haue great neede ; and when as they feare it should fly from them , then they desire it more passionately . they commonly powre forth cōplaints , which are signes of their weaknesse , and which makes them importune : and then they rather imbrace that which is profitable , then what is honorable : wherein they shew themselues commonly extreame , euen base , the which growes from the loue they beare vnto themselues : for profit is the good of that priuate person that doth enioy it , but honour tends to good absolutely , without consideration of the interest of any particular . after this they are rather impudent then bashfull ; for respecting not honour so much as their owne commodities , they care not for the opinion of the world , but contemne it . finally , they renounce in a manner all good hopes , and haue none but bad , both for that they are distrustfull and fearefull ; as for that experience hath taught them , that most things are bad , and that they impaire daily : so as they liue rather by memory then hope , for that they haue not long to liue , and haue liued long : for hope is of future things , and memory of what is past . and this is the cause that old men are great talkers , for that they take a singular content to commend the times past : in our times ( say they ) we did this , wee did that : taking a wonderfull content to remember what is past . as for their choler , it is sudden and violent ; but it is like a fire of straw , that is soon quencht . their desires are mortified or weake , and cannot bee quickened , or receiue any vigor , vnlesse the loue of money possesse them . and therefore they are temperate , and loue frugality , which is a kinde of sparing , for that they gouerne themselues rather by the discourse of reason , then by their owne genius , or their proper inclination : for ( as wee haue said ) discourse aymes at the end ; and courage hath a respect to honesty as a companion to vertue . their faults sauour more of iniustice then insolency or outrage . they are inclined to mercy , yea , more then young men , but for diuers reasons ; for young men are pittifull by humanity , and old men by weaknesse , whose age makes them apprehend the miseries wherewith they see other men afflicted , as if it hung ouer their heads ; which is a consideration ( as wee haue said else-where ) moues to mercy and pitty : and for this reason they doe nothing but complaine , and they loue not to see any one laugh , neither doe they willingly frequent any that are pleasant and iouiall ; for that their age hath cooled the blood , and made an impression of melancholy which loues seuerity . as for vigorous and perfect men , such as are betwixt these two ages , they participate of both their humours , yet they prune of● that which proceedes both in youth and age . wherefore they obserue a mediocrity in all things , so as they are neither too audacious nor too timerous , but they hold a meane , neither trusting in all the world , nor distrusting euery thing , but they examin al affaires by the rules of wisdom & truth . and in like manner they are neither , miserable nor prodigall , but measure their expences by the lawes of their power & by honesty . and in like maner they obserue this mediocrity in the other motions of the irascible and concupiscible powers . their valour is tempered , and their temperance is accompanied with courage , wherein they participate both with young and old : for yong men are valiant , but without moderation ; and old men are temperate , but full of apprehension and feare . and to say in a word ; all the good qualities which are found diuided both in young and olde , are as it were vnited and tied together in a middle age , which containes it selfe within the bounds of his temper , and naturall inclination : and as for those which haue any excesse or superfluity , either in youth or age ; a man that is in this middle age , checks them and cuts them off , reducing them to the point of vertue and honesty . we must now see what the passions of men be , in regard of their fortunes : that is to say , wee must know the passions of noblemen , of rich , and of the powerfull of the earth ; namely of kings , and princes . noblemen haue this particular passion , to desire honors vehemently : for as all men naturally wish to encrease the goods they enioy ; noblemen seeing themselues rich in glory , and full of honor , desire to augment their treasure , to the end they may not seeme to plant their triumphes vpon that which their predecessors haue left them . but as they haue giuen them light by their glory , so they desire to transferre the same beames of brightnesse to their posterity : and commonly , noblemen hold it a generous vanity not to continue in the same ranke , with those which haue beene equal to their ancestors ; yea , many times they contemne them . wherefore they desire to adde some thing to the ornaments of their birth , and to haue a subiect to recommend themselues aboue others . for in truth , the trophees of families are sometimes so ancient , and so worn with time , as it is an easie thing to surmise any thing . wherefore generous spirits should preserue that which nature and their birth giues them ; otherwise , if they degenerate , it is a famous spectacle of infamy & reproach . as in truth there are some , which degenerating from the magnanimity of their fathers , make vs to see thicke clouds in the midst of their shining glory , as it was said of the sonne of great scipio . this misery happens to families as to fieldes where corne and fruites grow ; for whilest the soile is good , it yeelds good fruites and rich haruests , but growing barren , it yeeldes nothing that is pure and excellent . so good families continuing in their vigor , produce worthy plants for a time : but this generous vigor decaying by little and little , they yeelde not such braue and valiant men as formerly they did . in this realme alone , how many great and worthy families ( whose names are so many starres , and so many flowers which beautifie our ancient histories ) are extinct and lost ? or if there remaine any reliques , they rest vnknowne . finally , when as nobility comes to degenerate , it giues vs monsters of fury : for he that is puft vp with the glory of his ancestors , and will stray from their vertues , imagineth , that hee cannot make better shew of the splendour of his birth , then by the insolencies and violencies which accompany their actions : whereof wee haue seene prodigious examples in the carriages of the descendants of dionysius the tyrant , and alcibiades . and it is a misery in humane things , that as good trees grow wild and sauage , either for want of pruning and manuring , or for that the soyle is not fauourable : so great families lose the glory of those that were their founders . and as philosophers affirme , that there is no worse corruption then that which growes from things soueraignly excellent , as we finde in the corruption of perfumes : so it happens that families full of magnanimity and courage , degenerate into dull and stupid spirits , as wee haue seene in the posterities of symon , berides , and socrates , forbearing to speake of our owne age . as for the passions of rich men , they are knowne to all the world , for that euery man sees that these menare proud , insolent , and outragious . for feeling themselues supported by their wealth , they imagine that all things are in their power . for that riches , through the couetousnesse of men , set as it were , a price of all other things which they may buy . rich men are also voluptuous , effeminate , and full of ostentation , and vanity , that makes them to glory of their treasure ; they are voluptuous and effeminate by reason of the cōtinuall delights wherein they plunge themselues : they are vaine , and glory of their wealth , for that their thoughts are perpetually imployed in the imagination of their aboundance , whereof they are rather slaues and idolaters , then true possessors and masters . and moreouer they imagine , that all the world loues what they loue . wherein they are not much deceiued , for that infinite numbers of persons haue neede of the assistance of riches . wherefore a philosopher beeing demaunded by a princesse , whether it were better to be rich or wise : he answered , that it was better to be rich ; for , said hee , wee commonly see wise men at rich mens gates to beg their fauours . rich men also haue commonly this vanity , that they hold themselues worthy of great imploymēts , because they are rich , in regard wherof , they thinke it reasonable they shold command others : and to speake in a word , the riches of a happy man ( destitute of wisedome ) discouers his inclination . but there is great difference betwixt the passions of those that are newly raised to great fortunes , & such as haue enioyed them long : and we must not doubt , but that they that haue newly gotten their wealth , are more vicious and more insolent , then such as haue enioyed it from their ancestors ; for they enter into their riches as into a new possession , in the which they are altogether ignorant . as for the crimes which either of them commit , they sauour more of insolency & incontinency , then of malice ; for commonly they are polluted with adulteries , and doe outrage to such as resist their desires . it rests now to speake of princes , kings , and the great men of the earth , whose passions also are well knowne , for that they much resemble those of rich men ; yet wee must confesse , that they haue sometimes bin more moderat and more milde ; for great men are commonly more iealous of their honour , and more generous then the rich : for that they are imployed in greater actions , and haue a more eminent glory to preserue . wherefore they are contented to mainetaine their dignity , not caring for any affected grauity : for that dignity giues a greater splendour vnto men . and therefore they shew themselues temperate , and hold a mediocrity , for that dignity is sweete , and grauity is reuerend . finally , when they once breake out , they commit no small mischiefes ; for that commonly the effects are proportionable to their causes ; and finding themselues armed and powerfull , they execute their passions violently , and doe vnspeakeable wrongs ; like vnto great riuers , which breaking forth spoyle the haruest , and ruine the labourers hope . whereunto we may adde , that prosperity doth also make them more insolent ; for that seeing thēselues powerful in means , and fortunate in their dessignes , they grow proud , and liue without any consideration of vertue or vice , by reason of the fauours of fortune which blind their eyes . and yet there are some good natures , who in steed of growing proud , or forgetting themselues in the height of their fortune , become more temperate , more religious , and more fearing god : for that they acknowledge their greatnesse as a guift and fauour of his prouidence , to the which for this consideration they are more affectionate , and more deuout then other men , considering the great benefits they haue receiued . finis .